10 days in the forbidden kingdom of Mustang.... well not too forbidden actually, as long as you are prepared to pay$50/day for a 10 day trek. To be honest, you could pay$500/day and it would still be worth it - we have been lucky enough over the years to visit places where you fell really priviliged to be there, and this is one of them, up there with Antarctica, Galapagos & Rodney Parade. Its landscape is barren, with multi coloured rock formations - a Geologists dream. Its an area of almost undiluted Tibetan budhism, with the monasteries reverberating with crashing cymbals, horns and prayers- those people not involved in Tourism eke out an existence from corn, barley and buckwheat - and transport is either horse or foot. We have arrived near the end of the visiting season, and many families are heading back down the valley - those too old or too poor will stay and deal with the oncoming snows and bitter winds. 2 x yaks were slaughtered the other morning, one was to be cut up and sent as presents to relatives down the valley - after it had been salted and dried, the other was to provide food for those left behind.
We had tea with the king on our visit to the capital, Lo Manthang. The new Nepalese Maoist govt has withdrawn his annual funds, but it didnt seem to worry him greatly. The local people still call on him to arbitrate over land and water disputes - I think his descendants go back to the 14th century, but it was hard getting information on this or indeed from any of the monasteries in the region.
We have seen himalayan pheasants, blue sheep, wild tibetan ass (at the lap dancing bar in the capital) and people with the most weathered faces you can imagine. I have never been so dusty in my life, every nook & cranny - if anyone remembers the appearance of Spike Milligan in Q9 with 'Flim flam flom'?
You have to have a guide to enter this region - ours was Basu, a Brahmin Hindu from near Gorkha, and we had 2 x porters, Abbott & Costello, they carried about 25kg each, (a very reasonable load in this part of the world), including 24 toilet rolls - what on earth did they think was going to happen? We opted to stay in local lodges/houses rather than tenting, a sound decision though this did mean we were at the mercy of some meagre local food, 6 out of 9 nights saw us tucking into rice & lentils, with porridghe or flattened rice for breakfast.Basu had brought some supplementary food - tinned fruit and surprisingly, 4 cans of sardines. By day 3 we were playing the 'ok, how much would you pay right now for bangers and mash with onion gravy' game.
When the sun was out in the morning, the temperature was comfortable, but as it fell behind the peaks and the wind picked up, it began to match Ebbw Vale. The 4 Seasons sleeping bags and down jackets hired in Kathmandu and irrelevently carried around the Annapurna Circuit, came into their own. Elly has told me to convey the difficulty of the trek, as she thinks I have made it sound too comfortable! Most days would entail climbs and descents over the valleys, in the 3800 4300 metres range. We manged to get a bucket of hot water now and again, the power showers never materialised! Very few trekkers here - a relief after the bunfight that was the Circuit. No need to rush ahead to get rooms, or to listen to people complaining about the service or indeed to witness inappropriately clad trakkers clad in lycra. Then again my 'Eric Morecambe shorts were probably as offensive as anything else seen on the trek.
Early mornings, herds of goats would be shepherded out of the pens and thru the main streets, up to graze on whatever scrub was around. Eventhough the herd could number a few hundred, the goats would insist on crossing the streams one at a time, over the stepping stones set down! If you got caught behind them, tyhe whole morning could disappear.
In the lower reaches of the trek, the villagers are split between hindu & budhist, and on our final night in Chusang, the Hindu community held a 'puja' for Laxshmi, the goddess of wealth. This entailed the men of the village getting hammered on 'rakshi' - similar to saki- and then singing and dancing at every house in the village for donations. When they saw Ell & I cowering in the corner, their eyes lit up. Unfortunately we could only offer $2 each, but it just about sufficed. Basu came to our rescue singing a verse about good tourists - at least that is what he told us. The evening ended up with a bit of pushing and shoving as the lodge owner had not coughed up enough cash, ....'leave it Terry, he's not worth it'.
The yak slaughter took a full day. They trussed the front legs to one horn so that the head was at an angle. 2 x ropes were then attached to the horns with one man pulling on each side. Every now and then, the yak would rear on its hind quarters, and slam back down, eventually it tired and lost its balance, so its on its side. Another man then gets more rope and ties its snout before forcing fingers up its nose. The beast eventually dies of suffocation, this took about 1 hr. It is then rolled on its back, a cut is made, the skin is partially pulled away and a man inserts his forearm into the creature to sever his heart. This man is seen as taking the life force ( eventhough it looked well & truly dead to us). His compensation for this task is that he will take away the heart for his sin of killing - 'butchers choice' as we would say. Whilst this killing was taking place, local woman were praying and reciting mantras, so there was this low level hum in the background. By mid afternoon, blood sausages were being prepared - blood and barley. 'How much would you pay for bangers and mash........'? 'Not a lot'!
Entertainment was provided by a young American student 'oh my god, this is so intense', before taking out her camera and almost disappearing into the carcasse! A drop of blood made its way onto her north face jacket '0 my gaaaaaaard'.
So despite the cold, limited diet, questionable hygiene, lack of clean drinking water, we are somewhat relieved to have completed this stage of the trek with health intact apart from some high altitude chaffing - I know you warned me Mr Moore - but wearing tights was something I felt I could not inflict on the Tibetans. If anyone fancies roughing it to see a a part of the world which will soon be lost as roads for ever, DO IT! Roads are being planned.
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