Mustang Nepal | The Trans Himalaya

Cultivated fields of Chuksang

Mustang (from the Tibetan möntang (Wylie: smon-thang), Nepali: मुस्तांग Mustāṃg "fertile plain"), formerly Kingdom of Lo, is a remote and isolated region of the Nepalese Himalayas. The Upper Mustang was a restricted demilitarized area until 1992 which makes it one of the most preserved regions in the world, with a majority of the population still speaking traditional Tibetic languages. Tibetan culture has been preserved by the relative isolation of the region from the outside world.

The Upper Mustang comprise the northern two-thirds of Mustang District of Dhawalagiri Zone, Nepal. The southern third of the district is called Thak and is the homeland of the Thakali, who speak the Thakali language, and whose culture combines Tibetan and Nepalese elements. Life in Mustang revolves around tourism, animal husbandry and trade.

Mustang's status as a kingdom ended in 2008 when its suzerain Kingdom of Nepal became a republic. The influence of the outside world, especially China, is growing and contributing to rapid change in the lives of Mustang's people. from Wikipedia

Some images from Mustang are below:

Monastery Tsarang

Ploughing the fields outside Drakmar village

Entrance of Drakmar

Man made plantations Gheling

Pass of Mui La 4170 m on the road to Ghar Gompa

Village of Geling

North of Lo Manthang

Mustang & Lo Manthang Trek | Peakfinder Screenshots

Evening Ghar Gompa

South Col Expeditions trekked to Mustang and Lo  Manthang for the second successive year. In 2015 the South Col team had just come out of the monasteries of Lo Manthang and entered a painters studio when the Nepal earthquake struck. This September 2016 there were no mishaps and the team made the trek without any problems.

These Peakfinder screen shots identify the mountains from different locations on the trek

Pokhara - from the south side of the Annapurnas

Jomsom View

Kagbeni entrance of Mustang

Yamdo La view above Shyanmochen

The view from the Choser Caves north of Lo Manthang

For more information and photographs on Mustang do visit

http://www.sujoydas.com/Nepal-Himalaya/Mustang-In-the-Land-of-Lo/i-LMNdRDz

http://sujoyrdas.blogspot.in/2015/09/mustang-and-lo-manthang-itinerary-part-i.html

http://sujoyrdas.blogspot.in/2015/09/mustang-and-lo-manthang-itinerary-part.html  

Nepal Earthquake | One Year After

Kaule village,  Nuwakot district,  May 2015

On 25^th April 2015 at around 11- 56 am, I was standing inside a “tankha” painter’s studio in Lo Manthang, the capital of Mustang district in the rain shadow of the Himalayas.  All of a sudden, I noticed that the bowls of paint in little cups were vibrating and this began to increase rapidly.  As I watched in amazement the colours began to spill onto the floor which was also shaking and we then realized it was an earthquake. We ran out onto the street and looking up I found the walls of a nearby building shaking dangerously. Each time I thought it was going to collapse it miraculously straightened up again. At that time I had no idea of the enormity of the disaster which was unfolding in Nepal.

We cut short our trek and started our long journey back to Pokhara. The story of that journey has been told in http://sujoyrdas.blogspot.com/2015/09/mustang-and-lo-manthang-itinerary-part.html 

The earthquake of 25th April 2015 was followed by a second major earthquake on 12^th May 2015 which further crippled Nepal. 

Since the two earthquakes and the numerous aftershocks which have rocked this mountain kingdom, Nepal has been on the world map for the last one year.

 The images  and videos are by  now all too familiar – rubble and shattered homes and buildings, cars smashed by rocks, large chunks of the hillside falling away into dust and ashes  in a video, avalanches the size of large tidal waves sweeping up a camp, those familiar orange and blue shelters adorning the hillside shot by cameramen in  helicopters,  women trying to find their  belongings in the rocks and bricks which were once their homes, and police and  soldiers on their constant patrol trying to keep order in the world heritage monuments many of which are now lying in ruins.

