Day 60 - 63

Spent a fab day at Darjeeling Zoo which had an incredible array of animals kept in reasonable conditions. Red pandas, Tibetan wolves and Himalyan black bears were particularly interesting and seem comfortable in their habitats. We walked to and from the zoo, a round trip of 6km. The distance wasn't so bad but the hills were. It was one of these walks that was mysteriously uphill all the way there and all the way back. Stopped for a coffee at the 'Hot Stimulating Cafe' - an interestingly named Darjeeling institution where the nice Tibetan owner took a shine to Clover and made her an odd local dish of milk and noodles. She loved it.
The town is a mix of large gated villas that wouldn't be out of place in Newton Mearns and odd little boxes with tin roofs. We are not so much of a novelty anymore and people don't stare nearly as much - to be honest, I quite miss it.

The whole town has shut down now due to a political strike. Apparently some Gurkha convict has escaped from a local prison where he was awaiting trial for the murder of a policeman. The Gurkha movement believe this is a ploy by the police who have actually tortured him to death and are pretending he has run away. They have given the police 24 hours to 'find him'. Everything is closed and there are daily demonstrations in the main square. The loud chanting is whipping the crowd into a frenzy; we walked around for a while, felt rather unsafe and retreated to the hotel. It feels quite unsettled around here and local rumour has it, he is a dangerous man on the run. I hope they find him soon, dead or alive. Darjeeling and its surrounding villages are really keen to reclaim 'Gorkaland' and this causes pretty much constant tension and civil unrest. I blame Joanna Lumley.

Forced together in a small space, we are mainly drinking tea and reading books. I feel I am getting to know my children in a way that would never be possible when school and work gets in the way and I love them more than ever before. Fern has a boil under her armpit which is leaking a horrible assortment of fluids. We squeeze it daily in an attempt to reduce its size. She also lost another tooth and pretty much only has gums left. I have a very sore, gripey tummy and periodically stagger around clutching myself shouting 'I feel like I'm in labour'. Clover is cross she has no ailments so is inventing a range of them including a cough and an itchy arm. Rufus is fine but is losing patience.

Did some Skyping to family and feel even further away than ever before, emotionally and geographically. It is difficult to maintain relationships that are tricky anyway and stilted video conversations are awkward. I miss my sister and she promises to be our first visitor to Kathmandu. Can't wait to see a lovely friendly face - or just hers will do. Am jealous the X Factor has started at home and am missing some traditional home comforts - such as drinking wine with Jo and shouting abuse at the contestants, or texting Claire after every audition to b**** about their clothes, hair or weight. I can't even get it on Iplayer despite numerous attempts. Today Fern and I are making Clover's toy panda a dress out of an old sarong (sorry Wendy, it was the one you gave me). We're quite proud of the design and the stitching, the fact it doesn't fit is just a minor inconvenience.

So we need a new challenge, this has been one long adventerous holiday and we are ready for full-on work! I am so excited and nervous about the thought of what is expected of us in Nepal and do we have the skill set to actually do it? Both of us are worried about letting people down. The girls are more than ready to start school and hopefully they will get something educational as well as experiential out of it. Fern and I have developed a serious interest in Buddhism and I really hope this is something we can pursue in Kathmandu. We'll come home fat and poor and happy!