Day 108, Samthar [Wednesday 19th March 2008]

Jimmy meets us for breakfast with a table set on the front lawn! We have cornflakes followed by eggs and toast and fruit jice, and he takes us through the routes of some interesting treks in Sikim.

We all walk down to the school which Jimmy has set up, which is a few minutes from the Farmhouse. The kids have a uniform — red jumper and army fatigue trousers! The first class we see, aged 3 to 5 years old, sings us a selection of songs in English and Nepali, led by an enthisiastic teacher and a classroom assistant. Afterwards we follow them outside where they all take part in a miniature assault course(!), while the General eagerly explains the different parts of his self-prepared curriculum. We see another class learning joined-up handwriting, and get shown the mini-toilets. "It trains them for later life," says Jimmy.

From the women's handicraft shop we buy a knitted tea cosy and a kukhri made from melted-down lorry suspension metal.

I notice that I'm feeling a bit queasy. We say goodbye to Jimmy and the children — "Goodbye Sir! Goodbye Madam!" — collect our bags from the Farmhouse and start the 3-4 hour trek downhill to the Teesta River, on the other side of which we can pick up a jeep back to Kalimpong.

Barely 30 minutes down the hill I collapse with fatigue and throw up copiously. I think of the breakfast I ate, and curse the General. Having vomited I feel slightly better, although my back does now feel incredibly heavy. We decide to carry on anyway so we can reach Kalimpong.

We walk on for another 30 minutes, but suddenly I feel very weak and I've developed severe jelly-legs from walking downhill. The sun is beating down really hard and I repeatedly need to stop and rest. We also run out of water. t one point I have to stop and lie down in the shade. I start to feel like I'm not going to be able to make it to the bottom of the valley. Unfortunately it's now well over an hour's steep walk back uphill to Jimmy's, or another 2-3 hour's walk down, with nowhere to stop inbetween.

Kate is being very patient, and I feel bad for holding her up so much. She asks some vilagers for water, which we then purify with chlorine tablets. We make very slow progress but eventually arrive at the river. But we can't see the ropeway crossing Jimmy told us about, just a huge, wide, empty riverbed, well over 200 metres wide, with just a trickling steam remaining at its very centre. But this turns out to be another river, the Reli, which we must walk across to reach the Teesta. It's starting to get dark now. It's 5pm and we've been walking for 5 hours. Kate's starting to get a little upset about getting stuck in the forest at night. After we cross the river we go over a steep hill, our bags really digging in at this point. We walk through some lighter woodland and begin to hear car engines and beeping. Hurrah! But as we reach the egde of the woods we find ourselves high up on the banks of the Teesta overlooking a hughe hydroelectric construction project. But! We can see the ropeway. We walk down the bank t a small waiting hut from where we can see the ropeway cage swinging from the rope, far away on the other bank. We shout and wave but it's obvious that the ropeway has closed for the night. There is no other way over the Teesta and back to Kalimpong. Kate starts to cry. We're well and truly stuck.

We decide to walk back across the Reli and ask the last family we saw if they have any room for us to sleep. Luckily their daighter speaks some English but she says they can't help us. With my Hindi phrasebook I explain that I'm sick and we're both tired, but it's no use. We start to despair somewhat, when a Nepali guy turns up and talks to the family. After making a quick phone call he turns to us and says,

"Come, you can stay in my house,"

Wow! We're so releived. His name is Robin Lepcha and he takes us back to his mother's house on the bank of the Reli river. He sits us at the table and brings us tea. There is Christian paraphernalia eveyrwhere — pictures of Jesus, rosary bead, Christmas cards and a beautiful pencil drawing of Mother Teresa.

"I did that," says Robin.

We talk for a while about where we're from, what we do etc, then he shows us to a bedroom. It's large, comfortable and airy, with lots of knick-knacks scattered around. There is also, bizarrely, a large poster of Phoebe Cates on the wall.

We rest for a while until Robin calls us for dinner, which is soup, rice, vegatables and chicken curry. We're overcome by the family's generosity. We're both so tired we go to sleep soon after, to the sounds of the rushing river and birds tweeting.