The village lies near the confluence of Kali Gandaki and Jhong rivers. The old part of the town stands at the north side and is dominated by the views of Kag Chode Thupten Samphel Ling Gompa ( means "the monastery of the place to stop and develop concentration on teachings of Lord Buddha" ) and the ruined Kag Khar Palace with its dark alleys. interior courtyards and tunnels. It was too much fun to lose yourself inside the palace, where you may witness the lives of the villagers living inside.
During our discovery of the town, Juli and I stopped by the check point of the Upper Mustang district in order to get information about the region and Lo-Manthang, the only walled city in Nepal. What I understood is that the region is an autonomous district, governed by a Raja (now the 22nd) and have just Tibetan Buddhist population. According to the agreement between the Raja and Nepal Govern., 700$ fee/person goes to the Nepal Govern. and the district preserves its autonomy and unique characteristics. In 2007, just 1.100 foreign tourists had been in the district.
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I saw also other statistics, which show France and Germany as the 1st and 2nd position in terms of tourist number visited Mustang district (around 2.500 per each). 3 Turkish people had visited last year, while 38 Argentineans were in Mustang during 2006. The total number is around 40.000 for the last 3 years, which had been over 70.000 ten years ago. The figures clearly shows the effects of Maoist problem. The ongoing peace between the government and the Maoist for the last 1,5 year caused some increase in the last 2 years.
DAY 14 ( Kagbeni 2.800m - Marpha 2.670m )
Starting from Kagbeni you have a really flat:) route ahead of you up to Lete (2.480m), but also a strong wind blowing from south to north which starts after noon. As we had been advised by the Australian-British couple, we decided to stay in Marpha at the end of the day.
After a half hour walk, we jumped in a tractor to take us to Jomsom. It was the most uncomfortable, but enjoyable ride I had ever had:) And also helped us to get rid of the Maoists, who had a second check point between Kagbeni and Jomsom. We had just told them that we had paid at the other side, when one of them stopped the tractor.
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Around noon we arrived at Jomsom and spent one hour to handle Mila's flight process to Pokhara. Se had had limited time before going back to Argentina, that's why she preferred to fly back to Pokhara from Jomsom 2 days later and then visit Kathmandu for a few days. Julian and I tried to transfer the pictures we had taken to my i-pod, but for just one hour the only place we had found asked for 300 Rp. We decided to postpone the transfers and left this too much commercialized town as fast as possible.
1,5 hour walk to Marpha was very tough as the wind was so strong; but as soon as we saw it we understood why it was so popular among the tourists. The picturesque appearance, apple orchards and the monastries on the hill composed just the atmosphere we had wanted. And since the town was located between two ridges, it was protected from the wind.
After settling in Dhaulagiri Hotel and having a tasteless lunch, we enjoyed the sun with views of Nilgiri peaks on the roof top. Had a short walk in the town and found a good place, Marpha Bakery&Rest., for the dinner. On the way to our hotel, we came across 2 Belgians, who we met in Ghyaru. We were a little bit shocked, when they told us that 1 guy had died and another one had seriously injured while climbing to Thorung La Pass from High Camp 1 day after we had passed. I tried to get more information later in my Kathmandu days through internet, but I couldn’t find anything.
DAY 15 ( Marpha – 2.670m )
It was too obvious that we would have a problem with the hotel manager, when I had told him that we had our dinner in a different place the previous evening. As I expected, he kindly requested from us to leave the hotel, when he saw us coming from breakfast. We had had the same conflict in Muktinath also. Anyway, we moved our stuff to Neeru Hotel, which had a very nice garden and enjoyed all the afternoon there before exploring the town. Julian and I climbed to the monasteries on the hill after we visited the horticulture farm (all major temperate fruit trees are available in the farm and also helping to conserve more 45 varieties of apples collected from major apple growing countries) with the girls. The view of the town was great from the monasteries.
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We spent all evening in our hotel, saying a proper ‘Good bye’ to Mila, as she had to go to Jomsom early in the next morning: beers, french fries, apple brandies and pies, etc. Who knows, maybe I would have the chance to see her in the southern part of Turkey in the future.
