Jane Wilson-Howarth

Blog

 
 
Into the Jungle 18 Mar

A trip into the Shivapuri National Park
Read more

Village clinics 08 Jan

An impression of the difficulties of delivering a health service in the Middle Hills of Nepal
Read more

Winter wanderings 11 Jan

A short trip into Nuwakot via the edge of the Shivapuri National Park
Read more

Writing a Novel 16 Jan

Some words about the various challenges of completing a novel which turned out to be a tale of loss and recovery and camaraderie and love
Read more

transHimalayan Adventure 05 Apr

Mum and son are setting out tomorrow on a small adventure into a mega-landscape
Read more

Nepal Road Trip 20 Apr

Hell's Granny and obliging son head for Mustang on a couple of motorbikes
Read more

The Open Road 01 May

Day one of our road trip left us flat-bottomed but out in the lovely sub-tropical countryside
Read more

On air on Nepal 06 Jun

Revisiting a radio interview recorded just after the 2015 Earthquakes
Read more

Pokhara to Baglung  04 May

Our Nepal roadtrip continues
Read more

Standing on the shoulders... 08 May

A continuing tale of two bikes, tough riding conditions and lost nerve
Read more

Jam and pakoras 11 May

Heading down was also scary but for different reasons 
Read more

A New Book Launching 04 Jan

a lot of fun to write ....
Read more

Midnight emergency 28 May

A glimpse of the challenges of providing health care deep in the Himalayas
Read more

Call-out 01 Jun

Imagine living in a village where the only way to get to hospital is by way of a bus that goes only once a day and the journey takes three rattle-and-bump hours
Read more

A Beast of Astonishing Size 03 Jun

Even in the mountains of Nepal, there is the chance to encounter some truely awesome creatures
Read more

Demonstrating for Health 06 Jun

World Enviroment Day was marked in the Kathmandu Valley with a citizens' march
Read more

Beyond the Himalayan Watershed 30 Oct

A trip into Upper Mustang
Read more

Bleeding mountains 13 Nov

Late October / early November is the holiday season in Nepal and this is the second part of a quickly dashed off account of a trip into Upper Mustang last month
Read more

No-one is here 14 Nov

Some notes and photos from a fortnight in Mustang
Read more

Awakening 16 Nov

Waking on a November morning in Kathmandu
Read more

Holi 11 Mar

This year the festival of colours falls on Wednesday 20th March; here's an account of my experience of Holi in the Kathmandu Valley last year
Read more

A Shangri La? 18 Jan

Some thoughts on a trip to Bajura in western Nepal, with apologies for being a little remiss in my posts lately. 
Read more

My life 20 Jan

A fictionalised piece about life in Kathmandu for those of low caste with no money and few opportunities
Read more

Nothing's a given 27 Feb

On being hangry at breakfast time
Read more

Women Travellers 01 Mar

In November, I was featured on the Bradt Travel Guides website in their celebration of women travellers. I thought I'd repost the e-interview here.
Read more

Bring tea 16 Mar

Flash fiction is a complete story in limited word count. I've chosen 100 words or less. This piece was inspired by a tea-stop on a drive to Lamjung in the Middle Hills of Nepal and the delicious sweet spicy milky tea I slurped from a glass at the roadside
Read more

A faded topi 16 Mar

At Kalunki, on the dusty congested main road out of Kathmandu an old man watched the world go by. I saw him from the traffic jam. This is another piece of flash fiction - a whole story in 100 words
Read more

Food aid 18 Mar

Here's another 100-word story from a low income country
Read more

Today's earthquake 18 Mar

There was an earthquake this morning here in the Kathmandu Valley
Read more

Return to Rajapur 25 Mar

We went back briefly last week to 'our' island in the Karnali River in the Plains of Nepal to see what's changed
Read more

Parenting in an idyll 01 Apr

Retur to Rajapur Island - part 2
Read more

Not enough love 03 Apr

Why does the self-harm continue?
Read more

Tea 05 Jun

Cambridge Writers set a challenge to compose a complete story in 250 words or less so I thought I'd post my entry
Read more

Pony trekking in Nepal 30 Oct

Who even expected riding a horse in the Himalayas would be easy?
Read more

Pony trekking in Nepal 2 01 Nov

This is the second part of an account of a trip into Dolpo in NW Nepal
Read more

October in Dolpo 06 Nov

The third episode describing a trip into the last district in Nepal to have a road 
Read more

