Home safe but not well

Today is the first day I have felt well enough to open my computer since returning from Nepal.  Kathmandu is a great place to visit – but it is not good for one’s health.  The pollution is bad for the lungs, the food can be a problem, and at this time of year the temperature fluctuates from warm and sunny during the day to really cold in the evenings and at night.   Our room in the guest house was icy cold.

I was lucky and escaped the tummy bug ’ö-Dzin picked up in Delhi which laid him low with vomiting and diarrhoea for a few days.  I did have a few unpleasant insect bites and above my left eye was swollen and painful for several days.  We are both experiencing the result of the air pollution however, and ’ö-Dzin is suffering the return of his hacking cough.  I also developed another bad head cold and have been feeling really weak.  The journey home was uneventful – but it is so long and was something of an ordeal while feeling unwell.  I am just thankful that we were not suffering digestive upsets by the time we were due to travel home.  It must be truly dreadful to have to cope with sickness and/or diarrhoea on a long haul flight.

It took around twenty four hours to get home and of course on top of the general illness there is jet lag to cope with.  At the moment we are feeling that this will have been our final visit to Nepal because it is too stressful for the body now that we are getting older.  It seems to be impossible to travel to these countries without experiencing illness to some degree.  So we think we probably will not be going out there again – but who knows...

Christmas arrived in a blur of illness and exhaustion, but we still managed to enjoy Christmas Day with our sons.  We are so happy to be back home with our wood-burning stoves to keep us snug in the evening.  Images of our trip to follow soon.