Journey to Muktinath

Being as artisan, I like to collect raw materials from my travel destinations around the world – From Nepal  I wanted to find the source of Rudrakshas. From a little research I did on Rudrakshas I read somewhere that they traditionally come from the forests around the Kali Gandaki River. Researching more into the Kali Gandaki River I come across a place called Muktinath which is meant to be a pilgrimage destination for all Hindus and Buddhist. I told Jimmy and Brett about this and they too were quite intrigued about this place.

We speak with the people at Freedom Cafe and they tell us that we need to take a bus to Beni and then another bus from Beni will take us straight to Muktinath. This sounds quite straight forward to us so we find ourselves on the 1st bus to Beni.

We arrive in Beni and find it quite dull and boring.. have thali for dinner and decide to go to bed early so we can catch the 1st bus out of there to Muktinath anticipating an exciting new destination to relax at the end of next day. The next day we get up, eat breakfast and get on the 1st bus we found to Muktinath – the bus driver told us that there isnt really a direct bus and that we will need to catch another bus from Tatopani. Okay this was news that its not 1 direct bus but two buses to Muktinath but still find it quite okay knowing that we should be there by the end of the day.

The journey begins and Brett – Jimmy and I are on a bus driving on a very scary one lane road which can only handle one vehicle at a time – but the journey is amazingly scenic.

Tatopani

We arrive at  Tatopani and then get on another bus towards Dana.

Hot Springs at Tatopani – photo credit: Greg Willis

Tato in Nepali means Hot and Pani means water hence the village is named after the beautiful hot springs it is situated near.

Beautiful views from Tatopani

We keep walking from Tatopani towards our next bus. We get on our next bus and at one point everyone has to get off the bus as it is too heavy to cross over a landslide. The bus has to go back reverse a long way and come back in full speed to finally make it over the landslide. Here’s a video:

After passing a huge waterfall as we get closer to Dana – there happens to be a huge landslide not allowing the bus to move forward any more. Now this is something I definitely was NOT EXPECTING… we all have no choice now but to walk and cross the village to find another bus to take us to Ghasa.

 

All these unexpected surprises is starting to get outside my comfort zone –  but lets face it – its a bit of walking but look around you – the amazing paradise you have manifested yourself in.. how can you ruin your mood with this lil’ hiccup just ‘cuz you dont like walking? So I take a deep breath – and soak in some beautiful Himalayan mountain energy and keep  walking towards the Ghasa. After all Magic does happen outside your comfort zone doesn’t it?

Ghasa

After a good two hours of walking – we finally find ourselves in Ghasa. Its almost the end of the day now – we are exhausted and we decide to spend the night here and make our way to Muktinath the next day. My mind up until now was always focussed on the destination which was Muktinath – but arriving at Ghasa I realise once again the essence behind the famous saying  “Its not about the destination but about the journey”

Following morning – we go and sussed out the bus situation and find out that the next bus leaves at noon.. we decide to start walking anyway to get on the bus when it arrives – as we keep walking there happens to be a checkpoint just past Ghasa where some security guards ask us to show them our trekking permits.. We had no idea what he meant by that and we told them that we don’t have any. So then they replied that we need to Pay Rs. 8000 for two tourist passes and Rs. 1500 for a local pass as Indians are not considered tourists. Normally the permits costs Rs. 2000 for tourists but since we failed to get it before the checkpoint we had to pay double. So please remember to make sure that you have your permits before you set foot into the Annapurna Range.

That hiccup now costs us most of the money that we have on us before we get access to the next atm. We get our passes and start walking around towards Marpha hoping to manifest an ATM somewhere along the way. As we keep walking we come across two travelers Jitka and Andre from Czech Republic. They told us that they have 2 friends whom they are hoping to meet at Marpha. The four of us start walking towards Marpha and at some point a bus finally arrives behind us which we get on.

Marpha Valley

We get off at Marpha along with Andre and Jitka and quite spontaneously decide to spend another night there instead of traveling more. We meet their friends Lalit and Wally at Neeru Guest House.

Photo Credits: James

 

 

I highly recommend visit Neeru Guest house while you are visiting Marpha. The owner is a very lovely lady and a beautiful host. We try the locally brewed apple ciders here and really love it. The food here is absolutely lip smacking.

 

 

 

 

 

Marpha is known as the Apple Capital of Nepal is full of apple orchards where the apples are used to make apple cider vinegar, apple ciders, Jams.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nyingma Monastry  is one of the only tourist attractions of Marpha Valley besides the beautiful valley itself.

