This article was written back in 2008. Today in 2013 the situation for the vast majority of Nepalese has not improved: access to clean drinking water is sporadic, increased powercuts, the price of commodities doubled, the poliitical situation in deadlock, and increased lawlessness. As there is yet another power cut I am writing this email by the flickering light of a candle and the gentle glow of my laptop. I am back in Kathmandu after an epic motorbike trip b...

"Oh' my goodness not again." I really thought I had got over my fear of getting to an airport on time. After years of flying on Easy Jet and Ryan Air and making sure that I had someone else take me to the airport I actually thought I could get on a flight with more than 30 seconds to spare. This morning at my hotel in Kathmandu, I got up around ten; checked my emails; had a meeting with a couple from Holland; chatted to one of the doctor's who is organizing Ex...

Was it twelve or one? I didn't know, I don't wear a watch and my vintage mobile was dead. I was walking home along Lakeside - the tourist strip in Pokhara, Nepal. The street lights had gone out hours ago - the power cuts had put paid to that. Only the tacky neon signs of the hellish dance bars provided any sort of glow. The trekking shops, bookshops, bars, and the last remaining Internet shops had all shuttered up, or is that down, for the night. Mohammed,...