Days14-16 Muktinath,YacDonalds, Jeep & Hot Springs
Trip Start
Sep 29, 2007
1
201
221
Trip End
Ongoing
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Where I stayed
Paradise Hotel, Marpha
Dhaulagiri Lodge, Tatopani
Shangri-La Hotel, Kagbeni
Dāna,
Nepal
Saturday, May 16, 2009
The sun rose and warmed us up in our sleeping bags. We could climb up onto the roof of the hotel for great views of the temple, mountains, gompa and the street action early morning as pilgrims made their way to the famous Muktinath temple complex. The people of Lower Mustang look different to those we've encountered previously. The ladies wear aprons made on hand looms with yak hair scarves around their waists. The pilgrim site is sacred because there is a magical fire caused by flaming natural gas that burns above ice cold water. Also there is the presence of saligram stones that are scattered all over the region and contain ammonite fossils, evidence that the Himalayas rose from continental collision when India crashed into nepal. Hindus regard the stones as representation of the god Vishnu. The site sits amongst a grove of poplar trees that seem to grow magically in an otherwise barren land.
Along with the fire goddess gompa and a Shiva-Parvati pagoda, there is the main temple which is a shrine to Vishnu and stands in a courtyard that has 108 waterspouts lining it's walls. The spouts which were created by tantric gurus are shaped like the heads of boars and the pilgrims drink from them or bathe under the water. We had a sneaky look behind the curtain at the 'magic' fire and found great entertainment in watching people going in for the dip in freezing water, some of them in transparent white underwear. There were small shrines with offerings of money, incense, rice and holy Tulasi basil.
animism statue in Kagbeni
There was a line up of classic sadhus dressed in orange and draped with rudrakshas begging for money, one was crocheting and one was smoking a chillum. They became quite grumpy when we refuse to give them any cash. Later some tourists arrived and started behaving badly by shoving cameras in people's faces.The marmots and us headed out of the busier Ranipuwa village towards Jharkot. We stopped to talk to a lady churning butter to make goat's milk and walked through semi-desert landscapes and through fields of wheat, barley and buckwheat before arriving in Jharkot, a medieval village with a beautiful broken wall of a ruined citadel and the Dhaulagiri mountain range as a backdrop. It was a step back in time as we wandered through the alleyways surrounded by ancient houses. We passed by a friendly looking sadhu who had smiling eyes for us as we went by. He had everything he owned tied up to a bamboo stick and slung over his shoulder. Tanja and i watched him walk down the path between some poplar trees. There was a large crumbling chorten in town with a beautiful mandala painted onto the ceiling. Apple trees were blossoming with flowers.
We visited the Tibetan medicine centre and a 550 year old gompa in the grounds of Sakyapa monastery where orphaned children were being trained as monks. The children's teacher was practising archery in the courtyard and all the kids were following his lead.
We continued down the trail towards Kagbeni passing through Khingar and getting our first glimpses of the Kali Gandaki river bed.
surreal landscape heading to kagbeni
The trail widened and there were good views back towards the villages. We could see the rugged Jhong Khola canyon with creviced walls set into a landscape of stark beauty. There were caves set into the fluted, eroded walls of the canyon. We stopped to watch vultures circling then feeding on the flesh of a fair sized animal lying dead at the bottom of the canyon. The trail dropped down and we were greeted with the sight of ridiculously green barley fields surrounding the antique village of Kagbeni and it's houses with a large red gompa standing out. There were some craggy mountains at the back. We passed many beautiful doors made from various materilas including wood, oil tins and even one made from animal skins. Each door his an animal pen or secret garden and to call you over so you could peek in at what was hidden behind. I have enough photos of doors to print a coffee table book. The village itself was simply beautiful with a labyrinth of laneways and fascinating mud-walled houses with red bordered windows and ground floor stables. The whole place is a hive of activity too as residents, pack animals, horses, monks, chickens and children go about their lives around the castle ruins, chortens and prayer wheels. They seem like they are actors and extras moving around a movie set. Kagbeni is the gateway to Upper Mustang which is supposed to be absolutely fabulous. However, the trekking permit to enter the area is frightfully expensive although we did hear of a few hardcores sneaking in under disguise.
