This city will always be a special place for me. It is certainly no longer the smallish, exciting town I visited with Dayasagar back in the Seventies, but it is an amazing place in spite of the traffic, and chaos out on the streets.

Barb and I had not planned to stay at Shambaling Hotel again…but after driving up the mountain to Bandipur, and deciding we did not want to stay (despite the magnificent mountain views), Nabin our driver brought us back to Kathmandu.

So two very relaxing nights at the delightful hotel, a couple of days wandering around the Boudhanath Stupa, Bhaktapur and Pashupatinath and we are ready to come home.

Alas! The plane is delayed an hour and a half…and our luggage was over allowance (so I have an extra cabin bag!) I usually “tut tut” people with too many bags…but here I am!

Once again we have had the most wonderful time, volunteer teaching in Bhutan. I feel very fortunate to have been able to repeat the experience. Bhutan is such a unique country, in a world so focussed on finances. I hope it continues to prosper and keep travelling to the beat of its own drum. It truly is “Shan-gri-la.”