We arrived at about 10pm - the airport looks like 1965, apart from hi-tech visa machines for foreigners it's seen no investment in years, the people are friendly though and finally we stumble out of the airport. The air feels cool and clean, a driver from the hotel is waiting for us, we drive to downtown Kathmandu. The streets are deserted, there are no street lamps, roads are pot-holed - it really feels 3rd world. Made worse by groups of police with guns and army check points. We are stopped and our driver breathalysed. All this security I ask the driver, but hardly any people - what's happening? He explained the festival of Dashain has just concluded, 2.5 million people descend on Kathmandu and they have just all gone home, I get the feeling we are stepping into the aftermath of a giant party.

Big posters line the streets of President Xi of China.. why we ask? We are having a state visit from Xi Jinping, he arrives this Saturday for three days. Apparently he is here to sign a trade deal. It's all happening in Kathmandu.

Last time I was here the Indian PM Narendra Modi was here, traffic was blocked for motorcades and it was almost impossible to get around the city. Should be interesting.

So we spent the last few days with Raul our IT wizard, basically preparing for Brexit. Raul works from trendy shared space offices, but for a couple of days, we decamped to the 49th floor of our hotel which is a penthouse loft-space with gobsmacking views of the famous KL skyline. If you ever go to KL, stay at the Lanson Place, massive suites, stupendous views and lovely staff. And cheaper than a travel lodge in London.

It's amazing how productive you can be in a good working environment. It's the monsoon season and the afternoons in KL turned electric with crackling lightning and thunder. Tomas, Raul and I were literally brainstorming in a storm.. high in the sky.
Haha.. Sometimes I really love my job.

Meanwhile back in the UK, its getting to the mad crazy time. We have weekend shifts on, have managed to squeeze in some extra packing bays. And (it was my idea) persuaded the courier company to park a trailer in the car-park.. So now we just load up your orders on pallets and forklift them onto the trailer. Makes lots of extra workspaces, and when the trailer is full they just hook up and take it directly to the depot. It's working well, means less time loading vans, more time packing orders.

Bryant the warehouse manager is stressed, he messaged we have 9 containers (mostly 40 foots) arriving in the next few days, how are we going to manage? I point out that as fast as stock comes in it is going out, so we should have space.. but this is no easy job, Bryant for sure has his hands full, but he has a good team. Pray for him and his team :)

So now we will go and meet Mr Padam, a real old school gentleman, he is our shipping agent and possible sourcing agent in Nepal. Nepal has a lot of products to offer, we have only just started here, I noticed that Nepalese hemp products are really popular in Spain, and increasingly in UK so I'm keen to develop our ranges.

Full update next week.

Take care

David