For me not to find fault with something it's got to be pretty damn good but I've at last managed to find a failing with our Holy Himalaya Hotel. The hotel guarantees hot water between 6-9am and 6-9pm but, it seems, this guarantee only applies if nobody else has used it all. Kathie and I have a hatred of cold showers so, after a quick cold wash, we hope nobody gets too close. Of course, most Nepalis never have hot water and don't know what a warm shower is. They wash themselves and their clothes in cold water and come out smart and sweet smelling. At DNC they have a new, modern washing machine but still prefer to wash in clothes in the time honoured fashion - in a large bowl of cold water. They have showers but, because the solar heaters don't work and they can't afford gas, these are usually cold showers and they think nothing of it. This is perhaps why the solar panels don't work; they think hot water is a bit of an unnecessary luxury.

There are children's homes of all sorts in Nepal and lots of them; homes for the disabled, blind, deaf and just orphans. Living above Gaia is a Dutch lady who works with war orphans, those children stolen from their homes to fight in the 'insurgency' and who now need psychological as well as physical care. We visited another home this week, an orphanage, and it was interesting to make comparisons. This home has a similar history to DNC in that it was financed by a Belgian charity started by a lady who found a group of orphans living in squalor. It has 21 children and is managed by two full time (24/7) ladies. The home was not purpose built and is not as spacious as DNC and the children sleep in bunk beds in small dormitories. It has four floors and the roof is reached by a steep metal spiral stair. Like DNC they have a modern washing machine but we found them doing their washing in cold water on the roof. They could not obtain, or could not afford gas cylinders for cooking and the morning meal was being cooked on a wood fire on the roof. The food was the same as at DNC. We often fear for the safety of DNC children who hang over high balconies but just the same was happening here and we instinctively grabbed on to them. It would be difficult to describe the benefits of a stair gate to a Nepali. The toilet we saw was a low point of our visit. The children at this home were very happy and self sufficient, clean and well behaved. With a Slovak volunteer, we took them all to the Swoyambhunath temple, or they took us as they knew the way, and we hope it gave the house mothers a bit of time to themselves. Not all seems perfect to us at DNC and the same was the case here. The reasons can be put down to lack of money (there never will be enough) but also to the standards acceptable to the Nepalis themselves. We mustn't judge by English standards. The children are happy with their situation and appreciate just how well off they are. They would never understand why we find a cold shower unacceptable. Another Slovak volunteer gave up working at another orphanage because of the appalling situation she found there. She thought the unhappy and malnourished children were being abused and the home was being run for the benefit of the owners. There is still a lot of work to be done in Nepal for children and it is the likes of this home and DNC that are doing it.

Most of the people we've met, it seems, are volunteers. They've come from Holland, Denmark, Belgium, Slovakia and England. Perhaps it's the sort of places we go to. There are a great many opportunities in Nepal to help other people. But now that March has come we are being overwhelmed by tourists, holidaymakers, trekkers, and everywhere is a lot busier. Even the hotel breakfast room was almost full today and they didn't have time to make our special apple and banana pancakes. Whatever next! We went out to one of the best restaurants in Kathmandu to celebrate our impending grandchild for the second time, this time because of the news that he will be a boy. The food was fantastic, there was sweet music playing and unctuous service. We had three courses and drinks but the bill was enormous, nearly four times what we would pay in Gaia, our regular 'canteen'. It came to £22.50! The most expensive item on the Gaia menu is a 12oz fillet buffalo steak, mashed potatoes and veg, a real pile on your plate. The cost is £3.75. It's what you get used to.

