We had endured a very cold night, and I was glad for the -5C down sleeping bag that kept us snug and warm.
I was feeling rather knackered, not just from the hard going, but also from a boil on the butt that had decided to pop up a couple day ago. From Timang, it was pretty hard going. I was pushing a lot. The terrain was steep and not very forgiving.

9 hard kilometres after Timang , we reached the charming village of Chame. It was lunchtime. A kilometre or so further down the road was the 4-house village of Thaleku. We stopped here for a hot dal bhat lunch. That was when I decided that I’d had enough…I was going to take an extra day off. Both MIke P and Richard were feeling good so I told them to go on ahead … likely to Pisang.

Thaleku may only boast of 4 houses but 2 of them were hotels. I chose the nicer looking one called New Mount View Hotel, ran by 2 sisters. Even better … I was the only guest that day.

The lady owner, a Tibetan, obviously took pride in her hotel. This is the dining room on the ground floor.

I knew I had made the right decision to rest up here earlier in the day instead of at Pisang. Being the only guest, I had the whole place to myself, just the way I like it. On the balcony outside the room, the view was lovely. I slept, woke up, chilled, and slept again. Late in the afternoon, a hiker (a French girl) decided that Thaleku was a better choice than busy Chame down the road and was bunked into the room next door to mine. A quiet dinner and I was off to dreamland… It felt good to be doing nothing much today.