Dolpo - episode 4 07 Nov

Episode the fourth of our Dolpo trek
Read more

Yak pastures 15 Nov

The final installement describing a two-week trip to Dolpo in October
Read more

Kathmandu 23 Feb

The winter miasma....
Read more

World Book Day 06 Mar

It was great to join in with World Book Day at TBS in Kathmandu
Read more

Urban cycling 10 Mar

Is cycling in Kathmandu an extreme sport?
Read more

Revenge of the Pangolin 24 Mar

Why isn't humankind a little... kinder?
Read more

Dawn chorus 11 Apr

The sounds from my roof
Read more

Phew! 14 Apr

From hazardous to simply unhealthy....
Read more

A New Incarnation 13 Aug

I'm privileged to have had the time and space and postive frame of mind during the pandemic to record my first audiobook which launched finally in December 2020
Read more

The Fourth Incarnation 14 Aug

The pandemic gave me the space and time to record an audiobook for the first time and this is the fourth incarnation of <em>A Glimpse of Eternal Snows</em>
Read more

From Our Own Correspondent 21 Sep

A piece about our return to Nepal after the earthquakes
Read more

A New Audiobook 14 Feb

How could I really have thought it would only take 22 hours!?
Read more

Return to Nepal 05 Mar

Notes on the new complications of international travel
Read more

Snail Mail's Cancelled 15 Mar

Some words on returning to Kathmandu during the pandemic and how things are in Nepal.
Read more

Is Nepal Receiving the 'Best" COVID-19 Vaccine?? 28 Mar

An opinion piece published this week in Nepal's <em>Setopati</em> online newspaper
Read more

Six Eggs 21 Apr

A true [very] short story
Read more

Life is a Little Easier 29 Apr

I joined Simon Howarth and Purnima colleagues on a trip to review the progress of an impressive programme
Read more

Here We Go Again 30 Apr

COVID-19 cases are rising in the subcontinent and here in Nepal we've entered another lockdown
Read more

Building Back Better 01 May

Progress over the six years since the Nepal earthquakes
Read more

Leaving No-one Behind 02 May

Meeting some villagers in Dhading who were struggling to rebuild their lives after the earthquakes
Read more

Rebuilding a School 09 May

More on the work of the Purnima Programme 
Read more

Using an oximeter 10 May

Do share these notes if you are thinking of buying and using an oximter at home
Read more

Cobbler 26 Nov

A sad glimpse of a tough life
Read more

Admissions - a review 07 Jun

I'm busy writing a medical memoir so have been dipping into others...
Read more

Return 29 Sep

We've done 100 days of lock-down (in two countries) and 40 days of quarantine this year alone so that's my excuse for being so quiet with my blogging.... 
Read more

Wildlife and Wild Weather 18 Oct

We grabbed a week up in Manang over Dasai and enjoyed some spectacular views of the Annapurnas
Read more

Black Mud 21 Oct

Driving Nepal's dirt roads can be challenging, especially after an especially heavy monsoon
Read more

