Nepal - Travelling to the Mustang Valley

I'll start of with an apology.  I'm now in Upper Mustang in Nepal and the scenery is SO fabulous, immense and marvelous that I have a lot of difficulty in describing it accurately and keep running out of superlatives.  And I fear that the photos won't convey just how vast this landscape is.  And the Internet is more than intermittent.  And we have seen and done so much that what you're going to get is a small taste of this trip.  But let's start at the beginning ...

Carolyn inside the coffee place

Jan White, Carolyn Jerome and I travelled together on the 9th May, stopping at Changi Airport.  We walked around Terminal 3, amazed at the high end shops.  My question to those in the know is how many handbags actually get sold at airports?  We saw shop after shop, with very limited stock, all glitter and style … bags, bags, bags!  But then I found the coffee shop!  Totally the wrong words … emporium, palace, temple … all gold and gorgeous aromas.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t afford the coffee and certainly not the gold coffee pot (at $300+, a bargain!).

Arriving in Kathmandu, we stayed with Tsering who was organising and guiding our trip.  The other members of the group are Sigrid and Hannes, who have visited Nepal 9 times already, and Claude, who has been here 7 times since 2015.  We seem a great group.  A visit to Thamel, some shopping, some more shopping for Jan, looking for Jan because she was shopping, lots of good food and laughs and then we were on our way to Pokhara.  As we drove along the appalling road (a 9 hour trip - it should be 6 - 7 hours) we kept seeing wedding cars, covered with flowers and ribbons.  I was concerned with one car that had SOS on the back but Davindra, our driver, said the O was a love heart gone wrong!

Ah, Pokhara!  We only had a little bit of time here but Jan did some shopping, we ate out at a fabulous Tibetan restaurant and walked around the lake.

The next day, we travelled by back road (scenic, steep and skinny) around and about.  After lunch at Tatopani, we headed off and the road deteriorated a lot!  In fact it was downright dangerous in parts. And then we came on the broken down truck.  It couldn’t move (broken gear box?) and there was a big rock on the edge of the road so that cars trying to pass the truck lurched into it.  What to do?  Tsering leapt out of the jeep and started to make suggestions to the large crowd of men.  People streamed up the road to witness the debacle.  Eventually, a line of rocks were placed to be a sort of ramp and the first car gingerly bounced alongside the truck, making it through.  People cheered!  After that it was quite efficient and all the cars and jeeps got past the truck.  But the huge log trucks and buses weren’t going to able to.  Our jeeps got through but we only went a few hundred metres before we were stopped by rocks being thrown down at us by road building workers.  People yelled, policemen whistled and eventually (and reluctantly) the workers stopped and we were through. 

We travelled to a little village where Tsering thought we might be able to stay.  It was a delightful little place – very old and quiet.  No shops and no tourists.  A lovely walk around the place with goats and cows, but very few people.  Tsering says these older villages are dying out and many of the houses were empty or falling down.  The guesthouse was quite rundown and dusty so it was off to Marpha, where we were staying in a guesthouse in the old part of town.  A walk to the monastery and some dahl bhat and then it was time for bed.   

Leaving Marpha, the scenery is amazing … arid river beds and steep sided hills, then snow capped mountains behind.  The drive was a constant lot of WOW!  I took a lot of photos, and then some more photos and even more photos.  Back in the jeep and we went to Dhumba Lake.  This was a very small lake/pond which seemed to attract the tourists, but above the lake was a chorten and a new monastery.  We walked up there and we discovered the effects of altitude.  My breath became a bit labored and it was a struggle going up the steps but the views were amazing!  I took way too many photos again but everyone seemed special.  

We travelled along pretty good roads to Ranapauwa where we had a lovely lunch of momos and fried rice, then drove up to Muktinath, a temple that is sacred to Hindus and Buddhists.  It is at 3800m, so the long steps up to the temple complex was a bit taxing but I was surprised how well I coped.  I just had to slow down and then I got into the rhythm.  I started in an old nunnery – small and intimate, but beautifully decorated.  Then off to the 108 taps to wash away my sins and bless me.  I ran under the water – got quite drenched which was actually quite refreshing since the day was warm.  On the down side, one boot got wet (not waterproof) but that didn’t worry me in my blessed state! We had somehow attracted a rather mangy dog (I called him Badger) who followed us to the statue of Buddha, then on a walk to the statue of Guru Rinpoche, then back down to the village. 

In Kagbeni we picked up a new guide, Tashi, who is from Lo Mantang in Upper Mustang.  We jumped into the jeeps and set off to Upper Mustang.  Our first destination was Tangbe, a very old village.  There are only about 50 people who live here.  It was again a beautiful fusion of whitewashed rocks, wood on the roofs, and beautifully carved wooden window frames.

Back in the jeep.  The scenery is amazing.  The wide river bed of Kali Gandaki, a huge expanse of pebbles and sand, with ribbons of water winding their way around and up and through.  Above the river bed are red hills, artistically eroded over thousands of years.  And then towering above the hills, mountains covered in snow.  Today, we have seen Nilgiri from so many different directions – such a magnificent mountain.

At Chhusing, Tsering needed to do some permit work so we all walked across a swing bridge.  Yes! Anthea – she of the height phobia – walked all the way across … not a murmer or a recitation of the Lord’s prayer.  I was impressed with me!  It must be all the blessings I'm getting.  There was another old section of the village and walked through the apple and barley fields into a labyrinth of walls, enclosures for animals and again, the beautiful views.

Eventually, we reached Shangbochen, where we are staying tonight at the Nilgiri Hotel.  It’s a bit basic but ok.   We dropped off our bags and then jumped back into the jeeps on our way to Chungsi Cave.  The road went down, down, down with tight and very tight hairpin bends.  Finally the jeeps could go no further so we started to walk.  Down, down, down (BUGGER! That means up, up, up later) until we reached the steps to the cave.  Then up, up, up (Yes! My lungs still work!) to the cave where Guru Rinpoche stopped on his journey to other lands.  The cave has a statue of Buddha and we climbed around and behind it (a rather perilous activity since the rocks were slippery with use).  Tsering burnt some candles and then we went to see the Gurus footprints.  He had very little feet! Then out and down the steps (easy) before up to a little cave where there was a water spring that the Guru created so that he could have water.  Up, up, up.  My breathing is getting better.  Back to the hotel where I tried Mustang coffee – a rather lethal mix of rakshi, coffee (weak), fried rice and hot water.  It’s getting rather cold so tonight is a night for thermals and the sleeping bag.