Durbar Square Kathmandu soon after the earthquake

It is now the first anniversary of this calamity. What has happened in Nepal since then?

Very little really.

The earthquake in Nepal was followed an agitation by the Madhesi parties against the new constitution which resulted in a border blockade with India for six months and brought the country to its feet.

Fuel and cooking gas were being black marketed, costs of all essential commodities spiralled out of control, flights were not refuelled at Kathmandu airport, long lines of buses, cars and motor bikes stood daily outside fuel pumps which were dry and foreign countries like USA, UK, Australia issued advisory warnings against travelling to Nepal.

Haze and pollution over Kathmandu as seen from Swayambhunath, April 2016

 Further, Kathmandu the capital is in a shambles. Very high pollution levels accompanied by a haze which sits over the valley has affected the health of many. Wearing a face mask while walking on the street is now the norm rather than the exception.  The Nepal capital has been rated as the third most polluted city in the world. Along with this, electricity shortages to the tune of 12 to 14 hours per day have brought the city to its feet. And it does not look like the situation will improve in a hurry and neither does the Government have a plan in place to tackle these issues.

Roland Hunter of The Mountain Company at Everest Base Camp, September 2015 on a recce visit to assess the earthquake damage on the trekking trails to Everest

Tourists and trekkers who had planned to come for the autumn 2015 season put their plans on hold and Nepal tourism received another setback with virtually no business for two consecutive seasons.

The blockade was lifted in early 2016 but by then the damage was already done. However the trek agencies and hoteliers are optimistic that autumn 2016 will bring back the tourists if there is stability on the political front and not further agitation by the Madhesis.

But what of the reconstruction process?

One year later the Nepal Reconstruction Authority (NRA) is sitting with $4 billion dollars of aid to distribute to the people but due to the lack of proper infrastructure and systems for distribution these funds remain locked. In fact, after the Government announced relief schemes,  the number of those claiming to have lost their homes shot up from about 5.70 lac houses to around 7.70 lac houses and the NRA was called upon to  verify the data once more, further setting back the recovery timeline.

The villagers had also been promised Rs 2 lacs each to rebuild their homes in earthquake proof designs – none of this money has reached them either as no design has been approved by the Government. But in actual fact the cost of an earthquake proof house would be to the tune of Rs 5 lac at least so where will the rest of the money come from?

The prototype at Kaule almost completed

Various aid agencies have been rebuilding earthquake proof prototypes in different villages and have been applying to the DUDBC (Department of Urban Development and Building) for approval of the designs.

Building the roof of the prototype at Kaule

 As a part of South Col Nepal Earthquake Support we have supported the building of one such prototype (www.thekauleprototype.blogspot.com) with indigenous materials in Kaule village, Nuwakot district and have also submitted the design for approval.

Detailed drawings submitted to DUDBC for approval

As typical for most of the people in Nepal, the villagers wait in hope for their Rs 2 lacs each for re-building their homes. 

Until then as they say in Nepal, ke garne?

Butter lamps, Bodhnath, March 2016

Mustang and Lo Manthang Trek | Photographs in Black and White

South Col Expeditions trekked to Mustang and Lo Manthang in April 2015. The account of our journey and return after the great Nepal earthquake is given in these two blog posts:

1. http://www.sujoyrdas.blogspot.in/2015/09/mustang-and-lo-manthang-itinerary-part-i.html

2.  http://www.sujoyrdas.blogspot.in/2015/09/mustang-and-lo-manthang-itinerary-part.html

These are some photographs from that trek:

The village of Chusang

On the trail between Samar and Shyanbochen

The village of Ghilling

Entering Drakmar

Mani stones near Ghar Gompa

Rock inscription near Ghar Gompa

On the outskirts of Tsarang

Near the village of Drakmar

The Kali Gandaki near Kagbeni

Mustang and Lo Manthang | The Itinerary Part II

South Col Expeditions had a team of eight trekkers to Mustang and Lo Manthang in April 2015. The first part of the journey is covered in this blog post:

http://www.sujoyrdas.blogspot.com/2015/09/mustang-and-lo-manthang-itinerary-part-i.html

This is the second and concluding part.

