Lakpa takes us down to the main street, past Western Union Money Transfer outlets, cafes, German Bakeries, pubs, and numerous shops selling trekking gear, beads, prayer wheels and curios. Tibetan traders crowd the street corners, dusty, lined and weather-beaten from their long, hard journey across centuries-old trade routes over the high mountain passes between Tibet and Nepal. The yaks from their caravans wait despondently, occasionally creating the world’s highest traffic snarls at 3440m.
We visit an Internet café (240 rupees a minute) to send off a couple of quick emails to our families. Down the street, Hermann’s Bakery Café sells the nicest muffins with great cappuccino to wash them down with.