Return to Joshimat and onwards:

Got off to an early start. Loaded luggage onto pony and headed down 13 kms to govindghat.
Had lunch, and didn’t really want to hang around at govindghat with all the flies, so we caught a lorry back to joshimat! We all squeezed into the front with the driver and 2 other. They got us to joshimat, a little shaken but in otherwise fully functional. We wandered around the town, and finally found our lodge. Negociations began to get a sumo to take us all the way to dharchula. We even checked email at joshimat! The sumo deals kept coming and then going. So when we finally went to sleep, ji & vc thought we had cinched a deal, while the rest of us slept fitfully, knowing it had fallen through.

We ended up taking the 7am bus out of Joshimat, to karma prayag, and changed buses to Gwaldham. Rested at the GMVN there, and wandered the one street of the town. Visited the post office a couple of times and bought a Chinese alarm clock that came in pretty handy. (if u want advice on cheap Chinese goods, contact ji or vc)
We were the only guests at the gmvn (apart from a stalker!), so we kindly given a traditional garhwali dinner – Mandwa ki roti, Bhatka-tupkae and more.