April 23 2015

Drakmar

It was a windy and cold morning at Drakmar and we waited for the sun to hit the trail before setting out at 8 am. The trail initially travelled through the village and then entered a canyon with steep walls and amazing rock formations. The trail then started a steep climb to the pass of Mui La 4070m. There were some steep switchbacks and the path finally went through a narrow canyon which opened out onto the pass in about an hour and ten minutes. The trail then traversed a ridge for about 15 min and reached another pass on the other end of the ridge.

Ghar Gompa from the trail above

 From the  second pass the trail dropped steeply to Ghar Gompa which is about an hour from the pass. From the pass the high route to Lo Manthang across the Marangla pass can be seen. Below are the twin villages of Lo Gekar and Marang.  The spectacular Ghar Gompa is situated at the end of the valley pressed against the hill side. We left Ghar Gompa around 1 pm and travelled due east down a broad trail to the village of Lo Gekar and then onto Marang in about 45 min. From Marang cross a long suspension bridge and then reach Tsarang in about two hours from Ghar Gompa.

April 24 2015

We left Tsarang at 8am and walked down to the river. Cross the river on a bridge and then start the climb up on the other side to a small pass which is reached within one hour. From this pass the trail follows the jeep road climbing slowly until it reaches a large attractive chorten in yellow orange and white at the bottom of a climb in about an hour and a half.

From the chorten the trail climbs up again to another small pass and then again climbs across a large level windswept plain for about another hour until it reaches the last pass. Below lies the walled city of Lo Manthang about forty minutes away. The walk on this day was the hardest of the trek due to the  relentless wind, long distances and a long stretch on the jeep able road. Further there is no  tea shop anywhere between Tsarang and Lo Manthang.

April 25 2015

We had decided the previous evening to go to the Chosser caves in the morning but when we woke up the weather was dark and grim - low clouds hung over the mountains to the north and fresh snows covered the peaks. So instead we stayed at Lo and visited the walled city with its splendid monasteries and frescoes many in need of restoration. The mandala frescoes were particularly outstanding.

Lo Manthang

Nearing noon we visited the studio of a tankha painter and while we were there the earthquake struck. Michele, one of our trekkers from Australia  who was ill was sleeping in her upstairs room and was helped out by Shyam and our porter Bikram and shell shocked she was put on the road on a mattress.  The owner of our lodge Mystic Himalayan Ram Gurung suggested that she be put on oxygen and he hooked her onto to an oxygen cylinder.  We did I not know then about the intensity of the earthquake. I tried calling Kathmandu but all lines were busy.  Finally on the CDMA sky phone I was able to call Paula who told me that the epicentre was north of Pokhara.

With the quake and Michele's illness we decided to cut short the last day and start our return journey by jeep as planned. We left Lo at around 2pm.  There were thirteen of us in a long wheel base Mahindra jeep and it was a very  tight squeeze.

The jeep ride down to Chuksang

Within half an hour of leaving  a rock fall which had occurred due to the landslide blocked the road and Shyam and the porters had to get down and clear the rocks. The  weather had also become ominous and a few drops of rain had started to fall. The jeep careered down the darkening hillside the grey brown cliffs of Mustang assuming a monstrous hue. We had planned to reach Chuksang but were told that this jeep would go up to Shyanmochen only.

Just before Shyanmochen the road had become caked in mud and the jeep slipped across  a number of times and tethered very close to the edge. We finally all got off and walked up the hill for a short distance to the waiting jeep. We reached a river flowing across the road and had to tranship to another jeep. Finally around 7 pm we reached the Himali guest house in Samar and decided to call it a day. It had been a very long day and we were all exhausted.

We tried to use our phones but all lines were busy and we were unable to reach anyone's phone.  We still had no idea about the severity of the earthquake. At around 11 pm there was a knocking on my door. It was Bikram. A  phone call from Santaman had conveyed really bad news- Shyam's father had died, their house had collapsed and most of the two hundred houses in the village had been raised to the ground. I went down in the freezing night to find Shyam sitting outside the lodge sobbing loudly. I somehow got him to bed but there was no further sleep for any of us that night. The enormity of this tragedy really hit me then.

