Day 191 Happy New Year everyone! And what a great date, 1/1/11. So I'm up at 8am, full of excitement about being reborn today. The girls have gone off to Patan Durbar Square for a day of sightseeing; Clover is fuming and Daddy's patience is wearing thin. Rufus had booked my rebirthing for 1pm but I decided that would interfere with my plans for a boozy lunch so am going at 11am instead. Plenty of time to revert to old habits afterwards. We set off to the reb...

Day 190 So we moved out our apartment as part of our Goodbye Nepal phase, and moved into cheapy-delightful-crappy accommodation in Thamel, Kathmandu's red-light district (and on reflection, a place we should have spent way more time in). Tearful goodbyes to our neighbours (theirs, not ours) and then we chucked 17 pieces of luggage, my ex husband, two daughters, current partner and a confused Nepali taxi driver and off we went. I felt bad about the nice lady ...

Day 186 So Christmas has been and gone. Christmas Eve was lovely and we went to the Shangri-La for carols, cookies and mulled wine. Rufus bought me a lovely white wool coat which he had made for me specially. Daddy took the girls to Bar Buddha for a cocktail. All in bed for 8.30pm. The ripping of the presents began very early and we were all pleased with what we had been given. Apart from Rufus - everyone had forgotten to get him something so Fern, being the...

Day 190 Christmas is nearly here and we are loving Kathmandu's version. We've made the most of it, going to every daft local and ex-pat Christmas event and basically chucking money at the problem so the girls have a nice time. We went to a children's party and enjoyed the hired plushie panda getting a kicking from the local kids - see photos. I read Brian Keenan's An Evil Cradling and have been completely enthralled. Rufus has taken up Tae Kwon Do and is nev...

Day 180 Met a lovely Israeli family whose achievements made us feel totally rubbish. A couple with three children, aged 5, 8 and 10 - who have trekked to base camp Everest and Annapurna. They had walked each route for 30 full days, sleeping in tea houses and going without a shower. Apparently the children loved it, even the 5 year old. They are trying to find ways to live 'off the land' so they never have to return home. They are educating their children on ...