Gurung bread with a lashing of honey. What do they say? "A gurung bread a day keeps the ghosts away???" 🤣 This turn out to be my typical breakfast during the trek. You should actually have a hearty breakfast as you will burn up what you eat quite fast. Although I like a hearty breakfast like most, the only thing that stops me is the perennial dread of having a long uphill climb immeadiately after leaving the teahouse. Nothing is more gruesome than having a 30mins uphill climb on a very full stomach. A pair of gurung bread plus half a bowl of oatmeal or half a pancake plate(shared with fellow trekker) would keep me going for a few hours without causing me to wish I stayed home.
On the way out of Ghami, we came upon this handsome fellow by the track. Most of the horses we saw up to this point were pretty scrawny so it was a surprise to see such a well feed equine specimen so "snap".
We started today by heading down towards the river. After crossing over, instead of following the road left or right, we head up the short slope to the plateau. We skirt around the wall and monastery to the left and head stright up towards the hills in the distance(north easterly direction).
Not too sure why they bothered with the suspension bridge. Maybe the water level get higher than the lower bridge at some point. As you can see, it is not a languorous little stream.
On the way down to the river, someone got excited. Could be someone is looking for a seclusion cave for her retirement yogic meditation. 😁
and up we go after the river. If you haven't suspected by now, there was a lot of stops for photos pretty much the entire trek except maybe 'Our Longest Day' ,Day 3.
After reaching the plateau and skirting the wall, we reach what is the second longest prayer wall in the world. Have I mentioned we stopped a lot for photos?? 😀
A view of Ghami from the plateau and behind it, the mountains that seems to be screening the rain clouds.
Two shots using D7100(left) and iphone. A comparison of the kind of pictures they take. Which do you like better?
and on we go. The shots of the eroded cliffs reminds me of the Indiana Jones movies. I am not sure if there are caves in there but you can notice some dark looking cavities in the cliff face that could be caves.
The main jeep road actually runs by the wall and there were people waiting to be picked up and several 4x4 did come as we were walking up the plateau. I was trying unsuscessfully to shoot how many people they have inside a 4x4. I think there was about 12 people inside this not particularly big 4x4. 🙄
I was struck by the geological changes in the terrain between the hills on the right and the red hills on the left. This distance between them was only a few kilometers. Our trail/jeep road took us to the left of the red cliffs as we continue up.
This happens many times the whole trek. In general, the road and trekking trail follows the same direction and in places, the jeep road has widen its girth to engulf the trekking trail. In this spot instead, the trail diverges steeply up while the road takes a gentler gradient way up but taking few kilometers longer. Again I place shots from D7100 and iphone for comparison.
Almost to the top of this pass.
🤴 🤴 🤴 I am the King of this rock heap. I shall survey my rugged kingdom. 🤴 🤴 🤴
Like all tales of the Middle Kingdom, a usurper sure comes along. 🤣
My attempt at construction and SUCCESS!!!!! 😅
We let Gerald have his few minutes of delusion of grandeur, dear. 😆 😆 😆
One of the few photos I have that shows it is actually quite windy at these passes. How does one take photo of windy??? 🤔
As usually the case, the local serfs goes about their daily life oblivious to the palace intrigue above them. 😏 😏 😏
Our destination for today, Charang, in that green patch.
Another stupa, at a crossroad outside of Charang. At this point, I was not sure why they cordon off the entire stupa. At another stupa later, there was a similarly cordoned stupa with a notice for people not to sit or rest on the stupa. If you notice, the Tibetans are not afraid of putting boobs on their figures.
I put this pic to show what one of our porter is carrying. That is two of our luggage duffels plus a box of fruits on top. Probably about 45kg.
This is what usually greets us at the larger villages. The streams cut across the roads all over the place throughout the village. As you can see, no shortage of water even though the enviroment looks arid. You can see how dusty the trek is by comparing my boots after fording through one of these streams.
Not sure what this is about. We see this throughout the village when we had a short walk after lunch. By the look of the dirty markings on the wall, it could be a anti flooding measure.
Pop quiz time!!!! Our guesthouse for this evening is named after the birth place of Buddha. What is the name?? I know the leave is blocking but take a guess... 🠔
We discovered someone forgot to go through the pre trek start check list. It ended up with this enviromentally friendly naturally solar-baked earlobe. 😑 😎
Our lunch!!! Fried Tibetan noodles, momo and fried rice... 😋 😋 😋
After lunch promenade where saw villagers doing laundry and washing pots and pans. Makes me wonder if they have running water indoors... Our rooms in the guesthouses all had indoor plumbing.
This small structure housed a huge single prayer wheel inside.
Charang has a big monastery which sits on top of a plateau at one end of the village. You can see for yourself how spectacular the views are. A monk actually took us around and showed us some parts of the monastery. They were actually reconstructing some parts of the monastery, including the building a kitchen/eating area. The monk showed us the old kitchen which had a huge copper pot. I think seven persons can sit inside the pot. I am not sure how they will move that monstrosity. We also saw the end of a snack time for the young monks( ages about 6 upwards). The room also housed sacks of rice, maybe about 50 sacks. I am not sure how long some of these sacks been there but it looks like donations from people. We didn't manage to see inside the main building of the monastery as the monk told us that some people were starting a 10 days meditation period, housed in the main building. The main building is closed off for visitors during these meditation periods.
Steps leading up into the monastery complex.
Views from the wall inside the monastery complex. According to my fellow trekker, Tsarang(the alternate spelling of Charang) means "Eagle rips the flesh". This is in reference to the custom of sky burial which is still widely practiced here. The Charang monastery does practice sky burial. where after funeral rites, the body is prepared for the griffon vultures for ritual feeding. You can read about sky burial online. Seem to be a pretty good way instead of acres of perpetual cemetery.
Although the young monks were clearing debris in the courtyard, you can see even monk-kids in this part of the world plays soccer.
🔥 🔥 🔥 Drying dung to be used a fire fuel. 🔥 🔥 🔥
and villagers walking back to their homes in the late afternoon, probably from the fields.
This guy on a tractor, we are not sure what he trying to do but he was driving down this narrow path. We came upon them on the way back to the guesthouse for a nap before dinner.
The ceiling of my room... 😉
The view outside the guesthouse early evening when the clouds have cleared a bit.
This part had me worried and thinking. Those drums (checking on the web shows it is probably oil drums) are sitting next to the paddy field. I am not sure how ready Upper Mustang are when the chinese comes a waltzing down this trade road they are building up to the Nepal-China border north of Lo Manthang.
How would one construe "NEVER SEE YOU" ??? 😆 😆 😆
I am about to enjoy a somewhat congealed dodol pre dinner snack... 😁
This evening dinner is a bowl of tupa, Tibetan noodle soup. 😋
The proprietress of the guesthouse making Tibetan tea.
