Day 2: Dzarkot to Muktinath to Jomsom

This day was super long.  We left Dzarkot at 07:40 and started uphill to finally see Muktinath in all its religious glory. 

the mountains we couldn't see the morning before

Muktinath is a holy site for Buddhists and Hindus, as it hosts the elements of earth, water, fire and wind in one spot.  The earth and the wind are hard to get rid of, but a stream running down the mountain is diverted into 108 spouts, and an spring of natural gas keeps an eternal flame inside the gompa.  Pretty nifty.  Travis and I watched in awe and horror as a mostly naked pilgrim went running under all the 108 spouts (running on ice, I might note), ran across the courtyard to dip in a pool of water, slipped on a huge patch of ice as he exited, and then complete his religious experience by dipping in another pool of water.  It was rather amazing.  Although there were many pilgrims, no one else was brave enough to try this stunt.  Most people just filled up soda bottles with the water from the spouts and went to pray inside the gompa. 

the sun hits the peaks

Due to the literally freezing weather, we didn't stay long in the temple complex, but Travis took a detour on the way out, so I ended up at the entrance with a guy who I suspect was just a little bit crazy.  He talked to me in some language that I didn't understand, but I did try to understand, and the closest I got was figuring that he wanted me to buy an ugly banner.  Travis came and rescued me and I namasted and we scooted down the hill for breakfast. 

Because the weather was beautiful - when we woke up we discovered mountains that we hadn't seen at all due to cloud cover yesterday - we decided to return to Kagbeni to take another look at Mustang rather than pass it by to cut our walking time.  I'd say it was worth it.  Mustang looks even better without clouds, but we still weren't convinced it was worth the $700.  I was attacked by a small child in the village.  For some reason she took exception to my presence as I walked down the path and whacked my leg.  Her mother scolded, but I looked stern and told her that that wasn't nice, so she scampered back to her mom.  Both mother and older sister found the whole confrontation amusing. 

first rays of the sun

Having weathered the precarious descent into Kagbeni.  We skipped the switchbacks again, but the paths down were largely loose gravel on a small trail with a sheer drop down to the road below.  Not the safest, but we both managed without even running into a prickly bush and settled in for the relatively undemanding walk to Jomsom. 

Here's where everything went to pot.  Travis was keen on fossil hunting, so he spent hours bent over walking along the riverbed.  This made our walk rather slower than it might have been were he springing along as he is wont to do.  For my part I had a lovely walk admiring the mountains soaring up all around me.  The riverbed is quite flat, so it really looks as if the mountains don't quite belong to it.  And yet they do, and the whole scene is grandiose and awe-inspiring, and Travis is a tiny speck next to the mountain he walks by as he searches for fossils.  Every now and again a mule train (which I think actually was made up of ponies) would pass by carrying bags and bags of stuff.  And there's always the odd pony the gets stuck with the propane tanks. 

we reach the temple complex

We didn't reach Jomsom until 16:30, and dark wasn't far off, so rather than continuing on to Marpha we decided to call it a day.  The hotel was super deluxe.  Not only did we have a western toilet, but it was actually inside our room.  Fancy.  For dinner I had a "bean and cheese burrito."  Never in your conception of a burrito would you have pictured what I ate, but it wasn't bad.  There was a layer of kidney beans between two pieces of bread, the closest relation of which was probably naan.  Under the bottom bread was some sort of sweet and sour red sauce, and atop the whole confection was tomato sauce with a sprinkling of what I believe was yak cheese.  Needless to say, it was an interesting dinner. 

Muktinath

Again, asleep under a million blankets by 20:00.

Erin

the mountains through the gate

very cool mountains

looking back from the temple

the view from Muktinath

108 freezing water spouts

the famous temple

the view

Muktinath and the mountains

my favorite view of Dzarkot

prayer flags and mountains

the fields around Kagbeni

looking into forbidden Mustang

down the valley

bells on the path

decorated spout

cow spout with coins

gargoyle spout

three stooges