April 26th 2015

The next morning also dawned ominous and angry. It had again snowed at night and a weak and watery sun was trying to push its way through the clouds. We left for Chuksang around 7 30 am. Fortunately there were no landslides and we entered Chuksang in about 75 minutes.

We had planned to take another jeep to Jomsom but learnt that there was a big landslide ten minutes ahead which had blocked the road. The landslide could not be cleared in the next two hours and finally we crossed the slide on foot. There were jeeps waiting on the other side and we got to Kagbeni in about 45 minutes.

Crossing a landslide at Chusang

The final drive to Jomsom took about another hour and dusty, weather beaten and exhausted we entered the Windy Valley Hotel. We then learnt of the severity of the quake and that Kathmandu, many districts in the vicinity had been very badly affected.

April 27th 2015

At Jomsom below Nilgiri

We had managed to pre pone our tickets on the Jomsom Pokhara flight and we had been assigned the third flight of the morning at 8.20am. The morning was clear at  Jomsom and Niligiri could be seen clearly behind the tarmac. But no flights came that morning. We tried to get a jeep but none of the jeeps were available. Finally around 9.30 am we managed to get a local bus which was going all the way to Pokhara.

Archana in the bus down to Pokhara

The dirt track to Pokhara was more suited for a pony than a vehicle. The 74km section to Beni took us seven hours and the final 81 km to Pokhara was covered in around three hours. Dog tired, shaken and exhausted we had completed this bone rattling journey all the way from Lo Manthang at around 3850m through the deep gorge of the Kali Gandaki to Pokhara around 850m in three days. We were lucky to have escaped unscathed.

Mustang and Lo Manthang | The Itinerary Part I

The sky caves of Mustang

April 19  2015

 South Col had a group of eight trekkers to Mustang and Lo Manthang last April 2015. The morning dawned clear in Pokhara and all the peaks were visible after the rain the previous evening.  Our 7 am flight to Jomsom was bang on time and I was sitting on the left side so I had splendid views of the peaks including Dhaulagiri, Nilgiri and Tukuche. I could also clearly see below me the route we had taken on so many treks - Austrian camp, Poon hill and the valley of the Kali Gandaki . On the right side of the aircraft was visible the Annapurnas and Machapuchare.

Dhaulagiri from the flight between Pokhara and Jomsom

The Kali Gandaki valley near Jomsom

We had breakfast at Windy Valley Jomsom and left around 8- 50am for Kagbeni. The current road followed the right bank of the Kali Gandaki though for most of the way there were a large number of jeeps ferrying Indian pilgrims to the holy temple of Muktinath. We reached Eklai Bhatti in about an hour and a half as it was the first day and we were not yet acclimatised. We entered Kagbeni around noon and stayed at the Yakdonalds hotel which had good food but poor dark rooms which also had a peculiar smell!  We also visited the interesting Kag Chode monastery with a monastery school for young lamas.

Jomsom airport and Nilgiri

April 20 2015

Shyam our sirdar and I were at the permit office by 6 am and we finally got the permits stamped and completed by 6.45am. Next to the permit office is Cafe Applebee's with a dress circle view over the Kali Gandaki and the entrance of Upper Mustang. Standing there in the early morning light and watching the Kali Gandaki flowing gently through the gorge with the first rays of the sun lighting up the red and ochre cliffs was a breathtaking experience.

The Kali Gandaki before Kagbeni

We left for Chuksang in a jeep as we wanted to gain some time on the first day and make better progress into Mustang. The jeep ran on a dirt track road and in forty minutes reached Chuksang - what would have taken us four hours on the trail! Chuksang is a very impressive village with green fields of freshly planted vegetables backed by sheer cliffs in a myriad of shapes and patterns. The sculpted rock canyons of upper Mustang start here and many have the famous sky caves of Mustang built into the rocks!

