i'm actually back in kathmandu now, but this picture of fewa tal (pokhara's famous lake) brings back a bit of that fresh air feeling which is sorely missing here in the congested city.

nepal is an incredibly beautiful country, once you get out of the built up areas. we hadn't planned to stay in pokhara as long as we did, but if your mum's going to slip in a monsoon storm and break her arm, necessitating a cast for six weeks, then pokhara is the place for it to happen.

we stayed in a guest house run by the tibetan family of the pestalozzi director from dehradun and awoke to views of machhapuchhre through one window (the as yet untouched fish tail mountain) and the world peace pagoda above the lake through another.

i got into a routine of getting up at 4am to go for walks along the lake before the sun came up, walking as far out as time would allow and stopping to have tea with village families who were preparing for the day ahead. these interactions with local nepalis were wonderful. i have found people here to be incredibly open, friendly and welcoming, and the lack of common language not a problem between people who enjoy smiling so much. the children, especially, are such a joy.

mum and i took part in further selection tests and home visits for the upcoming intake of pestalozzi children, which was fascinating and humbling, but otherwise the two and a half weeks in pokhara passed by in a dream of walks, views, cafes, and hospitals. the closest we got to the annapurnas was when we took a taxi to sarangkot one morning (a hill station above pokhara) to watch the dawn break over the mountain range. beautiful.

the highest we got was probably in gorkha - the ancient capital and former name of nepal, half way between pokhara and kathmandu - where we climbed up 1500 steps to a temple above the small town and were afforded gorgeous views in every direction. i'm very tempted to come back to nepal and do some 'proper' trekking at some point, although the way my calves complained (for days) after all those steps, i'd have to do some serious training before attempting anything too ambitious.

i miss those hills here in thamel - tourist-ville of kathmandu - where an endless stream of taxis, cycle rick-shaws, motorbikes and people squeeze through the narrow and monsoon-muddy streets. but tomorrow i say goodbye to nepal as i head back to india for a final blast of heat and curries before returning to the uk in just 9 days time...