British Woman Tries to Haggle Over $1.50 Tea in Nepal, Instantly Regrets It
By Carl Samson
A British mother found herself running from a Nepalese woman wielding a pair of wooden clubs after a dispute over the price of the tea she was selling.
The horrifying chase took place at Nepal’s Annapurna Circuit, a trek within the Annapurna mountain range north-central of the country.
Gemma Wilson, 35, was chased along with her stepson Charlie, 15.
It all started when the family stopped by the woman’s tea house some 4.5 kilometers (2.8 miles) into their trek, Wilson recounted.
“It was just a little tea stop along the way and we were just going to walk past and she said ‘come stop and have a drink’, she seemed very friendly to start with,” she told the Mirror. “I didn’t order anything, I just got my stepson a black tea. I always ask how much something is first before buying and for some reason I didn’t this time. I had always paid 50 rupee for black tea.”
Unfortunately, it was the price of that tea — 150 Nepalese Rupees (about $1.50) — that would later send them running for their lives along the mountain.
“When I got up to pay she told it was 150 rupee. I asked her again and she repeated it, so I got the money out and paid her, but I said to her it was seriously pricey,” Wilson said.
As they were leaving, the mother and son decided to take photos of the tea shop’s sign. This is when the owner charged and threw pieces of wood at Wilson, screaming and threatening to kill her.
The pair was somehow able to escape the shop, but to their horror, it was just the start of a terrifying chase.
“She just started running after us, again waving sticks in the air making a racket and then she started picking up quite large stones off the floor and throwing them towards us,” Wilson recalled. “I was so exhausted at that point as we were running in high altitude, I had to stop.”
Wilson, a trainee teacher, captured the incident in a seven-minute GoPro footage that has now been viewed by thousands.
In the video, the woman can be seen chasing Wilson while wielding a pair of wooden clubs and throwing rocks at her direction.
Meanwhile, Wilson can be heard pleading for her life.
“I was just begging her to leave us alone. I knew fighting back was a really bad idea because had I gone over the edge it is highly likely I would have died,” she said.
Wilson tried to report the incident to authorities after reaching the next village, but learned that the nearest police station was days away. She also heard from other locals that it was not the first time the tea owner harassed tourists.
While Wilson’s experience is undoubtedly gut-wrenching, many questioned the context behind it, with some arguing that there was really no point in haggling over the tea’s price.
What do you think about the incident?
Check out the footage below:
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