If you’re reading this then you probably know me, and if you’ve been paying really close attention you’ll probably have noticed that I disappeared off to Nepal about a year ago. What you may not know is that during the time I spent out there I kept a pretty detailed diary of everything that happened to me.

What on Earth made me decide to go and do charity work in Nepal? I had a bit of an internal debate on where to begin all this, and after an unnecessarily long time, decided some context wouldn’t go amiss. After all, it probably seemed a bit out of character for me; flying halfway around…

“Training”. Fast forward to late September and I was on my way into London to attend an ‘ICS assessment day’. I went in assuming you had to be a complete idiot to not get picked, surely the charity wanted as many able bodies as possible. To my surprise, I later found out that the selection…

Travel and Settling In. I don’t remember much of my trip to the airport, or the flight itself for that matter. My body did the things needed to be done while my brain dreamed of sleep. I do remember having a great conversation with Jess at our layover, comparing the carpets to the ones in…

Patan. To my suprise and relief, breakfast wasn’t more curry, but a strangely western affair of bread, jam and a boiled egg. This immediately resulted in my first squat toilet experience, which actually wasn’t as bad as I expected. A killer on the thighs, and you don’t have time to browse the internet on your…

More Travel. Training was over, such that it was, and we were setting off to our communities. First though, a 6am breakfast which finally seemed to do the work for Jess’ little problem. She disappeared just before we boarded the coaches and came back looking noticably lighter on her feet. Still, sitting next to her…

My first full day in community. I was awoken at 7am by the sound of baby goats charging past my window and the smell of chiya tea. The morning was mostly spent sitting around as Raj chatted to the family, with me smiling politely when they looked my way. I definitely should have spent more…

The Pipeline. After such an eventful evening, I imagined the following morning would be dull by comparison. I was proven wrong almost immediately. First, by a woman chasing off a troop of monkeys, yelling and banging on a saucepan, and second by the introduction of Perkas. Perkas was from the neighbouring region of Pokhara and…

The Day of Snacks. It was decided by our team leaders that Sunday would be our rest day. Personally, it seemed like we’d done enough sitting around already. But it did give me the chance to have a go at hand-washing my clothes for the first time. I began the day by chatting to Perkas…

Repeat. The days had started to follow a familiar pattern. Wake up, dig , lunch, chill, afternoon activities, chill, dinner, sleep, repeat. There’s not much to be said about today, that wasn’t already said yesterday. We dug with a few more aches and pains, and Meg seemed like she was here to stay. The only…