Today we have a long drive and no-one is looking forward to our return to India. It's Helen's birthday and we wish her happy birthday but no celebration is planned as we would normally for someone's birthday. Maybe we can make it up further on. The roads are dreadful and progress is slow. It is already dark when we get to the Indian border and say goodbye to our bouncy Nepali bus. Once again, crossing the border is long and tedious and by the time we arrive at our hotel we are all well passed our 'Use By' date and are more concerned that we will be too late for dinner. The hotel is dingy and depressing, but this is what we had expected. There are very few twin rooms and Jaime and I are not one of the lucky pairs. The additional single is one of those foam cube seats that changes to a single and for a moment we discuss who will have the double bed.
'You have the double bed. I don't mind the single' we say back and forth. In the end, we agree Jaime will have the single and I, the double. As I sit down on the concrete mattress and spy the inch rim of dirt between the plywood frame and the 'mattress' , I realise Jaime has the better end of the deal. After half an hour of trying to obtain top sheets, we finally give up and go down to the restaurant. Inside, it is dark and smoky. So dark, in fact, it's difficult to see the tables and chairs, and I walk right into one.
Dinner becomes a complicated affair as, even with 6 waiters, it seems only 1 is capable of taking an order and, he is only able to take 1 person at a time, before he is distracted and disappears.
It's getting very late as we come to the end of our meal, when David and Helen come in. They have been scavenging for food elsewhere and have not had much luck. It is such a shame for Helen's birthday. Suddenly Isabelle pulls something out of her bag. Birthday candles! We fashion a cake shape out of my rice and stick the candles in. Rice cake and candles and a round of Happy Birthday. What more could she ask for?
I decide to have a shower before bed. There is even hot water! Bliss.
'You have the double bed. I don't mind the single' we say back and forth. In the end, we agree Jaime will have the single and I, the double. As I sit down on the concrete mattress and spy the inch rim of dirt between the plywood frame and the 'mattress' , I realise Jaime has the better end of the deal. After half an hour of trying to obtain top sheets, we finally give up and go down to the restaurant. Inside, it is dark and smoky. So dark, in fact, it's difficult to see the tables and chairs, and I walk right into one.
Dinner becomes a complicated affair as, even with 6 waiters, it seems only 1 is capable of taking an order and, he is only able to take 1 person at a time, before he is distracted and disappears.
It's getting very late as we come to the end of our meal, when David and Helen come in. They have been scavenging for food elsewhere and have not had much luck. It is such a shame for Helen's birthday. Suddenly Isabelle pulls something out of her bag. Birthday candles! We fashion a cake shape out of my rice and stick the candles in. Rice cake and candles and a round of Happy Birthday. What more could she ask for?
I decide to have a shower before bed. There is even hot water! Bliss.
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