Although the weather was starting to warm up a bit in Bhujung, we were desperately craving a no-thermals day and some warmer weather in Pokhara, which sits at a much lower altitude. We had no such luck, as we spent our first day rugged up in our hotel bed, sheltering from a heavy rainstorm. Admittedly we were kind of happy to use this as an excuse to spend the whole day indoors, chatting to family and checking emails after a month with no contact to the outside world.

Another reason we made the journey back to Pokhara was to develop some photos for the Bhujung Gurung Museum. At the moment this cultural museum is a bit dull so we thought a few brightly coloured photos would be a good addition, especially with some informative captions, written in English and Nepali, to go with them. We spent the last week collecting and taking photographs of various attractions, cultural demonstrations and everyday activities. After searching for a good reliable photography shop, someone offered to develop the photos onto laminated wooden boards - much more suitable and durable than glassed frames. We agreed and spent the next two days eagerly awaited their collection.

Nepal, and Pokhara in particular, is an absolute haven for adventure sports, and one of the most amazing we heard of was parahawking. Totally unique to Pokhara, this 'sport' is essentially hang-gliding while feeding a well-trained Egyptian Vulture mid-flight! Check out the photos if you don't believe, but eventually the weather cleared up and Aidan took the opportunity to run off the side of a cliff and hand out pieces of buffalo meat to a massive bird-of-prey with full enthusiasm. The two trained birds used for Parahawking were rescued as orphaned chicks and hand raised. They became humanised and were not fit to be released back into the wild. Instead, Bob and Kevin were trained for the glamorous life of Parahawking!

Egyptian Vultures play a vital role for Nepal's environment, by cleaning up dead cattle carcasses.. Sadly, a commonly used drug given to dying cows has turned out to be deadly for these strangely beautiful birds, and their population has recently decreased by more than 99%. One initiative is a chain of 'vulture restaurants', where healthy old cattle are slaughtered to feed the birds clean meat. We were happy to hear that some of the money spent for Parahawking is put towards this, as well as an ongoing campaign for local education and awareness.

We decided to spend our last afternoon on Pokhara's famous and picturesque Phewa lake. We hired a boat for a peaceful hour and rowed out to a little island temple. The weather had well and truly cleared up by this point and the lake was full of happy tourists from all over, including some very happy old Chinese women merrily singing in harmony as we rowed past. With a first-hand account of the condition of the lake, we felt confident enough to feast on local fish for our last night in Pokhara! Before long we'd be back to our strictly predictable Dahl Bhaat diet.

With a good dose of adventure, a stack of very professional looking laminated photo boards for the museum and a big bag of juicy mandarins to take back to our friends in Bhujung, we definitely feel refreshed and ready to make the most of our last two weeks in this extraordinary little village.