It's been about 11 days since my last post. The trek is finished and I'm back in Jomsom, where there is a decent internet connection. My last post was from Kagbeni, after the first day of the trek, and the power cut out so frequently that it was done in a hurry. So, I've gone back and edited it quite a bit and added pictures, so have another look.
Wow, how to describe the past 11 days! The trek was everything I wanted it to be: days of just settling into the rythym of walking and just taking in the spectacular scenery, passing through picturesque, little villages that were like going back in time, and meeting the people and their culture. We really lucked out with the weather, as the skies were perfectly blue every day. I think my favourite part of the day was waking up to outstanding scenery lit by the morning sun. Like this:
or this:
The trek was to what's called the 'Lost Kingdom' of Mustang. It's a part of Nepal that buldges north into Tibet, north of Annapurna. It used to be an isolated kingdom of Tibetan culture that was actually forbidden to tourists until the 1990's. Even now it's what they call a 'restricted area', which means the goverment charges a large fee to go in and are supposed to limit the number of tourists.
There were 9 of us in the group. In addition to myself, there was Paul and Elaine, from England, and their friends Jeff and Caroline, formerly of England by now from Australia. There was also Helen and Tim, and Dianne, and George, all from Australia. The tour company I booked through, Peregrine Adventures, is an Australian company. Everyone had done something like this before, and had travelled to a lot of places, so they were familiar with the trekking, accommodation, etc. They were all pleasant and easy-going about things.
We were helped by our tour leader, Mukund, and his three assistants. They did an outstanding job, and worked very hard doing everything from leading the way on the trail, organizing our bags when they were off the mules, getting our rooms organized, helping the people at the lodge, waking us up in the morning with warm water to wash in, even cooking some meals. They were attentive to every question. Highly, highly recommended. In the picture below from left to right are Ghire, Mukund, Mannu, and Ramesh:
There were also two mule tenders. Typically the mules were loaded and started off after we left in the morning, and would pass us at some point in the day, so our bags were at the day's destination when we arrived.
The day would start with a wake up at 6:30, breakfast, and start walking by 8:00 or 8:30. We'd walk from 4 to 7 hours. On the shorter days we'd reach our destination by lunch, and have the afternoon free or visit the local monastery. On longer days there would be a lunch break for about an hour. All the meals were at lodges or teahouses in the small villages. In fact, we only had to camp one night, and the rest were spent in lodges. We got lucky there as well, as it seemed the greatest number trekkers to Mustang started after we were on our way back, so there was not yet much competition for rooms in lodges.
The villages were small and so quaint, with people manually working in the fields, carrying in harvest, tending cows and goats. Typically a village was single narrow alley between white-washed stone and mud buildings, with roofs consisting of stacks of wood. There would also be 'chorten', or structures of religious significance, in the village. The people would be going about their business as we passed through, though the little kids would run up to us saying 'hello' and 'chocolate'.
The first couple of days were about 2800 m altitude, and it quickly rose to 3500 m and then 3800 m. Most days during the walk we'd go over at least one high pass about 4000 m, the highest was 4300 m.
The hills were characterized by a striking red colour and erosion patterns that formed columns in the cliffs. There often caves in the cliffs were the people lived a long time ago.
The walking was reasonably demanding, but the pace was good. On the way, even during a long climb, it never felt like a slog. I just had to stop and look and the scenery and just be so amazed at where I was.
One difficulty was that I had more trouble with the altitude than I expected, particularly at night. I'd lay awake consciously breathing just to get enough air into my lungs. Most nights I got enough sleep though, because it gets dark at 6:00 so after dinner there really wasn't anything to do except read for a bit and go to bed.
The landscape got more and more barren as we went north. Looking ahead, it would be hard to believe that we were going there, to what seemed like completely inhospitable territory. But then, as well climbed a ridge, a valley would come into view that had a stream and a village and fields that provided and oasis of green.
Our destination was Lo Mantang, the walled town containing about 150 houses, the kings residence and three monasteries - two of which dated back to the 7th century. However I will save that to the next post. Tomorrow we fly back to Pokhara, where there will be good internet connection and more time to catch up on the posting.
