Kagbeni, Kagbeni, Kagbeni

Due to our altered itinerary and our dolphin sands road climax (thus far), we found ourselves spending three nights in the small village of Kagbeni. It is located in the valley of the Kali Gandaki River.

Kali Gandaki River and mountains all around

Initially the arid landscape appeared very other worldly, especially compared to the Annapurna region. The brown valley, which reminded me of Colca Canyon in Peru, was in stark contrast with the blue sky and mostly white mountains around us. The beautiful scenery made us very excited about what would follow as we hiked further north into Upper Mustang, perhaps compounding our later disappointment!

(I will have to warn you here that this post is going to contain many photos because although Kagbeni mostly represented a place we weren’t meant to be, or a substitute for where we wished to be, I found it a really nice village with incredible and unique scenery.)

On the morning of our walk to Kagbeni, I tried my first Tibetan tea. The drink is made from the butter and milk of a yak, and though it wasn't anything to write home about, it was nice to try something new. (There was certainly not much else to look at at this point as it appeared we had stepped into a Wild Wild West movie. I couldn't even find a tumbleweed!)

On the road to Kagbeni

Passing a Kagbeni orchard

Apparently there is gold to be found

Our guide, Krishna took us around Kagbeni village and further into the valley

When we arrived at our hotel in Kagbeni I quickly found a window nook to bask in the sun and enjoy the view. I told Rob it was categorically a cat/Kat window which was confirmed the next day when we found a ginger and white cat napping in the very spot.

Room with a view

Kagbeni town and surrounds

Whilst in Kagbeni we tried to (respectfully) get some photos of the Kagbenians doing their thing. Most people were not interested in partaking, which I can understand. As we milled around town we saw scraps being given to birds, goats being herded back before sunset, men gambling in the streets and a goat's head hanging from the bridge. 

Home time!

Beautiful eyed boy

Unexplained goats head dangling from a bridge

Kagenians doing their thing

We also passed the unexpected no-hiking time with, UNO special rules (the game that keeps on giving as the dealer chooses the rules each round), reading, writing, napping and of course, eating dahl baht and drinking milk tea. We were in the midst of reading Around the World in 80-days together which we both enjoyed immensely. (No, we are not trying to speed up our journey to win a bet!)

River-side Kagbeni (Kali Mukti joins from the north-east/right)

Could be out of Game of Thrones

On our second and third night in Kagbeni, I tried hard to rest my ankle. It was not too bad but still painful. The next morning we would hike back to Jomsom for the return flight to Pokhara the day after. This time we walked in the riverbed, again having the sense that we could be somewhere other than Earth. Though the trek was short it felt long, as I was eager to return to Jomsom. We entertained ourselves with conversation, looking for gold and throwing rocks into the river. 

Rock games- Rob hit the mountain!

All smiles!

Up the icy path

A lovely part of Nepal

Which planet?

Kagbeni to Jomsom via the riverbed, all gold-prospecting

Blue skies and many browns

Eventually we made it to Jomsom where the colourful new monastery stuck out like a sore thumb amongst the browns and whites of the mountains. We were keen to use the wifi as we had been speculating on the prime ministership on our trek. It turned out that there had been a vote for a spill. We also caught up with the news of our friends, which included an exciting very recent new arrival to the world! 

Jomsom seemed pretty interesting until we started walking around and most things shut down. Nevertheless we decided to try and have a third tea for the day. Arriving at a small tea shop, we asked a young boy where to get it. He misunderstood thinking we were looking for beer! It is funny how us humans just hear what we expect to hear sometimes. (Rob was even speaking Nepali).

Arrival at Jomsom: new monastery

Jomsom

My heart almost stopped on our flight back to Pokhara. We had arrived very early at the small airport and waited around for a long time. They only fly in the morning because it is too windy and dangerous later on. We boarded the tiny plane of 15 passengers and my seat was requested so a mother and adult son could sit near each other. It was for the best because it was the woman’s first time on a plane and it just so happened that this one would drop at least ten metres in the sky. I lost my stomach and didn’t find it again until much later in the day. What made it worse was the woman had covered her eyes with a scarf so she couldn’t see.  It was definitely the most scenic and terrifying short flight I have been on. I don’t think I would do it again, opting for the multi-day hike to avoid it!