Day 77 - Start of Tea Land!

After waking up to the full sun blaring through the window at 7h10, we thought that we really, really need to start shifting our days forward to stop getting caught in the dark every day at 17h30... Problem for tomorrow 🙈.

Head downstairs to see if we can get something for breakfast, and within minutes we've got noodles on the way and I've got sun, a friendly dog and a cup of tea.

The lady running the kitchen is efficient, we've got chow-mein within minutes, and chatting to the son about the area and holidays, and he shares lots of photos with friends hiking in Nepal, and beaches in the south of India. I'd been curious for a while if the locals go hiking in the mountains, or if it's just the tourists, so that answers that. He also pointed out that just around the corner we get a view of the 3rd highest mountain in the world!

We start off down (I think) our first proper descent so far in Nepal.... Not too many washed out gravel bits, no sneaky little sharp ups, and stunning views all the way down!

And in classic Nepalese style, you're still on the down when Garmin is telling you about the next climb in 200m... Literally down, across a bridge, and 2000m back up the other side.

We'd optimistically left the hotel hoping the tyre would stay up (it was pumped up, seemed like the tubeless was holding... Probably knew it wasn't going to hold, but wanted to get cycling...) so to no-ones surprise, Ben's fixing a flat half way up the hill and I'm on finding an ATM, lunch, snacks (and coffee if I'm efficient 🤔) in the next town. Barrista training center in Gadi - best coffee we've had in Nepal!

Back on the road and it's toasty! It's kinda cool...all the towns are at the top of humps, nothing at the bottom of the valleys. Perfect example is the colourful town of Gadi we're climbing out of!

What I'm absolutely loving about this place are the cute little colourful houses overlooking the valley, perched on the side on the bank, every few hundred meters.

2000+ meters later, Ben's "fixing" his tyre again, and I'm taking one for the team ordering tea at the top, with bonus kitten. I'm really doing quite well out of this tyre problem 😁

Just like that (to no-ones surprise) , the sun's setting, so we're racing along the ridge to try catch some views of the tea gardens before dark!

So now it's dark, we're apparently descending into the heart of tea land, more or less considering today a write-off for tea, untill we see our first plants on the side of the road! Ben goes wandering, 5 minutes later some guys show up, tell us there's a factory and shop 20m back...and just like that the shops been opened up, we're tasting tea grown literally 10m away, and the day is starting to feel like a success!

And last bonus of the day, we optimistically go past the fancy hotel that's on Booking, just to see if it's cheaper in person.... Turns out to be about 1/4 the price, so we'll take that for €12!

Food spend today: 30 euros

Tea consumption: 10