whirlwind weeks

Hey everyone, post title because that's how fast past couple of weeks have gone!  So last time I posted we were still in Kathmandu, had a really great few days there didn't cram too much in, was a good mix of chill and sight see, Boudhanath and monkey temple visits.  One highlight was finding a great little jazz place on our last eve in Kathmandu, I've found so far here that the live music is usually a cover band of classic rock so to find a jazz club with amazing musicians was a great end to our time there.  Ok so some highlights of Pokhara - Staying in sarangot with Krishna's parents, hanging out with Bikram, Dilu and Suman back in the village, Tom teaching an environment lesson at the school! Then finally we also decided to do a small trek.  Ended up going to do the Mardi Himal trek, we had fewer days than you would normally take to complete the route so first day gained a lot of height and stayed at Low camp about 3000m.  Second day was beautiful as we quickly were up on the ridge and views early in the morning were stunning, Fish tail and Annapurna south dominated the skyline.  We headed up to the furthest viewing point past high camp around 4900m, the altitude really started to take effect more after high camp!  Third day we were originally aiming to reach a place called Astam but ended up resting in Lwang and then staying with a family there.  This is what I love about the Mardi Himal trek, its very unspoiled and you don't have westernised tea houses all along the route, the homestay in Lwang was lovely, I suppose the sort of trek that enables you to have a small glimpse of 'real nepali life'.  The fourth day we arrived in a beautiful eco village in Astam, again would highly recommend this as a spot to visit if any of you ever make it to Nepal one day...The village is situated on the top of a hill so great views of fish tail, Mardi Himal and Annapurna when it's clear, we managed glimpses of this at sunrise.  Its really good to see projects like this in Nepal, they had a rain water collection system, solar pannels, recycling facilities, and a beautiful garden with ingredients for your dahl bhaat or camomile tea!  Overall a really great two weeks :)

I'm looking forward to the month ahead, will be moving into the orphanage in the next few days s feels like a new chapter here, will be strange being based in lakeside and want to keep regular visits to the village to see my nepali family and friends, hopefully somewhere in there will be a trip to the terrai...Anyway more orphanage updates to come.

Love x