Trekking, Day 7 , Marpha to Kagbeni – Left our lodge in Marpha at 7 a.m. and headed for Kagbeni, a village up on the Tibetan plateau. We rounded the first ridge and were rewarded with the best views of the mountain we had had in seven days plus there were tons of blooming cherry blossoms, which made the views even better. I must have taken 10 photos of the different mountains. We had not been able to see the tops due to the low clouds. I do not even think I can describe the beauty. The photos will have to speak for themselves.
We moved on and arrive in Jomsom at 2713 meters and went straight to the airport building shack to book a return flight back to Pokhara in two days’ time. Ram has been a great guide and since he has never been in an airplane and Nepalese people get 50% off, I pain for his place ticket as well. In addition, I think he got a stress fracture on his left foot back in Tatopani. He has been mentioning that it hurt to put pressure on his foot, more so when he was climbing down. So I decided to fly him back. Should be interesting to see his reaction to an airplane flight. Not much in Jomsom except the airport, so we pressed and started walking down this wide, dry riverbed towards Kagbeni.
As we left Jomsom, a flight was arriving and we watched the place pull in incredibly tight circle over the riverbed when it was landing. Ram watched the plane, then looked at me incredulously and asked if there were shoulder and waist harnesses that people wore while in an airplane. I told him no. Then he asked if it was very dangerous to fly. I said no again but I am not quite sure if he really believed me. The terrain changed dramatically after Jomsom. In fact, there was no longer any vegetation on any of the hillsides, just huge, scraggly rock reaching down the riverbed we were walking in. Palm Springs without grass came to mind, but the wind is what the major different was.
Every day about 11 a.m., the wind comes whistling down the valley and it is strong and extremely cold. Both of us were frozen to the bone by the time we arrived in Kagbeni at 2810 meters. Kagbeni is a village of Tibetan refugees and is the most northerly point foreigners are allowed to go in this region of Nepal. We entered the village and I could actually feel a difference. This was not Nepalese. The village had a stream flowing through it and it was landscaped a bit with green-leafed trees and cherry blossoms. There were three pillared Tibetan temples here and there were tons of prayer wheels all over the place. I was so entranced by this place that we wandered around the village checking it out and taking photos before we had even found a hotel.
We walked to the very edge of the village and I found the sign saying “restricted area”. No foreigners passed to this point signifying the beginning of the Mustang Kingdom. Took more photos of the yaks, people, and landscape before getting a room at the new Annapurna Lodge. This lodge was run by the two liveliest Tibetan girls, and later on in the evening, they were singing and dancing for our benefit, too cool. Ram and I had quite a few beers before retiring up to bed. I had a coughing attack up in the room and Ram replied altitude sickness. Ever since the first day, I had been concerned about getting it. So every time either one of us had a coughing attack, we both chime in, altitude sickness. One thing I did notice was that virtually all the trekkers I had met had a cough and a cold, the cough being more predominant. I have since named it the Himalayan hack since everybody seems to get it when they go trekking.