Most Satisfied ... Part 2 Upper Mustang

Upper Mustang was a complete surprise for us ... I am struggling to find words to describe our experience trekking through here. I think I mentioned that Greg Rood had suggested that we go to Upper Mustang if we had time. We decided to take his advice ... it was a lot more expensive than the Annapurna but oh so worth it. Pete was surprised by the cost and was a little reluctant to spend the money, but he came around. The landscape here has been the most dramatic and inspiring we have ever seen. There is so much space, so much peace and quiet, the only sounds we could hear were the poplar trees blowing in the wind, or the wind singing through the power poles and the river. There are absolutely no distractions here. I felt moved by the Upper Mustang, I know I sound like I have lost my mind. When we came to the end I felt quite tearful. The Upper Mustang stirred my soul in a way that no other landscape ever has. I discovered something in myself. We have never been so tired or so cold! We walked some very long days always with big climbs and big descents. Our highest point was 4300m. We lost heaps of weight and were really challenged!

Walking into the Upper Mustang ... I really think Rob & Carly would love it here. Pete read Mustang a Lost Tibetan Kingdom written by a French anthropologist who spent 6 months in the Upper Mustang in 1964. Rob and Pete would have talked about his story all the way through here, then the conversation would have moved to the evils of the French and their sinking of the Rainbow Warrior ... and so it goes, I am sure you can hear them like I can. On the Annapurna we met new people every day, but this wasn't the case with the Upper Mustang as we didn't see that many hikers. Perhaps the cost puts them off along with the requirement that you have to have a guide. We did bump into a party of  French trekkers, a German mountain biking group and an expedition of Dutch climbers but most of the time it was just us.

The Kingdom of Mustang was founded in 1340. It's people are Buddhist and every town has an old fort and a monastery.  The forts are mostly in ruins but the monasteries are still in use and are beautiful and full of colour. Some of them are very old. I love the colours they use and they are decorated beautifully. This is the gate to one Monastery we visited. I think we have hundreds of photos of monasteries ... I could not stop photographing the colours. 

This is the view looking out from the Monastery in the picture above. The pass between the two peaks on the left is the pass from the Annapurna trail we would have climbed over if there had been no storm. The village of Manang where we ended our first trek is a few hours away on the other side. We have trekked both sides of the Annapurna, just not over the top.

Pete loved this fence. He thought it was the most amazing fence he had ever seen. It is made from rocks and is built round an apple orchard. There are apples all through here, heaps of apple orchards all the way out. They are yummy too. I had apple and porridge with honey for breakfast and I never got sick of it, all I needed was some of my favourite yoghurt from NZ to complete it . They have really nice honey here, but I think I already said that in our previous post.

We saw more horses than mules in Upper Mustang, which lead me to believe that possibly Upper Mustang is a little more affluent than the villages on the Annapurna. They use them for carrying goods, food, trekking gear and sometimes trekkers. We saw trains of ten or more horses and mules while walking. There are no traffic jams here but we did get caught in the odd horse jam.

This is the remains of an old fortress. Every town had one fully garrisoned with soldiers. The forts were the way the Kings of Mustang kept control of the Kingdom and warded off attacks.

Have I mentioned that we love, love, loved the landscape here in Upper Mustang so there will be a few photos like this one on this post.  There was a real sense at times of standing on top of the world. 

Chorten ... where ever there is a Buddhist monastery there will be one of these. They are usually dressed up with colour and flags. They are beautiful. You have to pass them on the left to show respect and generate good karma.

The autumn colours of Upper Mustang ... stunning!

Another landscape ... On the cliff is the village of Tsarang. There is a fort right on the cliff edge. It's still in good shape and has four or five stories. Here we really are standing on top of the world! Doesn't this look spectacular ... the contrast of white snow, brown earth and blue sky I find breath taking.

Lo Manthang ... this is where the King of Mustang lives with his family. They live here during the summer and then go to Kathmandu for the winter because it is soooo cold here. We always felt as if the sky was so close.

 Buddhist prayer wheels in Lo Manthang. Like the Chortens, we always walked to the left of these and made sure we gave the wheels a good spin. We really liked Lo Manthang ... a very old village, which is near the Tibetan boarder, but we were not allowed to go any further than here. We regret not staying here longer. Pete and GS went to meet the Prince of Mustang. Pete really enjoyed meeting him. Then when we got of our plane from Pokhara to Kathmandu the Prince got on the same bus as us and started to talking to Pete, he had remember meeting him. Pete was impressed.

