The general mood here in Pokhara seems to have changed while we were away. A combination of the weather and a spate of strikes seem to have withdrawn people into their shells and quietened the city down – even the dogs have stopped barking (alright, reduced their barking!)

The monsoon arrived on cue and for the last week the weather has been dominated by low clouds, grey skies and some incredible storms. In one night we had 60mm of rain, but most of the time, the low light and drizzle just reminds us of home! This is Elle and Evie sheltering fom the rain.

Several recent strikes have closed businesses and disrupted travel – as well as delaying our holiday, another strike meant that we had to come back a day early to avoid a long walk home along the road. During a secrutiy briefing yesterday a list of 25 different organisations was published who all plan to hold strikes in the coming months. They included political parties, trade unions, special interest groups representing specfic caste groups, ethnic groups and people living in different parts of the country.The list was long, varied and just showed how frustrated people are with their current situations, how little faith they have in the authorities to get things done and how powerless those authorities are to control law and order.

This week is busy, with one of INF's quarterly management meetings taking place when the leaders of each of INF's programmes meet with technical advisors and representatives from the board to review work and discuss plans for the future. I am taking the minutes. It is very interesting to hear the discussions as I still have a lot of learn about the organisation, but it is tiring work – plenty of coffee required!

We had a superb time trekking last week and will share more details as soon as we sort through the 600 odd pictures we took. This is a sneak preview - Fishtail mountain showing how it got its name.