«Tea for Two (with No Cups)» by Polly Benge

Packing away her tutu and pointe shoes and donning cycling shorts and yellow Lycra, professional dancer Polly Benge took the decision to follow her heart. She soon found herself ferociously pedaling up mountains in India, staring at the increasingly distant backside of her beloved Tim. But mere mountains were to be the least of her worries. Prior information about the unsmiling Border Officials, the surroundings of extreme poverty, the inadequacy of maps, the continual bouts of constipation, and the real danger of travelling through Assam may have persuaded her to stay at home. This was not the India of Raj palaces or holy Ghats but the dangerous and explosive region of the isolated northeast. Polly and Tim spent their nights huddled under mosquito nets in the middle of the jungle while outside barbarous militants hid from the Indian army, and by day they cycled through the intoxicating hills of Meghalaya and the tea gardens of Darjeeling and Assam. This expedition was to represent far more than a journey to find the perfect cup of tea; for Polly it was to be a test of stamina, self-belief, and most of all her love for Tim. If they could survive this, then she would leave her comfy world of dancing, friends, and family and move to New Zealand to be with him forever.