One moment we were planning to eat our final trek meal in the dining room, then the next moment we weren't. What had changed? Dilip had discovered that we would be sharing the dining room with the the other trekking group, the 'hoorays'. This didn't meet with Dilip's approval at all, and the next thing we knew, the dining tent - which we thought had been put well away, not to be seen by us again - was coming out and being erected on the main lawn ...
We all thought this was great, as the dining tent was so familiar and it was where we'd enjoyed every other trek dinner. Being in the dining tent that evening was even better than on the trek, as there was a crate of Sikkimi beer (pretty strong at 8%) to enjoy (pacing ourself at that strength of course!).
As always the meal was tasty and filling and for pudding we had a special treat. Manilau, the cook, had baked a special Singalila Trek cake - served an a silver salver no less. We had to take a photo quickly as it didn't hang around - it was cut and consumed pretty quickly.
After dinner came the serious business of final speeches and tips and thank you's to the trekking crew, who had done such a fine job of looking after us ...
Then came singing and dancing: first a Nepali song, then a western one, and so it went on, alternating, for a while. As we went outside for the Hokey Cokey (what else?) everyone was having a great time and we were mixing well across our respective cultures. We looked across to the dining room where the Hoorays didn't look to be having anything like as much fun.
And after the entertainment there was a proper bed and a bathroom to look forward to - what more could anyone want?
Lots of love George, Yorkie and Gio xxx
