Mustang Trek, Day 1...Fossils and Wind!

Mustang, Day 1...7 1/2 hours, 13 miles. Maximum altitude, 10,000 feet. 

"…the Kali Gandaki has the deepest canyon in the world.  Kali signifies "black female" or "dark woman", and it is true that its steep walls, gray torrent, and black boulders give a hellish darkness to the river that, rumbling down out of hidden peaks and vast clouds of unknowing, has filled the traveler with dread since the first human tried to cross and was born away"….Peter Matthiessen, "The Snow Leopard", 1978

We have arrived in Chhussang, after a 7 1/2 hour, 13 mile trek from Jomson. We are in the Kali Gandaki river valley, the deepest canyon in the world. Himalayan peaks tower above us, 16,000 feet or more from the valley floor. 

We started the morning with a flight from Pokhara to Jomson, a 25 minute ride in a plane that I swear was of World War II vintage. It's a twin engine prop plane. I was in the front seat and got some great views of the cockpit and the pilot's instruments, which looked pretty basic and old. We quickly rose from the Pokhara airport and flew right up the Kali Gandaki valley with giant Himalayan peaks on either side. We flew up, up, up until we made a very slight descent and were on the tarmac at Jomson. We gathered our gear and went to the Hotel Tilicho for a coffee and a beautiful view of the peaks of Nilgiri and Tilicho. 

Our flight on the Twin Otter...

By 8:00 we were off on the trek, soon hiking on the wide Kali Gandaki flood plain. At this time of year there is very little water, but the flood plain is about a kilometer wide and it must be amazing when the valley is filled with water. The walls of the valley are a geologist's dream. Sedimentary layers that 150 million years ago were at the bottom of the sea have been buckled to almost verticle by the great geologic forces that created these mountains. 

We start our trek...

The first three hours were along the river and by 11 we made our first stop at Kagbeni, a fairly big town and a crossroad where pilgrims are going to the Hindu pilgrimage site of Muktunah. By now the famous wind had come up. This is the daily wind that blows through the Kali Gandaki from the south. It starts around 10 am as a gentle breeze and by 2 pm it's howling at about 50 to 80 miles per hour. It's a real hold onto your hat kind of wind. There are places along the trail where you are protected, but others where you really have to be careful you don't get pushed over the cliff. The trail here is mostly along a dirt road and there are some trucks and motorcycles, but very few. 

Kali Gandaki valley...

One thing that was unusual was that we were trekking with a very large group of soldiers that were on a training mission up to a town north of here. There were probably 300 or so soldiers, all very nice, saying "Namaste" as we passed them when they were resting. The only scary part was as they passed you all their guns were pointed right at us. This was just how they carried them, they really didn't mean anything by it. KB assured us they probably weren't loaded, but we couldn't be sure. 

For lunch, we stopped in Kagbeni. I had a tasty chicken in a chili ginger sauce and french fries. Nance and Trina had mo mos and soup. Quite tasty. There was also a Hindu temple here, where people came to bathe in the river and pray to their ancestors.    

From here we headed up the valley, climbing up to 10,000 feet. We were followed by a black dog, who we named Toto. For some reason he liked our little group and was our constant companion all the way to Chhussang. We went up, we went down. We passed some really nice villages and along the whole way we looked up to giant Himalayan peaks towering above us. The wind was constantly at our back pushing us along. I had to really press my hat onto my head, otherwise it would fly off and tumble down 1,000 feet to the valley floor. I wasn't ready to donate my hat to the trekking gods quite yet. After one big hill we stopped by an abandoned tea house for a rest. I handed around some dark chocolate we had gotten at Ikea (of all places), of which I had brought many bars. It was my intention to have a chocolate reward after a big pass. 

Crossing the great Kali Gandaki...

The start of Upper Mustang, out of Kagbeni. Only those with "special" permits may pass...

Many people passed us along the way and everyone was very nice, saying "Namaste" to us. This is a lovely greeting, simply meaning, "I salute the god within you". What could be nicer?

At one point, after coming down a very steep hillside, we came to a creek that wasn't all that wide, but was roaring down the valley pretty fast. Our porters plus our guides, Nirajan and KB, picked up huge rocks and plopped them in the stream so we could walk across. These rocks quickly tumbled down the stream bed because the water was moving so fast. So they got even bigger rocks, plopped them down in the stream and then we could walk across. I was the first one over and ended up walking in the stream, getting my boots and socks totally wet and filled with river sand.  Trina and Nance did better, still having dry socks after they crossed. Sheila and Ron did as well as I. 

Crossing a muddy creek...

Little villages dot the landscape...

In a tea house...

Strange rock formations are everywhere...

The landscape we passed was out of another world. Whole hillsides have been shaped by the wind, resulting in naturally carved pillared stones and gigantic ribs of sandstone.  It's amazing to think that we were walking on an ancient sea bed, but the proof is the ammonites.  All over this river valley you can find ammonites, 150 million year old sea creatures that are found hidden in small black rocks. When you take a hammer or chisel to them, they break at the weak point, revealing a spiral fossil. It's incredible to find these fossils at 10,000 feet above sea level, knowing that this place was far under the sea at one point, teaming with creatures. 

We walked further up the valley, passing more villages and holding onto our hats.   Finally, about 5:30 we made it to Chussang, a tiny village with a nice little tea house. I had a room with a great view of the Kali Gandaki and the tall peaks. There is no electricity except in the sitting area where we had drinks and dinner. I had a tasty meal of mo mos and tenduk, a wonderful thick chicken soup with noodles and vegetables. Best of all, they had cold beer, very welcome after a long, dusty, hard day.  The nicest surprise here was a hot shower, run with one of those instant hot water machines. Pure bliss getting all the grit off of my body!

