Not a lot of blog here, to make up for the excess last time. We've sorted out just a few snaps to give you a feel of our 10 days in Pokhara and the Chitwan National Park. This was a glimpse of a totally different Nepal from the one we've experienced in Kathmandu. The air was clear, there was no dust, no noise, no rubbish so no stench of burning rubbish, little traffic and so no fumes or frantic hooting and pushing. Hotels were great. Scenery was lovely. Sauraha, the village we stayed in at Chitwan had so much of the old Nepal about it - real people carrying out their rural lives, vegetable patches in town and animals mixing with the humans. All great. Just a shame we had to leave.

There is of course the real, real Nepal which, unfortunately, we won't be able to visit. The majority of Nepal still lives many miles and days walks from the nearest road. No metalled road goes west from Pokhara, leaving 250 miles of land with no direct contact. We've had two opportunities to visit these types of villages, near Dhading Besi, where DNC contacts support a school and the school at Daduwa which was supported by last year's Petertide Fair. All reports tell of wonderful, welcoming people and we'd love to see them and experience their way of life. But they are both at least another 2 or 3 day journey from Kathmandu and we've decided we don't have the time this time.