We spent one final day in Darjeeling to do laundry, let our bodies recover after the trek and see the town when everyone wasn't on strike.
The dogs didn't get the memo.
JB actually spent the day doing some work for Kaleidio so I wandered around Darjeeling with the hopes of getting my hands on some tea. Mission accomplished...now the trick will be getting it through Australian customs and quarantine.
I was also on a quest to find a somewhat mythical place that was said to be on the outskirts of town and had the best momos in all of India. With my love for a good dumpling, I was up for the challenge. Miraculously I found the "Hot and Stimulating Cafe" (bizarre name!) and I sat and ate the deliciously soft, plump and spicy momos overlooking the tea plantations. The proof.
That afternoon, we met John and Beth for "high tea" at a fancy old British hotel and ate scones and cream, cucumber sandwiches and drank buckets of tea - a fitting way to end our time in Darjeeling.
On to Nepal...
Our plan was to get out early to make the five hour trip to the Nepali border. So early, that we didn't think we'd be around when the post office was open and so John and Beth had generously said they would mail our Darjeeling goodies off for us. Well...things don't always work out the way you plan and for various reasons we still hadn't left Darjeeling by noon... But this meant that we could intercept them at the post office and got to witness the "package man" who is unique to Darjeeling.
This guy has a little business inside the post office where, for a dollar, he wraps up your package (usually tea) in white cloth and sews it shut. He then stamps it all over with a red wax seal. It was very cool to watch and I wish you all could have received one of these little white packages in the mail from us but it was quite time consuming and did I mention we were in a hurry?
Packages sent, we said goodbye to John and Beth (again) and jumped into a jeep to take us down to the border. There must have been at least 20 people inside, on top of or hanging off the back of the jeep at one point. Jb and I thought we were smart getting in the front until the driver pulled over and let another guy in...
After three hours, we changed vehichles in Siliguri and a van took us to the border. By the time we made it through immigration and walked across the bridge into Nepal, it was 5pm and we'd missed all of the buses bound for Pokhara that day.
We agreed that this was probably for the best as the Nepali night buses don't have the greatest track record (something about the drivers falling asleep at the wheel...). Instead, we booked a "day" bus leaving at 3:30am the next morning. We set our alarm for 2:45am and spent part of our first night in Nepal in the border town of Kakaravitta.