Wow, how to describe the past 11 days! The trek was everything I wanted it to be: days of just settling into the rythym of walking and just taking in the spectacular scenery, passing through picturesque, little villages that were like going back in time, and meeting the people and their culture. We really lucked out with the weather, as the skies were perfectly blue every day. I think my favourite part of the day was waking up to outstanding scenery lit by the morning sun. Like this:
or this:
The trek was to what's called the 'Lost Kingdom' of Mustang. It's a part of Nepal that buldges north into Tibet, north of Annapurna. It used to be an isolated kingdom of Tibetan culture that was actually forbidden to tourists until the 1990's. Even now it's what they call a 'restricted area', which means the goverment charges a large fee to go in and are supposed to limit the number of tourists.
There were 9 of us in the group. In addition to myself, there was Paul and Elaine, from England, and their friends Jeff and Caroline, formerly of England by now from Australia. There was also Helen and Tim, and Dianne, and George, all from Australia. The tour company I booked through, Peregrine Adventures, is an Australian company. Everyone had done something like this before, and had travelled to a lot of places, so they were familiar with the trekking, accommodation, etc. They were all pleasant and easy-going about things.
We were helped by our tour leader, Mukund, and his three assistants. They did an outstanding job, and worked very hard doing everything from leading the way on the trail, organizing our bags when they were off the mules, getting our rooms organized, helping the people at the lodge, waking us up in the morning with warm water to wash in, even cooking some meals. They were attentive to every question. Highly, highly recommended. In the picture below from left to right are Ghire, Mukund, Mannu, and Ramesh:
There were also two mule tenders. Typically the mules were loaded and started off after we left in the morning, and would pass us at some point in the day, so our bags were at the day's destination when we arrived.
The day would start with a wake up at 6:30, breakfast, and start walking by 8:00 or 8:30. We'd walk from 4 to 7 hours. On the shorter days we'd reach our destination by lunch, and have the afternoon free or visit the local monastery. On longer days there would be a lunch break for about an hour. All the meals were at lodges or teahouses in the small villages. In fact, we only had to camp one night, and the rest were spent in lodges. We got lucky there as well, as it seemed the greatest number trekkers to Mustang started after we were on our way back, so there was not yet much competition for rooms in lodges.
The villages were small and so quaint, with people manually working in the fields, carrying in harvest, tending cows and goats. Typically a village was single narrow alley between white-washed stone and mud buildings, with roofs consisting of stacks of wood. There would also be 'chorten', or structures of religious significance, in the village. The people would be going about their business as we passed through, though the little kids would run up to us saying 'hello' and 'chocolate'.
The first couple of days were about 2800 m altitude, and it quickly rose to 3500 m and then 3800 m. Most days during the walk we'd go over at least one high pass about 4000 m, the highest was 4300 m.
The hills were characterized by a striking red colour and erosion patterns that formed columns in the cliffs. There often caves in the cliffs were the people lived a long time ago.
The walking was reasonably demanding, but the pace was good. On the way, even during a long climb, it never felt like a slog. I just had to stop and look and the scenery and just be so amazed at where I was.
One difficulty was that I had more trouble with the altitude than I expected, particularly at night. I'd lay awake consciously breathing just to get enough air into my lungs. Most nights I got enough sleep though, because it gets dark at 6:00 so after dinner there really wasn't anything to do except read for a bit and go to bed.
The landscape got more and more barren as we went north. Looking ahead, it would be hard to believe that we were going there, to what seemed like completely inhospitable territory. But then, as well climbed a ridge, a valley would come into view that had a stream and a village and fields that provided and oasis of green.
Our destination was Lo Mantang, the walled town containing about 150 houses, the kings residence and three monasteries - two of which dated back to the 7th century. However I will save that to the next post. Tomorrow we fly back to Pokhara, where there will be good internet connection and more time to catch up on the posting.
Great pictures.
ReplyDeleteYou'll have to get used to hiking without pack mules now.