Morning walk through Dhankuta bazaar

We start early, when shopkeepers are opening up and students in uniform are heading to school. The bazaar follows the ridge, with old shop-houses, newer concrete buildings, small temples and tea stalls. Our guide grew up in the area and points out what has changed and what has not: the old trading houses, the offices that once ran the whole eastern region, and the schools and colleges that still draw students from the surrounding hills.

Along the way we talk about Dhankuta's role as the administrative centre of eastern Nepal, the Peace Corps teachers of the 1960s, the Gurkha families whose pensions built many houses, and the arrival of the road from Dharan. We stop at shops selling local produce, such as oranges in season, tea from nearby gardens and hill vegetables, and our guide introduces you to people he knows along the way.

We stop for tea and a snack at a local stall and finish at a viewpoint on the ridge, with the hills of the Tamor and Arun watersheds folding away to the north. On clear winter mornings, distant snow peaks may show above the ridges. The walk takes about two hours at an easy pace, and leaves the rest of the day free for an orchard walk, a tea garden visit or the short drive to Hile.