More features

Nepal in a power cut on a cold night

Up until now I've refused to do it, I've refused to be one of those foreigners who comes to a developing country and moans. After all I'm only here until I come back to the West Midlands in the summer.

The Nepalese live here for life. But I have to admit my resistance is waning as I can confirm that January in Nepal is cold and dark and at times very gruelling.

The temperatures are higher than I'm sure they are back at home but still at night they hover around 0 degrees. What makes it one of the coldest experiences of my life is that central heating doesn't seem to have been invented in Nepal so it's jumpers and coats on 24 hours a day.

Nepalese man and his own form of heating

The Power Cuts

Most of this country's electricity comes from hydro-electric power. With the Himalayas there are plenty of fast flowing rivers for that, but there aren't enough power plants and many of those that there are don't work.

Power cuts that started at four hours per week increased to six hours per day at the start of January and now stand at eight hours a day, every day.

Buying a generator you would think would fix all of that and I've spent my 40 thousand rupees on one not much bigger than a toaster. However the Government announced a fuel shortage so there’s no petrol for the generator and no gas for the heater!

So instead of the vibrant, bustling and chaotic city that I've seen for my first six months here, Kathmandu has descended into darkness for long periods of time.

Keith Beech munching on chocolate

Heating Nepali-style comes from setting fire to anything that can be found and making fires on any scrap of land that's big enough.

It's not been all doom and gloom and a major highlight of the month came with the arrival of a shipment of chocolate from Birmingham's best known chocolate makers.

Cadbury's can be bought here in Nepal but it doesn't taste the same and there's no doubt that made in Bournville simply is the best.

The Beech family trekking in Pokhara

The Family

Before the cold really set in myself, my wife, my children Adam and Martha and their grand parents Hilary and Grahame, who dared to travel to Nepal in January, all took a trip to Pokhara.

It's a little like the Lake District but surrounded by much bigger mountains!

There we took on some light trekking. For me with a nobbled knee from too much rugby at too old an age, even light trekking was a challenge but we made it.

Keith's close shave

For the first time in my life I also let someone get close to me with a cut throat razor. I'm sure many have thought of getting a knife to me before but until now I've always resisted. I did survive to tell the tale and with not a cut in sight.

The BBC

Back in the BBC office where me and my team are producing a weekly discussion programme things are becoming busier and busier with an election due at the beginning of April. Even the office though isn't spared by the power cuts.

So what does an Englishman do in the Indian sub-continent when he has time on his hands? He organises a game of cricket of course.

Keith playing cricket with his BBC team

I mustn't boast but in the inaugural BBC World Service Trust cricket match, I did hit the winning runs (I'm sure they felt pity on me and let me).

It's a shame we weren't able to bring out Richard Wilford, Mike Taylor and the rest of the BBC WM sports team for live coverage as I'm sure my batting action was worth a comment or two.