 

Photo Credits: Jitka Cardova

Photo Credits: Jitka Cardova

Photo Credits: Gerd Eichmann

 

The Streets of Marpha Valley

Mar means hardworking and Pha is people so the Marpha is basically named after the hardworking locals who live there.

Locals of Marpha Valley

This place is less touristy than Jhomsom which is only a 5 km trek from here. I would recommend having a stop over here instead of Jhomsom as its much more prettier and the locals are much nicer as well.

Jhompsom

Next day we start walking towards Jhompsom where at last we find an ATM..

View from Marpha to Jhompsom

Relieved to have found a cash machine we go out shopping – only to find out much later that the ATMs are all cashed out and to make things worse we need to pay for another three permits to move forward from  Jhomsom.

So our options were to either spend the night in Jhomsom until the ATMs are cashed up or sneak out of there.. We take the 2nd option – we tell the guards that our friends are waiting at the Bob Marley cafe who have the cash so to let us through for 1/2 hour and ask them to keep my pancard as security.

 

 

We get through the check point and meet our new friends at Bob Marley cafe and decide to keep walking towards Kagbeni. Lalit tells us that he can loan us some money and we can pay him back later and so we continue our journey on foot..

 

After about 3 hours of walking – a tractor passes by and we all raise our hands for a ride – we get on but the journey was quite bouncy.. He drops us off about 2 hours of walking time before Kagbeni.

We found a ride yay!

 

Kagbeni

We finally arrive at Kagbeni after 6 hours of walking and hitchhiking and spend the night at a hotel which was previously a monastery. It’s called Red House Lodge. After having lovely thalis – we pass out to wake up to a beautiful morning.

 

This is my view from the rooftop of Red House Lodge.

What I love about the Annapurna Ranges is how the prayer flags add so much colour to the landscape. These pictures actually dont really do justice.

So far from all the villages – Kagbeni is my favourite. I am completely taken aback from the breath taking views.

 

 

 

 

 

When you look at the stones closely there are Buddhist Scriptures carved on it.

After lunch – we decide to leave Kagbeni and keep walking towards Muktinath

 

This is what Kagbeni looks like when you are further up.

Annapurna in all its majesty!

 

Zoomed in..

 

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Muktinath

 

We finally made it to Muktinath

Muktinath is a sacred place for Buddhists and Hindus which means “place of liberation”.

The Muktinath Temple is considered to be a Shakti Peetha for a yatra. Shakti Peethas are sacred abodes of Shakti (primordial cosmic energy), formed by the falling of body parts of the corpse of Sati Devi, when Lord Shiva carried it and wandered. ( Wikipedia)

 

We take our blessings from this sacred place and then the six of us split into threeways – Jitka and Andre keep walking to complete the full circuit – Brett, Wally and Lalit decide to take the jeep back to Pokhara – Jimmy and me decide to walk all thew way back to Beni – via a small village called Jarkot.

Jarkot

Jimmy and me take a 5 hour trekking route from Muktinath to Jarkot which I find a little bit challenging but not too bad since it was 50% downhill. As you start to get closer towards Jarkot – we look at the ground to see that it is very shiny. We look closer and pick up one of the stones to realise that they are actually crystals. This spot is full of all kinds of crystals – this completely blows me away.

Getting closer and closer to our destination – we come across a river – with a really strong current. Only way to cross over a 1 foot by 12 foot wooden plank. Our option is to either cross it or head back all the way where we came from..

 

It was definitely dangerous but kind of adventurous .. but I dont recommend any one to try this as it can be life threatening!

Welcome to Jharkot

The little temple was a beautiful entrance to the village

This is a real mission to get to – but it is completely worth it to be here.

Life here is pretty self sustainable. It might be very minimalistic – but they have the luxury of fresh organic food and really clean air.

There are many caves on the opposite side of the village.

Beautiful locals of Jharkot

Local Buddha.

Streets of Jharkot

The carvings on these stones are more visible as the colour is not yet faded.

 

 

This is how chickens are transported here.

Way back on foot.

So I didnt come across any rudrakshas but I found my spirit. Before this trip – my laziness would not allow me to walk for more than 1 km MAX – ask Jimmy – I was the biggest wuss – but on the way back I was adamant to walk the parts that I missed while I took the bus on the way in.

Thankyou – Shiva.