animism protection sculpture
The boundary of our trekking permit has it's limits here. The yeti costume would have come in handy.Hasta pulled out the goods again when he recommended we stay at the lush Shangri-La Hotel. There were some signs of animism around which is a religious idea that spirits exist not only in humans and animals but also in plants, rocks, natural phenomena such as thunder, geographic features such as mountains or rivers and other entities of the natural environment. There were some decorated skulls hanging over many of the doorways of houses in the village to ward off any bad spirits and also some large clay sculptures around town. One of them was a representation of a man with a clay penis, apparently the penis often gets stolen. The sun was starting to set so the locals were herding their animals into pens for the night. We could here the bleating of small animals and when we peered over a fence we saw hundreds of beautiful, newborn goats running around under the feet of a few parents.
Around the corner from the hotel was a restaurant called YacDonalds, a McDonalds take-off complete with red and yellow window trim. YacDonalds sold yak burgers that we couldn't bring ourselves to try but the delicious churpi (Yak's cheese) on offer was too good to resist at 80rupees for 100grams. It was a yak cheese picnic extravaganza. Between us and the marmots Omar and Tanya we probably ate one of everything on the menu at the hotel, all of us shared the hobby of eating and practised it with passion at every opportunity.
apple blossom flower
We even ate chocolate bars everyday for energy. Snickers, Mars and Bounties, sometimes deep-fried and battered. We chated with a Spanish girl who is travelling in a trio who have tents and have ben cooking for themselves on the trail. They are all bicycle riders and have been riding around in Northern India and all through Nepal, hardcores!Hasta's Quote Of The Day:
"look, there's a yeti" (said whilst pointing to make you look away whilst he stole food from your plate)
Day15 Kagbeni(2800m)-Marpha(2670m)
All night we could hear the bells jingling around the necks of the animals of the village as they moved around their stables. We had a good view of the newborn goat stable from our window and early morning i watched chaos unfold as a stern farmer tried to get all the kids to feed by picking them up and then throwing them under the adult females so they could get milk. The babies kept running off and the mothers kept moving. It was a frenzy.
As soon as the sun lit the village of Kagbeni, we were up and about to tour the town and take some pictures. We headed to the fortress like temple where we were greeted by a gorgeous Tibetan mastiff dog and woke up the monk with the keys to the red mud brick gompa. The gompa was built in 1477 and houses a beautiful bronze image of Sakyamuni Buddha. We went onto the rooftop for a good view of the village and the Kali Gandaki riverbed that we were about to walk on to Jomsom. Wandering around the villgae there were more animism statues and local ladies doing the early morning work.
waters of Muktinath
There is a nice feeling here and a clean river runs through the village.We were presented with more white kata (scarves) then started the walk towards Jomsom. The landscape was quite barren and the peaks of Nilgiri were glistening in the distance. We walked along the riverbed where there were lots of beautiful stones which seemed to be coloured in every hue we had seen in the mountains. I was scouring the ground in the hope of finding one of the much-prized saligram fossils.The black stones are ammonites, extinct molluscs coiled inside shells. Unfortunately the road has already intruded here so part of the way we were walking on a jeep track and the odd car or truck passed us. Fresh from the airplane tourists wearing neatly pressed trekking clothes on day trips from Jomsom were cruising along on donkeys towards Kagbeni. Having not seen many wersterners on the trek, these people looked quite comical to us. Mules were also seen carrying supplies like gas cylinders. There were some interesting folded, stratified rock formations along the Kali Gandaki to view as we walked into strong winds.