Heightist? 11 Nov

I'm not sure why it has taken me so long to venture into the Khumbu
Read more

Village sounds 18 Nov

Listening in Lukla
Read more

Urban sounds 14 Mar

Spring has arrived in the Kathmandu Valley<br />  
Read more

Writing and being techy 17 Mar

A woffle about some of the other tasks facing a writer
Read more

Road trip 16 Apr

A final trip to round off five years in Nepal
Read more


    Pontifications
    Travel
    Wildlife
    Writing
    March 2024(1)
    August 2023(1)
    July 2023(1)
    June 2023(2)
    May 2023(1)
    April 2023(2)
    March 2023(1)
    April 2022(3)
    March 2022(2)
    January 2022(2)
    October 2021(2)
    August 2021(1)
    June 2021(1)
    May 2021(5)
    April 2021(3)
    March 2021(4)
    October 2020(1)
    August 2020(2)
    July 2020(1)
    June 2020(1)
    May 2020(1)
    April 2020(4)
    March 2020(4)
    January 2020(1)
    October 2019(2)
    June 2019(1)
    April 2019(2)
    March 2019(9)
    January 2019(2)
    October 2018(3)
    August 2018(3)
    June 2018(4)
    May 2018(5)
    April 2018(3)
    March 2018(1)
    January 2018(4)
    October 2017(4)
    August 2017(3)
    July 2017(2)
    June 2017(2)
    May 2017(1)
    April 2017(1)
    March 2017(4)
    January 2017(1)
    October 2016(7)
    August 2016(2)
    July 2016(1)
    June 2016(1)
    January 2016(3)
    October 2015(1)
    August 2015(1)
    July 2015(1)
    May 2015(2)
    April 2015(2)
    March 2015(2)
    January 2015(3)
    October 2014(4)
    July 2014(1)
    June 2014(4)
    May 2014(1)
    April 2014(1)
    January 2014(4)
    October 2013(1)
#righttobreathe / . / 100 word story / 100-word story / 50 Camels / 50 Camels and She's Yours / A Glimpse of Eternal Snows / A Wide Woman on a Narrow Boat / Aberdeen / Abuja / accidents / Active Fairness System / Adam Reta / Admissions / adventure / adventure stories / advertising / affairs / age concern / aging / agouti / air pollution / air quality / Akwanga / albatross / alcoholism / Alicia Ostriker / Ama Dablam / Amadablam / Americanisms / Amharic / animal reservoirs / ANM / Annapurna / Antarctic / Antarctica / antelope / anthology / Argentina / Arrivals / Asad / assisted suicide / audacity / audible / audio / audio musical project / audiobook / author / Author from Hull / author interview / author reading / author-to-author / Auxiliary Nurse Midwife / ayurvedic toothpaste / Bagarchhap / Baglung / Bagmati / Bajaj / Bajaj Pulsar / Bajura / banknotes / BBC Radio Cambridgeshire / bear precautions / Belfast / Benjamin Langley / bergy bits / Bertrand Russell / Bethlehem Attfield / Betty Levene / Bhotang / bicycle / bike trip / birdlife / birds / birthday / black bear / black kites / black pine forest / Blitz / blood oxygen / Bloodshot Books / Blue sheep / book launch / book review / border guards / Boreal Wildlife Centre / bottled gas / Bradt / Bradt Travel Guides / Brahmin / brain surgery / breakfast / bridge / Britain / brown bear / buckwheat / buckwheat bird / buffalo cart / Bugs Bites & Bowels / Building Back Better / BuildingBackBetter / bulbul / camaraderie / Cambridge / Cambridge University Exploration Society / Cambridge writers / Cambridgeshire / camping hazards / canals / caracara / carcinogens / cardinal / caste / catastrophe / cave diving / cave fish / caves / caving / CBtoo / celtic / chaite-dhan / Chandragiri / Chele / childbirth / children's books / Chirang / Chisapaani / Chisapani / Chobhar / Chobhar Hill / Chomolungma / Chough / city cycling / civet / climate change / clinics / Clive James / cobbler / cold / cold desert / colourful hat / comfort / coming of age / coronavirus / Covid / covid vaccine / COVID vaccines / Covid-19 / cows / crab-eater seal / craic / creating characters / creative writing / cycling / cyclist / daisy chain / dal bhat / dangerous wildlife / dark tale / dawn / dawn chorus / Dead Branches / death / demonstration / Department of Roads / depression / desert / development / development work / Devon / Dhading / Dhading besi / Dhading District / Dhangadhi airport / Dhaulagiri / Dhee / dhulomandu / doctor memoir / doctors / Dolpa / Dolpo / domestic violence / Dr. Katrina Butterworth / dragon / dragons / Drakmar / drinking water / droppings / Dunai / dust / early marriage / earthquake / earthquake alarm / earthquake damage / earthquake today / earthquakes / East Anglia / eco-resort / eco-tourism / Edinburgh / efficacy / elbow sneezing / electrics / embankments / emergency / England / English journey / English language / environmental crisis / Eräkeskus / eternal snows / Ethiopia / ethnic cleansing / euthanasia / evacuation / Everest / evocative smells / Ewell / expat / expedition / expeditions / exploitation / Exploration / explorers / Fagu Purnima / Falgun / family / FCDO / feelgood read / Fens / festival / festival of colour / festivals in March / fiction / Finland / fire-tailed sunbird / fishing / fishtail / Fish-tailed mountain / flash fiction / flash literature / flash prose / flood / flood protection / floods / folk story / football / footbridge / footpath / forest / forest fires / Fox Chapel publishing / friends / friendship / frostbite / Gai Tihar / gaming / Ganesh himal / Gangetic Plain / garden / garment / Ghami / Ghemi / ghoral / giant crab spider / given names / giving birth / global warming / goodread / goral / gorge / Gorkha / gossip / GP writer / grandad / greater rhea / Greece / grey-headed canary-flycatcher / growler / Gupha Pokhari / Gupteswar Gupha / haiku / handwashing / hand-washing station / hangry / happiness / happyness / hare / Hatibhan / hawkmoth / health assistant / Heffers / Heffers bookshop / Hell's Grannies / Henningham Family Press / Henry Marsh / hill walking / himal / Himalaya / Himalayan Black Bear / Himalayan foothills / Himalayan Goral / Himalayan griffon vulture / Himalayan Hostages / Himalayan Kidnap / Himalayan serow / Himalayan Sunrise / Himalayan woolly hare / Himalayas / himals / Hindu festival / Hindu kingdom / Holi / Holi Purnima / holocaust / home care / home delivery / honey buzzard / hoopoe / hornero / horror / Horseshoe Bay / hospital / hot springs / Hotel Deep of Worldtop / Hotel Peace Palace / house crows / how long to write a book? / human kind / human spirit / Ibera / idyllic childhood / immigration / index / indexer / indexing / India / Indonesia / Indra Jatra / infidelity / inspiration / inspiring fiction for children / Ireland / irrigation / Is She Dead in Your Dreams? / jackal / Janajibika Hotel / Jane Wilson-Howarth / Jews / Joe Wilson / Jomosom / Jomsom / joy / jungle / Jungle book / Juphal / Kaag Beni / Kag Beni / Kali Gandaki / Kali Gandaki gorge / Kalopani / Kalunki / Karnali River / Kashigaon / Kashigoan / Kathmandu / Kathmandu Valley / Katrina Butterworth / kestrel / khana / Khartoum / Khumbu / Khumbu microbus / kickstart / kidnap / kindness / Kipling / Kipling's jungle / kites / Kolkata / Krishna / Kumari / Kurds / Kurentar / Kusma / labour / ladoos / lama / Lamjung himal / lammergeier / lammergeyer / landscape / landslide / landslides / Langtang himal / language / language gaffs / langur / Large Indian civet / largest tribuary of the Ganges / Laxmi Puja / leave no one behind / leave no-one behind / LeaveNooneBehind / Leaving no-one Behind / letter-writing / library / lichen / life lessons / Linblad / Livelihoods / living goddess / lockdown / lockdown project / LoMantang / Lombok / London pigeon / loneliness / Lord Ganesh / Lord Krishna / loss and recovery / love / Lukhu river / Lukla / lupus / Machhapuchare / Machhapuchhare / Madagascar / Makwanpur / Manang / Manbu / mani wall / married life / Marsyangdi / Martinselkosen / Mary Kingsley / masala tea / maskmandu / masks / maternal mortality / Maya and the Dragon / medical emergency / medical evacuation / medical memoir / medical Students / Melamchi / memoir / memoirist / memory / Mendip / Michael Rosenberg / microbuses of the Khumbu / microfiction / middle grade readers / Middle Hills / millet / mineral water bottles / Monsoon / morning mist / mortality / Moth Snowstorm / motorbike / motorbike trip / motorbikes / motorcycle / MottMacDonald / mountain / mountain medicine / mountains / mouse hare / mouse-hare / Muktinath / Mukwanpur / mulberries / Mustang / nag puja / nak cheese / names / naming / narrator / narrow boat / National Reconstruction Authority / nature / Naubisi / neighbours / Nepal / Nepal Communitere / Nepal road trip / Nepal roadtrip / Nepal Valley / Nepal wildlife / Nepali / Nepali food / Nepali tea / Nepali Times / Nepali topi / Nepali wildlife / Nigeria / Nigiri himal / nilgai / Nilgiri / Nilgiri South / non-fiction / Nonsuch Palace / Nonsuch Park / Northumberland / novel / nuthatch / Nuwakot / obstetrics / onions / on-line newspaper / orb spider / oven bird / ox-cart / Oxford / Oxford vaccine / oximeter / oxymeter / pampas / pandemic / Pangboche / pangolin / pantoum / parenting / Passer montanus / passing places / passive pleasure / Patan / Patan Durbar / Patan Durbar