INSIDE HIMALAYAS | NEPAL | TIBET | BHUTAN
INSIDE HIMALAYAS | NEPAL | TIBET | BHUTAN
a guesthouse, it has retained as many
of its original features as possible,
including the Tibetan Buddhist frescoes
in what is now the yoga and meditation
room, and the intricately carved
beams throughout the common areas.
A highlight is the Maitreya Buddha
hidden away in a dark, incense-filled
room, and opened up daily at prayer
times. It is the second-largest Buddha
statue in Mustang.
The owners of the Red House Lodge
intend to turn the property into a living
museum, displaying objects integral to
the culture of Kagbeni and Mustang,
and already have a beautiful collection
of brass implements, local fossils and
rocks, and artwork. You’ll know when
you’ve found the Red House Lodge,
as it’s the property attractively painted
with vertical ochre, grey and white
stripes along an outer wall. Although
this colourful feature has not always
been part of this building’s design, the
inspiration came from the colours used
to paint chortens in the area.
The rocky path leads up to meditation caves, carved into the cliffs. Photo: RMT.
“Kag, I was later to discover, had in the
past been an important fortress town,
one of the most advanced bastions of
the Kingdom of Mustang. The sight of it
showed that we had now left behind all
contact with the Nepalese Hindu world
and had entered the land of lamas and
Buddhism.”
These words were written by French
traveller Michel Peissel in his classic
1967 travelogue, Mustang: A Lost
Tibetan Kingdom. And while the
strenuous
foot-powered
journey
to Kagbeni (and beyond) that he
described fifty years ago is no longer
necessary, there is much detail in
his descriptions that still rings true.
Kagbeni is still a frontier town, the last
point up to which foreign travellers can
visit before Upper Mustang.
From Pokhara, there are two ways of
reaching Jomsom, the entrance to
Lower Mustang (or three, if you wanted
to trek the whole way): by air or by
bus/jeep. Flying is by far the quickest
and most comfortable option, if a little
daunting: flights leave early to avoid
the strong winds that whip through
Mustang by late morning. Although the
flight is a short twenty minutes, they
are memorable minutes as you soar
through the Kali Gandaki Gorge, with
Dhaulagiri and Tukuche to the west,
and Nilgiri Central and Annapurna
to the east. Taking a public bus or
private vehicle between Pokhara and
60
Jomsom is the ‘adventurous’ option,
but can take more than ten hours along
uncomfortable roads. path to Marpha is quite obvious, along
a vehicle road (which isn’t busy) and
beside the river.
Jomsom is a single-street town full
of lodges facing east, to the stunning
mountain views that dominate the
town. While in many places in Nepal
the mountains are layered, meaning
you don’t get a real sense of where the
foot of a mountain lies, this is not so
in Jomsom. The snow-covered peaks
seem to rise directly and uninterrupted
from ground-level at Jomsom. Marpha itself is a clean, pretty town
watered by paved canals of the sort
found all over the Tibetan-influenced
world. It’s surrounded by patches of
green, irrigated farmland. A return hike
to Marpha from Jomsom takes three
hours, not including time to stop in
Marpha for a slice of apple pie, which is
definitely recommended. From Marpha
there are signs pointing the way up to
Dhaulagiri Base Camp, an expedition
for people with more time and stamina
than me.
Although the town itself is comprised
mostly of modern buildings and lacks
any particular charm, there are an
abundance of cosy lodges, so it is worth
basing yourself in the town for a couple
of days to explore the area. Om’s Home
is a comfortable and friendly option,
with a Himalayan Java coffee shop
conveniently located next door, and a
terrace to sit and enjoy the sun (before
the biting wind kicks up). It’s definitely a
luxurious step up from the chilly trekking
lodges that dot the trails in this area.
A good half-day excursion from
Jomsom is to visit Marpha village.
Half-day excursions are the best
type anywhere in Lower Mustang, as
the afternoons can be unpleasantly
windy and cold, meaning the shelter
of a lodge is more comforting. After
breakfast, walk south out of town and
keep going, for ninety minutes. The
www.insidehimalayas.com | By Royal Mountain Travel
While Jomsom has its nearby
attractions, the town of Kagbeni
deserves a bit more time. It takes
about an hour to reach Kagbeni from
Jomsom via private vehicle, over
bumpy roads, or a trek of three-four
hours. The Buddhist culture of the
town that Peissel described fifty years
ago is still evident today, with rows of
large prayer wheels, a monastery that
blows its horns at the break of dawn,
and Tibetan-influenced architecture.
The newly opened Red House Lodge
is an architectural treasure that is
open to casual visitors as well as in-
house guests. The building dates from
the 1860s, and has had many uses
throughout its history, including as a
nunnery. In recently being turned into
Tibetan Buddhism is practiced in this area.. Photo: Bipin Dawadi.
From Kagbeni, several day-hike options
are possible. Again, it’s best to do these
as early in the day as you can, shortly
after breakfast, to avoid the wind. The
walk to Tiri takes about half an hour,
from where you can take a steep path
up to a monastery with great views of
the Kali Gandaki, the bare rocky hills
and the snow-capped Himalayan
peaks in the distance. To get to Tiri,
cross the bridge in Kagbeni and follow
the only path north, towards the green
terraced farmland in the distance. You
may well have to share the path with
herds of goats, but it’s not a busy trail,
and the way is clear.
One of the most spectacular excursions
possible from Kagbeni is up a small
river valley to the east, in the direction
of the Thorung La, the 5,416 metre pass
that trekkers on the Annapurna Circuit
must cross. The walk up the valley is
mostly quite gentle, although some
narrow paths and scrambles over
small landslides make it adventurous.
After about ninety minutes of walking,
a spectacular panorama of mountains
and caves opens up.
Buddhist monks perform a morning ritual. Photo: Bipin Dawadi.
A geological feature of Tibetan lands,
from Tibet itself to Ladakh in India, is
the dry towers of rock that look like
overgrown anthills. In the shadow
of the Annapurna Himalayas sits an
abandoned village surrounded by these
conical hills, carved with meditation
caves high up in their structures. Their
history—and that of the abandoned
The whitewashed buildings and narrow streets of Marpha. Photo: Elen Turner.
www.insidehimalayas.com | By Royal Mountain Travel
61