The bus ride to Pokhara took about 8 hours. It was very slow going getting out of Kathmandu. We crawled round hills in a long line of trucks and buses. When we weren't stopped for ages in one place it was great just to look out of the window and watch Neplai life go by. the bus stopped twice at little road-side cafes. When I got to the Lakeside bus station, Janice, Bindus's daughter (who runs the guesthouse I'm staying at) was there to meet me. Back at the guesthouse I was shown my room, it's big with two beds (2nd one is useful for putting stuff on as the only storage I have is one draw under my bed!) and a private bathroom. My view isn't of the mountains (which you can rarely see anyway) but I do get the sunrise.

The doors don'tshut unless you latch them (from either side). After I'd unpacked I tried to go out to look round and maybe meet people but someone had bolted my door from the outside so I was locked in! I had to wait until Bindu brought one of the other volunteers to meet me and could unlock the door. I filed the time by watching the church across the courtyard. There was a lot of wailing from it!

I met Fleur and Barbara. Fleur is from Australia but has lived in London for four years. Barbara is English and a retired teacher. They invited me to dinner with them. There are also three Americans, two women volunteering and one of their husbands but they were rafteing for the weekend. After I'd met them Janice brought me neplai tea (the nicest tea I've ever had) and chatted to me for ages. Janice is 18 too and very friendly.

Fleur and Barbara took me to a restaurant for dinner (the 'self-catering' at Bindu's turns out to be just one gas hob, a mini saucepan and a travel kettle, only enough to boil water - with or without electricity). It was sunday so load-shedding started at 8pm. You can almost set your watch by when load-shedding starts. It takes some getting used to but everything is well set up. Many places in Lakeside have generators. At Bindu's we use candles and it's easier than you might expect.

I met the Americans at breakfast the next day. Mary-Sue is a potter, Sharron a retired teacher and Gerry her husband. Later Janice took me to Mahendrapul (the main centre of Pokhara, where Nepalis shop). We got the bus. It was packed with people and just stops anywhere along the route for people to get on or off (which makes it quite slow). After about 10 minutes on the bus there was a bigger bumo than usual. A truck had gone into the back of us! It wasn't serious, just a few broken windows and nobody hurt (we were going very slowly). Janice said it was the first time she's been on a bus in a crash. So we got a taxi the rest of the way.

On tuesday Phil took me to visit several placements so I could choose one (Phil organises all the placements for POD). Most didn't seem very needy. The only one that did (a home for street children) already had loads of volunteers.

I was very proud of myslef on wednesday because I managed to get the bus to Mahendrapul and back all on my own! (and without it crashing) I ate with Bindu's family for the first time. The food was good but it was a bit awkward. After, I sat and chatted to her daughters which was nice. Apart from Janice she also has Julia who is 14. They're lovely and very helpful and friendly.

I couldn't start my placement until monday so I had a couple of days to fill. On Thursday I went with the Americans to walk up a hill on the other side of the lake to the Peace Pagoda (a Buddhist temple). It wasn't a long walk, nor too jard. We met some buffalo hearders on the hill and talked to them through Raju (our guide who also lives at Bindu). The Peace Pagoda itself wasn't that interesting, we couldn't go inside. The views across the lake to Pokhara were good though, it's much bigger than I realised.