I woke up this morning to the sound of a washing machine on the final stage of its spin cycle. It put such a smile on my face. I don't like staying in hotels. Whether it's a 40-rupee charpoy at a truck stop in southern Karnataka or a £4000 a night suite on Park Lane they both carry out the same function and that's to help you move on to another place. Photo: A beggar in Thamel, Kathmandu with a higher rate of interest. Just transient and temporary, but I be...

I do not need to go white water rafting today; rain is coming down the side of the hotel like water crashing down Grade 5 rapids. It is only 4.30 in the afternoon the sky is pitch-black, jagged forks of lightening are lighting up the sky-followed seconds later by ear shattering thunderclaps. How can I get a story if I can't leave my room and hear all the hotel's news? The photograph is of my bungalow when it is not raining. Last Thursday morning I was woken...

Across the street from where I stay in Pokhara West Nepal is a row of temporary wooden shacks and breeze-block-built shops. At the top end is David's restaurant - the owner/chef for over 15 years has worked in some of Nepal's best restaurants. David has returned to Kathmandu and his sister and brother-in-law now run the restaurant. The wife does all the cooking and the husband waits on, he isn't exactly harassed, and bullied is such a strong word, but he nev...

Late this afternoon I got a call from my friend Mark, a trek guide. He had just returned down from a four day trek to Gorepani and Ghandruk. Would I like to go for a beer? Most of the day I had been reading and writing notes in the garden, the power wasn't due back on until 7 pm, so why not.When I got down to The Club Amsterdam Mark immediately told me that he had been so concerned about his clients. All the rain we had been having down here in Pokhara meant tha...

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,...