Square / patients / payer / PCR test / People in Need charity / percussion / petrel / Pfizer vaccine / PHASE / PHASE Nepal / PHASENepal / Phewa Tal / Philippines / Phoksundo / phonetics / photoktm2016 / pigeons / pika / pike / pilgrims / plastic waste / pleasure / PM 2.5 / poem / poet / poetry / Pokhara / Police My Friend / pollution / polytunnel / pony trekking / post earthquake recovery / post-earthquake reconstruction / Potatoes / powder / pregnancy / Pridhamsleigh Cavern / prose / public library / publishers / publishing / puja / Pul Chowk / Pulsar / Pungmo / Purnima / Purnima programme / Pyncnonotus cafer / Qatar / rabies / Rajapur / Rajapur bazaar / Rajapur Island / Rajapur market / Rajapur town / rat snake / reading / reading aloud / Real Fairness for Real men / reconstructed dialogue / recording / recovery / recycling / Red Dawn Rising / red-crested cardinal / red-vented bulbul / refugee camp / refugees / relief work / Remover of obstacles / Requiem for Potatoes / retirement / rhea / rhododendron / rhododendrons / rice / ricefields / Richard Mabey / Ringmo / risk takers / river crossing / river island / river-crossing / road trip / roadtrip / Rock Doves / Rock Road Library / rock shelters / Roe Deer / Royal Enfield Riders Club / Royle's pika / rubbish / Rufus-breasted Niltava / rupees / Russian border / rustling / rustlings / safety / Sagamartha / Sagamartha National Park / Sally Haiselden / samosa / Sappros / Sarengkot / sarus cranes / School rebuilding / scorpion / screening / Second World War / Seeta Siriwardena / self-harm / senses / serow / Setopati / Shackleton / Shadow Spark Publishing / Shaista Tayabali / Shangri La / Shangri-la / Shanti bazaar / Shey-Phoksundo National Park / Shivapuri / Shivapuri Nagajung National Park / Shivapuri National Park / Shivapuri Village / Shivapuri Village Resort / short fiction / short story / shrikes / silk / Simon Howarth / Sindhupalchowk / Sinhala / Sinhalese / Six degrees of Separation / skipper butterflies / skippers / snow leopard / Snowfed Waters / social isolation / solid waste / solid waste disposal / Soti / South Sudan / spaghetti electrics / sparrows / Speaking Tiger / species leap / spelunking / spider venom / Spiny babblers / spotted owlet / squirrel / Sri Lanka / Sri Lankan author / Stephanie Green / stink bug / stolpersteine / street art / street dogs / Subsistence agriculture / Sudan / Suli Gad Khola / Suli Gad river / Summit Air / sump diving / sunbird / sunrise / surgeon / Surrey / suspended bridge / Sussex / Suttee / Swildon's Hole / Tahr / tales / tar tattoo / tato pani / Tatopani / TBS Kathmandu / tea / tea shop / teacher / teashop / Teku / Teku Hospital / Teku infectious diseases hospital / Temporary Learning Centre / Tengboche / terai / Thamel / Thankot / Tharu / Tharu people / The Book Warren / The British School Kathmandu / The Lonely Cat / The Lost Spell / Thessaloniki / Thumki Danda / time / To be blessed / tongba / topi / totobobo / traffic / traffic jam / traffic rules / traffic uncles / transHimalaya / transHimalayan / translation / travel / travel anthology / travel health / travel health guide / travel narrative / travel writing / traveling with children / travelling with children / tree sparrows / trekking / Tribhuvan International Airport / Tsirang / Twin Otter / Type two fun / Uganda / UK / UK aid / UK aid in Nepal / UKAid / unbound / unplanned pregnancy / Upper Mustang / urban cycling / urban life / urban pollution / urban water supply / Ushuaia / vaccinating / vaccination / vaccine / Valley / vampires / vegetarian / velvet-fronted nuthatch / Viiksimontie / Village dogs / village life / village sounds / visa / volunteering / vulture / Wai / Wanderlust / water supplies / water tankers / West Sussex / western Nepal / white lies / WHO / widower / wild goat / wild places / wilderness / wildlife / wildlife stories / William Matthews / Wilson / winter / winter madness / winter Wheat / Witchford / women of a certain age / Women Travellers / wood fires / woodpecker / words / wordsmith / World Book Day / World Book Day 2020 / World Cup 1990 / World Environment Day / world herritage / world's deepest gorge / writer / writer in residence / writers group / writer's life / writing / writing a book / writing about writing / writing characters / writing exercise / writing for children / writing group / writing habits / writing prompts / xenophobia / yak cheese / year fives / yeti / young mother / young motherhood / Your Child Abroad / zoonoses