Day 78 - Nepalese Tea Land!

For the record I independently thought of this title but Emma pipped me to the post with yesterday's blog!

I saw the sunrise from the comfort of the toilet seat this morning as the sun had the good grace to come up perfectly aligned with the bathroom window, and then continued to enjoy the colours while in my nearly warm shower (a luxury in Nepal!). I couldn't enjoy the sunshine in the breakfast room unfortunately as I had to ONCE AGAIN fix my inner tube, a process I started in the courtyard in the sun until I was forced indoors by the car pressure washing going on in that very same courtyard! Eventually the deed was done, the breakfast eaten and we were on our way - tea land was waiting!

It was a disappointing start to our planned day when both tea shops (and potential tastings) were closed, we didn't have time for coffee, and the tea garden viewpoint was underwhelming.

Stressed about missing the views by arriving in the dark, we hurtled down the extremely steep descent and then started winching up the final major climb of this section (and probably tour given our experience of the world).

We arrived in Suryodaya (meaning Spiritual Sunrise), the town where we planned to do a last check before the 700m climb to the border that we could indeed cross there, and split briefly while I detoured to a tea plantation viewpoint. Still stressed about time, we had a quick coffee and bought some quick snacks (digestives and fruit) while Emma verified with a local and traffic police that we could indeed cross the border, then I set off for the small detour.

From there the day just kept getting better and better. The time pressure released a bit once we'd seen some good gardens in the light. The sun was shining and the legs strong. It was a great road and location to ride and do some reflection and thinking, and the playlist fit the mood perfectly!

I was surprised to see hoards of Nepalese tourists at the viewpoint - the road before it was much nicer!

Then it was back the way I'd come and to start catching Emma on the climb. I put my power song on and did some sprints as the road climbed between stunning tea gardens. Emma mentioned there was a nice looking tea shop on the way up, and I ended up going up and down a section a couple of times to try and find it. The end result was well worth it though as I had a really nice chat with the guy there and tried three extremely tasty teas!

I learned that they pick it by hand for best leaf selection and that they sell to Darjeeling! I was surprised to hear that, and also surprised to learn why. In short, the tea plants in this area of Nepal, grown from the plants in Darjeeling, are much younger, 15 years versus 60 years. Darjeeling therefore has somewhat of a ticking time bomb - they can't replant without losing output for some years but they have older plants producing a lower quality tea! I didn't have enough change left over but he was kind enough to waive the not insignificant difference and I was on an even bigger high as I resumed climbing in the sun.

About 200 vertical metres from the top I got a call from Emma who'd been at the border trying to cross. The news? We can't cross. No stamps. No immigration. One and a half hours of climbing, a lot of planning and our ability to get to Darjeeling and we couldn't cross. Bother! Honestly I was on such a high I wasn't even bothered and finished blasting to the top. It's not entirely unexpected as we'd read an article about how it was closed in Covid to foreigners and perhaps not yet reopened, but given we'd checked with two different sets of policemen, locals and had a hotel phone the border 5 days prior, somewhat of a surprise!

Just being near the Indian border was enough to start the people constantly approaching us again, so we beat a hasty retreat down the hill. I'd seen in the tea shop earlier that they had rooms, but when we got there it was sadly all closed up. Emma had a great idea to phone the number on the Tea I'd bought and we found out the guy was half way back to Ilam so we sat down to look at where to stay. In the next village there was a fancy hotel with a stunning view. Well the price negotiation worked last night we thought...

By the time we'd rattled down a stoney track what felt like 100 vertical metres we were pretty commited 😅. It was a stunning location but way beyond our happy price range. However, the friendly manager was very keen for us to stay, having said goodbye to his last guests last night, and after a short phone call later the price was suddenly cut in half! We exchanged glances and happily took the offer!

The manager turned out to be very sweet and joined us as we enjoyed our Bhutanese dinner (with very tasty steamed bread and cheese potatoes!) being pleased to speak "real English" with his "distinguished" guests. Turns out we were in good company of previous guests including the American Ambassador to Nepal and a Swiss cheese expert who'd stayed for two weeks to help the local dairy! We were just happy to be actually arrived early to a very nice place with not only a hot shower but also a fireplace, and having done the last big Nepal cycling day. It even had, even had an electric blanket! Luxury!

Food spend today: 31.79 euros

Tea consumption: 9 (Ben carrying the team here with 4.5 pints)