Nepal Trek

I took a 4 day trek in the mustang region of nepal. The first day we arrived in Jompson via airplane. We met our guide and now long time friend Sering, who not only saved us from the perils of mustang, but laughed at us and with us the whole time; lightening sprits and making the hard moments more fun and the down time more entertaining.

We then walked up the mustang valley to a town called Kagbeni, strolled around the almost 700 year old village and saw a turf war between two cows. The second day we climbed almost 1200 meters (3960 ft.) in about 4 hours. This limit pushing climb brought us the the sacred town of Muktinath, where the 3 holiest rivers for hindus begin as one glacial run off. The third day we climbed another 1000 feet, or more, to a pass around 15000 feet. If you stop and sit still and quite, in this pass, time stops with you. It was truly untouched and untainted, by the progress of time. One might say it was serene, but I don't think that any word does it justice. That afternoon we began our decent traveling through Muktinath past Kagbeni to a small village about 2 hours from Jompson. The decent put us along some hair raising cliffs and steep trails no more than a foot wide with 500 foot drops on one side and loose rock on the other.

After a much needed night of rest at the Hill-Ton,

we walked the final few kilometers to Jompson. That afternoon we decided to walk even more and see the town just below Jompson, Marpha, and then walked back up to Jompson. Needless to say, we were all very exhausted by the end of this trek. Today we flew out of Jompson early in the morning, changed planes in Pokhara, and are now in the lap of luxury at the Hyatt Kathmandu. Here are some beautiful mountain pictures that only give an inkling of the majesty and size of these powerful pieces of rock.

On a side note, sorry to those who have been following my MobileMe gallery it filled up quicker than I thought and the internet here has generally been too slow to be uploading more than 20 pictures at a time. For those who are wondering I now have taker more than 1700 pictures this trip. I promise you all that by the end of the coming week all photos will be available on MobileMe, and I will be available starting monday via telephone, and in person if you are in the boston area, for the first time in far too long. For the last time, From Nepal and India, with LOVE!