But the food at DNC is a little more basic. The children get up at 6am and have a tin mug of warm milk. Before they go to school at 9am they have breakfast which today was vegetable curry and rice and is always something similar. At school they have a snack of a packet of biscuits and water. When they get home from school they have a snack of a packet of biscuits (12 small plain biscuits) or a packet of dry spicey noodles and milk. Some submerge their biscuits in their milk to create a sort of dunked biscuit porage. Or they may have a bowl of bitter rice with a few bits of nuts, some dry noodles and dry peas that crack your teeth. All dreadfully dry but they're used to it. If there's fruit, they get it now. Shanti prefers bananas as she can buy 36 half-English-size ones for 80p. Enough oranges for half a one each costs £1.75. They have fruit twice a week. If we are there they all want to share their meagre rations with us but they've got used to the fact that we politely decline. Later in the evening the children have the big main meal which is dahl bhat, the traditional Nepali meal of rice, noodles and vegetables in various forms which they eat with a spoon, fork or with their hands according to their habit. Twice a week they have meat with this. None of their food requires a knife and fork and, confronted by a buffalo steak, they wouldn't know what to do.

We've just had the public holiday and festival of Holi when, for a day, the population rush around throwing water and coloured powder over everybody. We couldn't find out the reason for this but who cares. Visitors are advised to wear only the oldest clothes. We bought the children some giant water pistols which went down very well, along with throwing plastic bags and balloons full of water and throwing bucketfuls of water off the balcony. See photos.

Fran McGowan has arrived and, as when Michael visited a few weeks ago, this has created much excited anticipation and activity. Fran and Michael have been instrumental in the building of the new home and the excitement is as much to do with the children's appreciation of this as it is the welcoming of old and loved friends, or family. Welcoming cards have been painted and drawn and the exact time and date of her appearance has been discussed for a week.

We bought an origami book and some paper and this created intense activity and demands of "Sir, Sir" and "Miss, Miss" from a dozen mouths at the same time. Unfortunately Sir had great difficulty in understanding the instructions and the quiet concentration required was not possible with the racket going on all around. As well as some creased and folded birds, cats and flowers the most popular items were paper aeroplanes, that Sir could manage, and kites. These created the most fun. See photos.

On Sunday some of the children were to start their big exams, the equivalent of junior GCSEs but the teachers have gone on strike - again. They are demanding better treatment in the new constitution which is the big matter of the day. They are demanding equal pay in government and private schools, equal treatment for teachers who left to become insurgents in the civil war and 45 other demands. The trouble is the government is a weak coalition (the Maoists are only 30% and very split) and is unable to counter such demands which are coming from every sort of group. Meanwhile the children, all hyped up for the big day, are suddenly let down. If the children don't pass all their exams they have to repeat the year.

With dry weather and the road works next to DNC the dust has reached epic proportions everywhere. It sweeps across in great waves and gets in your hair, eyes, eyelashes, nose and everywhere else. They even bashed the dust off our clean washing when we collected it from the laundry.

And now for some 'only in Nepal' stories

One of the worst parts of our journey to DNC involves a stretch along the ring road to a major junction where we turn off. Although this junction is controlled by police it only marginally reduces the chaos. They've started a major road widening here and some four storey buildings are being demolished and the road is strewn with rubble through which the traffic bounces. When we first saw it I thought there'd been a disaster or bombing, but no, only in Nepal could they start demolishing a building at the ground floor. I managed to get a photo showing the upper stories suspended on a few buckling RSJs while pedestrians and traffic passed within feet of it.

To get our regular top-ups of cash we use a hole in the wall cash dispenser near the Garden of Dreams. All cash dispensers have an aged, snoozing security guard. This time I couldn't get my card into the machine so I woke the guard who banged on the screen and shouted something in Nepali. A voice from the machine replied telling me to come back in ten minutes. I thought these machines were automated but only in Nepal is there a man inside.

There's a daily 'only in Nepal' event and I won't bore you with them all. I could write a book of them, not just a blog. Life here is amazing and often unbelievable. I've included some others in the photo gallery. They frequently involve the Nepali's amazing contortion of the English language and one immediately to hand is the instructions on a tube of glue we bought to stick paper board games to some real board.

Product purpose: For affix paper to each.

Use method: Take down the inside plugs and then locking it to uses, please fasten down cover after uses.

Notice matters: Please far away from fire and the range of children touch, do not suck.

And I'm meant to understand origami instructions!

Ps. The man in the cash machine, we learnt, was only in there as it had run out of money and he was putting more in. Well, that was the guard's story.