Lawmakers in the Himalayan country voted this week to amend a 2004 law that criminalizes “sexual conduct that is against the order of nature,” previously treated as a reference to gay sex.

The Himalayan kingdom has managed to avoid the crowded, tourist-infested fate that befell many other picturesque destinations.

The two nuclear powers are fighting over a border, but their battle is really over the shape of Asia’s future. By Steven Lee Myers, Ellen Barry and Max Fisher.