The village of Chuksang

We had breakfast at the Brakpa guest house where the omelette and toast was excellent!  We left Chuksang at around 9 05am and the trail crossed a small stream and then followed the right bank of the Kali Gandaki.  In about fifty minutes the trail crosses two bridges up ahead and above we saw the village of Chele.  We then climbed a slope for about 20 minutes and stopped at Hotel Mustang Gate for a welcome cup of tea. Nilgiri dominates the view back across the Kali Gandaki .

Some members of the South Col group to Mustang

From Chele the trail continues to climb gently up the hillside and passes a school in about 15 min. It then continues for another 35 minutes and across the valley the village of Gyekar can be seen.  The trail then starts a steep climb clinging to the side of a canyon and in a series of hairpin bends gains altitude heading up to the pass of Chele la 3630 m.  In around 75 to 80 min from the start of the climb the pass is reached and from there is a gentle 20 min stroll down to the village of Samar.

Samar which is around 3600 m boasts an excellent view of the Trans Himalaya. Nilgiri dominates the view but there is a long line of peaks to the east most of them possibly unnamed and to the west is Tukuche and possibly the summit of Dhaulagiri as well. We stayed at Hotel Himali in Samar which is a basic facility like most of the tea houses in Upper Mustang.

April 21 2015

We left Samar at 7 15am. The morning was clear and there was a splendid view of the mountains. As we left the red and ochre chortens were getting the first light - ponies were grazing below the chortens while an old woman with grizzled features turned prayer wheels below the chortens. The trail left the main gate of Samar and then descended into a gorge. It crossed a small stream and then started climbing steeply up the hill side for about 30 min and reached a clearing with another great view of the snows. The trail then followed the side of the hill climbing steadily in the hot sun.  In about one and a half hours we reached the pass of Bhena La and a 15 min stroll down the hill brought us to the one house of Bhena where we stopped for a cup of tea.

Typical Mustang chortens at Samar

From Bhena the trail to the Yamdo La is clearly visible across the hill.  The trail initially follows the jeep able road and  begins a climb up the hill side for about 40 min. It then rejoins the jeep able road and makes a gentle climb to the pass of Yamdo La 4010m. Yamdo La is reached about 75 min from Bhena and has an almost 360 degree view starting from the peaks on the Tibetan frontier  to  the peaks above Thorung La and then towards the North face of Nilgiri. From the pass Shyangbochen is seen below and is around  40 min down the hill on the jeep road.

Heading down from Yamdo La to Shyanbochen

We had lunch at the Hotel Nilgiri and left after lunch around 1.15pm. A ten minute walk uphill reaches a small pass from where the village of Ghelling could be seen about 75 minutes away.

April 22 2015

We left Ghilling at around 7 40 am.  We stayed the night at a small guest house which had minimal facilities and as we got only three rooms I used my tent for the night.  I found that the tent had iced up at night and the inner wall was damp with condensation. The trail initially travelled north climbing gently and reaches the bottom of the Nyi La pass in about 90 minutes. A half hour climb to the top brings up another spectacular view of the peaks including Annapurna 3 and Nilgiri. The trail then drops from the pass and joins the jeepable road . It then follows the road for about 45 minutes and then joins a walking trail marked “way to Ghemi”. The trail reaches another small pass in about 15 minutes and then drops steeply down the valley from where the village of Ghemi can be seen.

We stopped for lunch at the Royal Mustang hotel which had an excellent apple pie which was finished by our group. We left Ghemi at 1.10 pm and the trail  goes through the village and down to the river. Cross the river and start climbing up the other side gradually to reach another pass in about an hour. From the pass looking down the longest Mani wall in Nepal can be seen below as well as the bends of the jeep road. From the pass the trail levels off and reaches Drakmar in an hour. This part of the walk is spectacular as it  snakes its way  below the red cliffs of Drakmar.

The red cliffs of Drakmar

..... to be continued next week on  12th  September 2015 at 
http://sujoyrdas.blogspot.com/2015/09/mustang-and-lo-manthang-itinerary-part.html