Quotes from Jane Wilson-Howarth

when the press and problems of humanity become too much, I love to escape into books, where people are served up in digestible portions and can be pushed to one side when one is satiated.

I love to escape to wild places – forests, mountains rivers or the sea. If that's not possible, I flee into books; vicarious travel is rejuvenating

The Chinese say that there is no scenery in your home town. They're right. Being in another place heightens the senses, allows you to see more, enjoy more, take delight in small things; it makes life richer. You feel more alive, less cocooned.

The mountains were so wild and so stark and so very beautiful that I wanted to cry. I breathed in another wonderful moment to keep safe in my heart.

The river is such a tranquil place, a place to sit and think of romance and the beauty of nature, to enjoy the elegance of swans and the chance of a glimpse of a kingfisher.

I think of the irony that in our language [Nepali] the word for love can also mean deceit.

In Nepal, the quality of conversation is much more important than accuracy of the content. Maybe we get overexcited about information in England?

A Glimpse of Eternal Snows celebrates Nepali wildlife: a smooth grey boulder lifts its head to become a rhinoceros; a langur look-out hysterically grunts the alarm from the treetop as a tiger merges into the dappled scrub; and a menacing mantis makes her home in the makeshift bathroom and refuses to become a pet.

Travel is a joy, full of surprises. Perhaps some of the most enjoyable times are those where one comes close to disaster: the risks add spice, and make for great stories when you are safely back home again.

GPs are almost the only doctors these days who understand all problems, can see the whole person…spend time with the dying…see things through to the end.

no-one would want to go through a traumatic experience but when you've survived something life-shattering and risen above it, you achieve a kind of serenity.

Seeing human suffering changes you. It either makes you compassionate or it makes you hard.

how could Britain operate in India for 300 years and take so little back from it in terms of understanding?

The few certainties in our existences are pain, death and bereavement.

Technology hasn't got all the answers, and sometimes - just sometimes - what is needed is spirituality, time and some good mountain air.

I was wrenched awake at the tail-end of a stifled scream. I fought my way up from a deep dark dream. The scream had been mine.

Travel is a joy, full of surprises and astonishing new experiences. Perhaps some of the most enjoyable times are those where one comes close to disaster; the risks add spice.

Blood-coloured bottlebrush trees and scarlet hibiscus looked too bright for this devastated world.

I like the way Nepalis point by pouting their lips; they reckon pointing with a finger is rude.

A traveller with an open mind grows richer with each journey, with each encounter, with each conversation.

Living in the edge - that's what I feel like when I don't know what my bowels are going to do next.

Travel experiences are emotionally loaded. Often there is excitement and stimulation. The tingle-factor though comes partly from the fact that we're stressed, just a little.

I reckon that blaming people fixes nothing. You're the only person who is going to sort you out. No-one else really can - or really cares, enough. That's what Nepalis know - better than anyone. That's our Western disease. Don't take responsibility. Take on a lawyer!

everything was fresh, green and particularly beautiful. Afternoon light, filtering between remnants of monsoon clouds, picked out gullies and spot-lit patches of forest and scrub on the convoluted ridges of the rim of the Kathmandu Valley. Or, after a rainstorm, wisps of clouds clung to the trees as if scared to let go. Behind, himals peeked out shyly between the clouds.