We have been here for a whole year. Friday 13th was the auspicious occasion where we celebrated survival, lots of ups and downs and us having written 27 blogs - So I trust you have read them all!

To celebrate 8 of us went to stay overnight in a cottage in the Shivapuri National Park. Its just north of KTM and up a hill so you look out over the city, but are in the countryside so its peaceful. The cottage comes with staff for guided walks and catering so all very luxurious though surprisingly cheap. We arrived early Friday and a few of us went for a walk to look at the villages and a buddhist monastery under construction which will be beautiful. Then back to the cottage for copious amounts of alcohol, some very nice Nepali food and lots of reminiscences. The next day some of us went for a longer walk which was very Nepali i.e. lots of uphill. As often seems to be the case here I was S**ting myself with the terrain and had to be helped by G pushing me and our guide pulling me up the worst scree like slopes - very humiliating. Give me the New Forest for walking any day! But it was good when we got to the top. Then lunch and back to KTM to watch Man U being thrashed by Liverpool which I guess was not quite the end to the weekend that G had planned but never mind!

We have had a pretty luxurious March so far what with the Gurkha Ball at the hyatt Regency Hotel. This wasn't quite so cheap as the Shivapuri cottage and I don't suppose we would have considered going had it not been arranged by Rowena but under the circumstances it would have been rude not to! It was great fun getting all dressed up for it - seems like forever since I wore a posh frock and it was a wonderful evening. Rowena had imported wine and some of the food for it so we had a starter of smoked salmon, parma ham with melon and a little bit of pate which was a wonderful treat for us. But all the Nepalis were sort of looking at it askance asking "is this cooked?" and "where's the dahl baht?". There was of course dahl baht in the main course buffet - it wouldn't be Nepal otherwise - but there was also lots of other nice western things for us! The only minor disappointment was that Rowena had arranged for the dessert buffet to be left out all through the party and I'd had visions of grazing from it all night. But as it turned out I never managed to finish my first plateful which was cleared when I went for a dance and then I couldn't face any more! What a waste!

We'd arranged to stay overnight at the Hyatt and it was like a different world. Hot power shower, a bath, constant electricity with huge TV - fantastic! There was also a gym which we ventured into on the Saturday morning and much as I generally hate running, being on the treadmill with no pot holes, no traffic beeping behind me or pumping out fumes, no smelly river or dust churned up was just wonderful! And the swimming pool was glorious as well. Freezing cold as while its hot during the day the temperature still drops pretty low at night, but it was great for swimming in and felt fantastic getting out into the hot sunshine. We will definitely go there again!

We have had some company at home for the last week or so. Nepal has been hit by a lot of public protests or bandh across the Tarai area in the south These are localised strikes where the roads are blocked and shops are forced to shut because some group don't like something thats going on eg not being referenced properly in the new draft constitution, where to locate a new University, there was even one bandh yesterday protesting that there were too many bandh! It is basically anarchy and the government always gives in eventually, though half the time one group then protests at what the government has given in to! Anyway, this all meant that the couple of volunteers I stayed with in the far west who'd come up for a conference were stuck in KTM and couldn't get home. So rather than being stuck in the horrible guest house we were all in when we first arrived thay have come to stay with us. Its been fun having flatmates for a while and so far we haven't run out of water. Looks like they might be able to get away on Tuesday but we shall see. Its certainly not worth risking travelling when there are protests. Some hash friends had gone down to the Tarai on Motor bikes. They'd heard there was a bandh but checked with the police if it was finished and were told it would be Ok after 7pm. They set off then, were stopped by a gang of youths and had their motor bikes torched! Expensive journey, and of course the police don't do anything as its mostly politically motivated and they won't get involved!

On a brighter note we had another nice visit to a Nepali leisure place. After our visit to the zoo which was the first place we'd been where Nepali people seemed to be just out having fun for the sake of it, we went to the botanics last week. Again nowhere near the scale of Edinburgh for example but very pretty and just so nice and peaceful with Nepali families out having a good time picnicking etc. It is unusual to see that in a country where people mostly seem to be trying to grind out a living or just having a rest! Though they did seem to be having fun last Tuesday which was Holi, the festival of colours. We saw that last year from the roof of the hguesthouse where everyone throws water and coloured powder at each other. Gordon and I stayed well out of it again watching from our balcony but I don't think it was quite as intense as last year, mainly due to the water shortages. But everyone - except us - did seem to get pretty covered none the less! Interesting way to let your hair down. I think I'll stick with the copious amounts of alcohol!