Mini Chinatown and Mandarin speaking staff: Nepal built it, will the Chinese come?
A mini Chinatown has appeared within the winding streets which are now dotted with Chinese-language signs, Chinese restaurants and Chinese-owned three-star hotels.
The narrow labyrinthine streets of the former hippy enclave of Tamil in downtown Kathmandu used to be the place to go for mountaineering gear, cashmere shawls or thankas.
Those shops are still there, but a mini Chinatown has appeared within the winding streets which are now dotted with Chinese-language signs, Chinese restaurants and Chinese-owned three-star hotels.
The number of Chinese visiting Nepal has risen considerably in four years - from 46,360 in 2010 to 89,509 in 2014.
They are also spending more - up to US$100 a day - a figure that has doubled in four years.
But the type of tourist is changing, from families and tour groups to growing numbers of individuals and budget travellers.
Young Nepalese wanting to work in their nation's travel industry are advised to learn Mandarin rather than English, the traditional prerequisite for a job in adventure travel.