Sunday 1st March - Wet and Wild

When we wake up the weather is cool and overcast. At breakfast we have Tibetan bread for the first time. It's not at all bad, quite dense and chewy. We drop off our laundry and then head along the street to explore. The town is very touristy but not quite firing on all cylinders, a bit like Aviemore out of season. The prices seem reasonable for a tourist resort and we get a couple of things to take home. The cold weather is having an effect on our appetites and we stop off for tea and cake as we make our way back up the hill. People still want to take our photographs which seems bizarre in a town with quite a lot of westerners around.

It starts to rain a little so we head back to the hotel to drop off the loot and take lunch. There isn't a free table so we share with two young English women who are four days into a two month India trip. D bores them silly with advice on trains and sim cards. Special spring rolls are ordered by D and when it comes the portion is enormous. By now the rain is teaming down so we retire to our room to read and snooze. As the afternoon progresses a strong wind gets up and we hear sheets of corrugated iron crashing around somewhere below our hotel.

We decide to try the nearest bar, just along the street. Bad idea. It is not clean and is freezing cold. One quick beer is consumed and we leave, picking up a couple of bottles and some nibbles at the wine shop on the way back for an at home cocktail hour. As we we are living it up the power fails. The idea of eating out is kicked in to touch and we go back to the hotel's cafe where there is generator power. We order two different types of Tibetan noodle soup. D has thenthuk, mixed vegetables with flat noodles while R has gyathuk, mixed vegetables with thin noodles and a totally different taste. There is a long wait as the kitchen is busy, but it is worth it. 

Back upstsirs the power is back on and we put the fire on full blast for a few minutes and get the spare blankets out of the wardrobe. No clubbing tonight as there is an early start tomorrow.