Araniko Highway, Kathmandu, Bagmati Nepal

The Araniko Highway connects Kathmandu with Kodari, 115 kilometres (71 mi) northeast of the Kathmandu Valley, on the Nepal-China border. It is among the most dangerous of highways in Nepal due to extremely steep slopes on each side of the road from Barabise onwards, massive landslides and bus plunges are not uncommon especially after rains. At the Sino-Nepal Friendship Bridge, it connects with China National Highway 318 to Lhasa, and eventually to Shanghai.

The Arniko Hwy provides Nepal's overland link with Tibet and China. Past Barabise the road is particularly vulnerable to landslides and during the monsoon sections are likely to be closed temporarily between May and August. Even when the highway is passable it's of limited use in breaking India's commercial stranglehold on Nepal, as it's still cheaper to ship Chinese goods via Kolkata (Calcutta) than to truck them through Tibet.
After Dhulikhel the road descends into the beautiful Panchkhal Valley. A turnoff at Lamidanda, around 12km from Dhulikhel, leads for 9km on a tarmac road to Palanchowk, where there is a famously beautiful black stone image of the goddess Bhagwati (a form of Durga, itself a terrifying form of Parvati). About five minutes' drive beyond the town of Panchkhal a dirt road takes off to the left, giving road access to the Helambu region.
About 8km later you arrive at Dolalghat, a thriving town at the confluence of the Indrawati and Sun Kosi Rivers and the departure point for many rafting trips. The turn-off to Jiri is another 14km away, on the right. Lamosangu is a few kilometres after the Jiri turn-off, on the Arniko Hwy. North of Lamosangu is a hydroelectric plant with a tedious military checkpoint.