We by-passed Jomsom where Jimi Hendrix once stayed and headed from Old Jomsom through farmland to the village of Thini. No lodges were open but Hasta managed to ask around and found a house where the Boby look-a-like chef and owner was prepared to serve us a delicious thakali style dhaal bhaat lunch during which Omar and Tanya showed up and the awesome foursome were back in action. We all sat on goat's furs an the ground and then went to the dhaal bhaat.
bells on Muktinath site
There was a bright sun around and Don's vintage aviator sunglasses would have come in handy had i not lent them to a porter to use when we crossed the pass. I never saw him or the sunnies again and the curse of the aviators has finally come to an end. The next part of the trek was another of my favourites as we walked amongst surreal, Mars-like scenery with strange rock formations and underground craters and caves and saw views of extraordinary colours. We eventually arrived in Marpha to be greeted by a sign telling us it is the 'Apple Capitol Of Nepal'. We checked into the Paradise Hotel where we had the first hot shower in a long time and where once again we ate them out of house and home by devouring mawatan thalis, apple pies and chocolate puddings all washed down with rich Mustang coffees. The rank tasting Mustang coffee is a strong cocktail of coffee and roxi, the local beer. Joy. We were having such a grand time that i decided that we should keep trekking and actually go into the Annapurna Sanctuary, adding a few more days than originaly planned. I was to put the new plan to Hasta in the morning.
Day16 Marpha(2670m)-Tatopani(1190m) By Jeep
I had plotted out the trek to base camp on the maps and gave Hasta a day by day itinerary that he seemed to like. This means he would have a few extra days work even though he hadn't seen his family for three months and was also keen to return to his farm. The trekking season is over shortly and this is bonus cash for him. It was a win- win situation and we were able to stay in the mountains for longer.
monk shooting arrow from gompa entrance
Life's good. Early morning we stocked up on Apple Brandy and more yak's cheese. Pirate swilling of apple brandy is definitely the go. We scored some tickets for a very crowded jeep driving from Marpha to Tatopani in order for us to avoid walking on the road with dust and vehicles and also bought ourselves two days that it would have taken us to walk. We hoped to catch up with Omar and Tanja at the hot springs. The Bobby-look-a-like chef was part of the crew of passengers we shared the ride with. The jeep was hot and claustrophobic with only little flaps for air, the dirt jeep track was narrow, ridiculously dusty and horrendously littered with large rocks and potholes and sheer cliff drop-offs. Everytime we hit a rock our heads would bounce up and hit the roof. A woman next to me chain smoked cigarettes and drank chang brew and smoke poured out the back of the jeep. The road followed the riverbed through the small villages of Tukuche, Kalopani, Fhasa and Dana before reaching Tatopani. We passed a very skinny, barefoot sadhu with Shiva markings on his forehead who was carrying a baba bag and whose orange robes were striking against the green of the landscape. I'm sure the scenery was god but we only caught glimpses of it as we concentrated on hanging on for dear life and holding the dors of the jeep closed so we wouldn't fall out. There was one stop enroute at a small teahouse where there was about 30 female pilgrims on their way to Muktinath inside, most of them wearing red and gold saris and all shoving handfuls of rice into their mouthes.
Once at Tatopani we checked into the Dhaulagiri Lodge and headed straight to the riverside hot springs where we could soak off the grime from two weeks on the trail and give our muscles a relaxing treat. Nadia and i went in with all our clothes on so we could give them a wash.There was a hot springs soaking re-union with lots of crew we had met previously on the trail like the Polish guy, Israeli Dror and others from the cabin fever at Thorung La plus some new players Tom and Anna from the UK. Eventually the marmots turned up huddled together under a piece of plastic, our lives were complete once again. We felt refreshed and energized from the waters. We found the trio of Ben, Maya and Flo drinking apricot brandy and were hapy to find they were all in one piece. They told us a story of how a dog had followed them for three days. From their hotel we could see the Nilgiri peaks on the horizon.