Nirajan, KB, and our porters...

Although this day was hard, the next two days are supposed to be even harder.  But all worth it in this amazing place of Upper Mustang!

Pokhara Paradise

"I would never think of smoking in a house or in a monastery, which is 'very sinful'. As for whistling in a house, this is also very shocking - as ghosts will come"...Michel Piessel, "Mustang, The Forbidden Kingdom", 1967

We are now in the lovely town of Pokhara in the foothills of the Himalaya. This is the starting point for many treks, including Anapura, Dopro and Mustang. It is a gorgeous place, right on beautiful Lake Fewa. The air here is clean, fresh and cool. This morning the town was totally empty with no traffic at all, a welcome change after the madness of Kathmandu. 

The flight here was 35 minutes in a turbo prop plane. The Kathmandu domestic airport was great; a very vintage looking place where you feel Humphrey Bogart will appear any minute. It was crazy in the checkin area, with lots of Trekkers and locals. 

Nance, me, Trina, Sheila and Ron. 

The flight itself was very nice and at a cruising altitude of only 12,000 feet you really felt you were flying, not in outer space like you do on a jet. 

After a nice lunch right on the lake, where I had a fried lake fish and of course an Everest beer, we took a really nice boat ride, a big row boat where we saw the lake with many paragliders overhead. That's a big thing here in addition to lots of ultralight planes. We even got blessed at a Hindu temple on a tiny island in the lake. 

Trina, Nance and our guides K.B. And Nirajan (with tongue). 

This will be my last blog for at least five days, maybe 11. We fly (or drive if the weather is be) tomorrow to Jomson and then start the trek, starting up the deepest canyon in the world along the Kali Gandaki river. Wish us luck and send us your good thoughts. We will need all the extra good energy possible!

Rare Tibetan turquoise. 

Street of Pokhara...

Kathmandu

"It's a dangerous road, Frodo, going out your door", said Bilbo, "you step into the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there is no knowing where you may be swept off to."...J.R.R. Tolkien, "The Lord of the Rings".

After a rather uneventful flight to Beijing and Chengdu, the trip to Kathmandu started off with a scare. In San Francisco, the Air China check in lady said I could check my big red roller all the way to Kathmandu. But when I got to the check in counter in Chengdu, the lady there looked at my ticket with a wide stare then started speaking into her walkie talkie in a tone I could only describe as stressed. She then looked at me and said you can't check your bag all the way through to Kathmandu, it's sitting in Terminal 2 and you have to go get it. Now, Chengdu is a big airport and Terminal 2 is close to a kilometer away from where I was, Terminal 1. So I had to run over there, with my carryon on my back, find where my bag was, ask directions where no one speaks english, somehow find where the bag was, get it, then run back to Terminal 1 and check it in, and go through security (no lines!!). I think I may have slightly strained my hamstring by doing this, but I made it with about 10 minutes to spare. By the time I reached the gate I was sweating like the perverbial pig. Whew!!  Let's hope that's the only scary part of the trip. 

Mt Everest (I think) from the plane. 

And coincidentally, shortly after,

Arrived in Kathmandu on time, but my guide Nirajan was stuck in traffic. So got to hang around some of the local guides who were at the airport and had a good time with them. Nirajan showed up and drove me to our nice hotel, the Manaslu. It's near the Royal Palace. After a quick lunch of veggie curry, I went to the Thamel area. This is an old part of town with lots of really cool shops selling Nepalese jewelry, antiques, cashmere scarves and sweaters and really fine quality thankas. Lots of tourists there, mostly young euros who still believe in hippies, if you know what I mean. The local shopkeepers are really nice and aren't too high pressure like in other parts of the world. 

In Peru, baby llama is the wool of choice, but here in Nepal...

And then there was this little oddity...

After an almost equally long trip, Nance and Trina arrived. In the evening we were taken to a "Welcome dinner" hosted by our two guides, Nirajan and K.B.  The dinner consisted of some tasty Nepalese delicacies, all served on a big metal plate surrounding a mound of rice. There were fried potatoes, mo-mos (a dumpling), curry vegetables, curry chicken, wild boar (my favorite), a spinach dish, dahl, and lentil soup. During dinner we were entertained with some local music and dance. One of the dances was a guy dressed in a peacock suit, his arm extended out as the head of the peacock, which he used to grab small bills from the audience. That was by far the most entertaining part. 

Monday, the second day in Kathmandu, was a tour of the city's historic district. First we went to the famous Boudanath temple, a huge Buddhist stupa that was built in the 1st Century. This is the famous white stupa that supposedly has a piece of the Buddha's backbone somewhere inside (most of the important Buddhist buildings usually have to have a piece of the Buddha somewhere in them).  Here there were many pilgrims going around the stupa turning the prayer wheels. Both scions must always be clockwise. 

Next up on our whirlwind tour of Kathmandu was the Swayambhu temple, another 5th Century Buddhist temple. This one is on a hilltop with a gorgeous view of Kathmandu Valley. At this temple there are many monkeys hanging out, hassling tourists. 

Our last stop was Durbar square, with many temples, palaces and pidgeons. I'm not sure what the Nepalese love for pigeons is all about, but there are a lot of them here. 

Me and a Gurkha.