Women at a village washing station. The Mustang people look more like American Indians than Nepalese, they are originally from Tibet. This is where they bring their dishes and their washing and sometimes they wash themselves. I have noticed how the women work in groups ... I love watching them, I get a real sense of relationship as I see them working together. Sometimes I see my own life as a Mother working in the home reflected back to me in their work and I find myself getting emotional. They work hard!

Nepal is a country of colour ... the colours they use to paint their Monasteries and Chortens are beautiful, so rich I feel drawn in by them. I love the shades of blue they use ... and the colour marigold is stunning. I love it. The combinations are so bold and beautiful.

Meet GS our wonderful guide. We have really enjoyed meeting him. If any of you are planning a trekking trip in Nepal this is the man you need. We had a wonderful time with him. He is quietly confident ... 'slowly, slowly' was his mantra. Dahl bhat was his meal every day. We are planning to return to Nepal and do another trek with him in a couple of years. We took this photo of him just out of Lo Manthang ... there was a storm brewing behind him and he looked so dramatic, I had to take a photo. 

The oldest Buddhist Temple in Nepal ... built about 800 AD.

I told you there would be a lot of landscape. In a lot of the photos we took I am GS's shadow and here I am. We are walking out ... 

We had to put a photo in of the Red Rock ... looks a little like Arizona red rock. According to Buddhist belief this red rock is the blood of demons that were killed by a famous Lama. I really hope you are getting a sense of the magnificence of this landscape which is so hard to capture in a photo, particularly for us.

Another landscape with Chortens ... Pete wanted me to put this photo in.

We discovered these biscuits when GS bought a packet. They were yummy and sugary ... just what we needed when we were feeling tired and needed some quick energy. Which was often.

Too cute not to capture ...

One tree hill ... we had walked what felt like down into the bowels of the earth to visit a cave that Buddhist monks use for spiritual retreats. There is absolutely no heating or insulation in any of the homes here. The cave is exactly what we say ... a cave with no door and tin hole for toilet and a hose with running water from the river below. It was a fantastic walk down and a 2+ hour walk up ... straight up ... this tree is near the top. That is me (liz) in the background.

These beasts are a hybrid of yaks and cows and they are huge ... get a load of their horns.

I bought this small bowl on the way out of Upper Mustang. There are some wonderful Tibetan antiques that can be bought along the trail. I thought of Joanne Scott and thought that she might really love some of the treasures that can be bought here. I love the yellow and blue together ... 

Usually photos are prohibited in these Buddhist Monasteries but this little monk said that we could take a photo. These Monasteries are alive with colour. We visited this Temple in Marpha ... the apple capital of Nepal.

 This is where monks used to go for their 3 year, 3 month, 3 week, 3 day, 3 hour meditation retreat. They must have frozen here ... they do austerity really well. 

We caught this bus from Marpha to Tatopani ... where we soaked in hot pools for an hour or two. (We had not durnk much during the day ... when Pete stood up in one of the pools he fainted and hit his head/ear against the concrete wall, nearly drowning himself. He had a black ear as a result.) They pack their buses to the max with people and luggage. We broke down at the river behind the bus ...  the driver took about 40 minutes to fix it. Riding in a bus in Nepal is a unique experience and everyone has to do it at least once. 

The famous marijuana herb. This grows freely along the track. They use it for the same purposes as Westerners do ... relaxation and self soothing.

Poon Hill. We got up at 4am ... along with about 300-500 other people, to watch the sun rise on the mountains. We stayed at Ghorepaini, the walk to Poon Hill is about an hour, in the dark and uphill the whole way. We followed a trail of torches to the top and the views were spectacular.

I love what they do with blue here ... 

We came across these women threshing millet so I decided to join them. I thought our children would really like to see this photo. When they were young I used to cook them hulled, kibbled millet for breakfast with raisins and honey ... yummy. They revolted and wouldn't eat it. This is where it comes from. These women sit for hours bashing the millet with sticks. Everything is done by hand in Nepal.

The finish ... we have had a spectacular experience on the Annapurna but the high light has been Upper Mustang.