Book excerpt: Weekly letters from a leprosy hospital in the foothills of the Himalayas form the basis of this memo of an English family living in Nepal in the 1970s. Battling with language learning; bartering in the bazaar; tackling home schooling for two boys and helping to run an international playgroup - these are just a few of the challenges Barbara Collier faces.Later, travelling with three children through Thailand and Burma proves an eventful experience. Sickness brings complications and the alteration of plans in their final year.