At about 1:30 pm, we passed the final twist and turn of the Muktinath Sadak road.
No matter how much we tried to forget about it, we ended up carrying our backpacks with their maximum weight on our backs again.
The fact that we had covered a large part of the route downhill and on asphalt caused unexpected fatigue that seemed to redouble an already intense hunger.
Among us, someone had withheld information about a good guesthouse in Kagbeni.
Sign provides directions to hikers and drivers in the Mustang region
We found it above the village, with a privileged view over a vast expanse of lush green rice fields, the centuries-old houses and the river valley beyond. It was called the “Dragon Hotel”.
The Providential Welcome of the “Dragon Hotel”
The rooms seem fine, not that we have ever been picky about the bathrooms, as we had been up until now. The couple in charge promised us that the showers had hot water and were working properly.
He assures us that these were problems in the higher lands of the Annapurnas. Kagbeni was larger, lower and, especially at that time of year, the pipes did not freeze, as could happen in winter. In itself, this explanation sounds like a relief to us.
They fail, however, to realise the urgency of lunch. Instead of rushing us, they tell us more about the accommodation. “… this hotel was built by a Nepalese man from here who worked for fifteen years in Japan, at Toyota in Nagoya. When he returned, he invested almost all his earnings in its construction, in stone and cement, no wood!”
We, Sara, Manel and Josh shared the same type of voracious appetite. Without even agreeing, we sat down at the table without the owners having called us.
We chatted at a fast pace, about a little bit of everything, including the departure of Sara and Manel, who had an international flight from Kathmandu in two days and, as such, had to get to Jomson as soon as possible, to catch the bus to Pokhara from there.
After more than an hour of chatting after we had ordered, the couple from the “Dragon Hotel” finally brought the food to the table. From what we could see, it had been worth the wait.
Employees of the “Dragon Hotel” in Kagbeni.
In another situation, vegetarian burgers with homemade fries might have seemed like a small thing. Here, after almost fifteen days of eating the same basic dishes, they tasted like a reward.
After the meal, we said goodbye to Sara and Manel, already under heavy rain and thunderstorms that had plagued their journey to Jomson and which we had not expected.
The storm also robbed Kagbeni of its electricity supply. At four in the afternoon, faced with a downpour and early darkness due to heavy clouds, we decided to postpone the discovery of Kagbeni.
It was to our advantage that we could extend the Annapurna Circuit as much as we wanted.
We went to bed early.
Tour of Kagbeni, with Veneration of His Secular Gompa
We woke up at half past six. Three quarters of an hour later, we were already heading down to the town center.
Kagbeni reveals itself to be tiny, but labyrinthine.
It developed around the religious core of the gompa (Tibetan monastery) Kag Chode Thupten Samphel Ling, founded in 1429 by Tenpai Gyaltsen, a scholar of the Shahiya clan to which Siddharta Gautama, the “great sage of the Shahiyas”, better known as Buddha, also belonged.
The Kag Chode Thupten Samphel Ling gompa at the base of the mountains surrounding Kagbeni, Annapurna Circuit.
We find the original gompa building in an almost brick-colored cube, placed at the foot of a steep, earthy slope, accompanied by a more modern building.
As a local publication explains, the long name Kag Chode Thupten Samphel Ling means “monastery of the place to stop and develop concentration on the teachings of Lord Buddha. "
Now, until the middle of the 18th century, the monastery welcomed around a hundred Buddhist monks coming from twelve surrounding villages.
We came across a few, five or six, going back and forth between one building and another, and in secondary school they had tasks that required responsibility.
Young student reads under the sun in the Mustang region, Nepal
We started by taking a look at the gompa.
Sumptuous, with a gloomy atmosphere only lit by the solitary window on its façade and by a series of candles.
From this darkness, on the temple altar, the bronze statues of Buddha stand out, flanked by his disciples Sariputra, Maudgalanya and other deities.
We soon discovered dozens of young students undergoing the arduous task of translating the name of the monastery.
Most of it, in a classroom with windows open to the outside.
Students study on a terrace at Kag Chode Thupten Samphel Ling monastery, Kagbeni
A few, studying on a sunny terrace, on rugs, with an unobstructed view all around culminating in the peak of the Sangdachhe Himal mountain (6.403m), one of the intermediate mountains in Nepal.
The Stone and Clay Labyrinth of Kagbeni
After spending more than an hour at the monastery, we set off for the streets and alleys that Kagbeni has multiplied into, in its oldest area, among ancient homes made of wood and dried clay, reinforced by key sections of stone.
Terraces and Buddhist banners of traditional houses in Kagbeni
From the tops of many of these homes, Buddhist banners, some white, others multicolored, wave in the wind.
Almost all of them, next to providential piles of firewood.
We came across some of the town's approximately six hundred residents, going about their day-to-day lives.
A woman about to enter a corral, carrying a bundle of dry grass.
Kagbeni resident with fodder, Annapurna Circuit
Another washes something in a fountain near her house.
A less busy group catches up with the blessing of the local female fertility totem, molded in clay, with bulging eyes and breasts.
Women talk near a totem of Kagbeni femininity.
We came across wandering sheep.
A few alleys later, with a woman talking on the phone next to the opposite totem, that of male fertility, represented by a warrior with a sword and an erect penis.
Kagbeni woman talks on the phone with a totem of masculinity in the background
In the surrounding area, unsurprisingly, yaks roam.
Kagbeni even has a hotel called Yac Donalds, which became famous due to the addition of not only the name, but also the graphic identity of the brand. almost junk food.
Centuries ago at the confluence of the Gandaki River with the Kali
In the region, Kagbeni is also referred to as “ghaak”, the term for a tight joint.
In its entirety, the official name of Kagbeni summarizes the confluence of the Kali (ka) river with the Gandaki (g..a), both coming from higher lands and sacred, both for Buddhists and Hindus.
Kagbeni initially developed based on its primary function of monarchical taxation of salt caravans that circulated between Tibet, India, Manang and Dolpa in western Nepal.
Later, also as a stopover on the pilgrim's route to the temple of Muktinath why we had passed the day before.
The inhabitants of the original, much older village have already moved twice, say the elders, in both cases due to paranormal events and activities that only ended when they finally settled in their current location.
Mother and children at the family's Kagbeni store, Mustang
Uncontrolled Monsoons and Devastating Floods
Different phenomena, this time natural, once again troubled its people.
In August 2023, in the middle of the monsoon season, the Kag tributary of the Gandaki River overflowed due to the heavy rains that fell for days on end.
The flood caused eight buildings to disappear.
Kagbeni Buildings, Annapurna Circuit, Nepal
In total, nineteen were seriously destroyed, causing damage to Kagbeni that is considered irreparable.
And yet, when we walked there in March, even the great Gandaki, which looms large during the thaw and monsoons, looked like a stream running through a sea of pebbles and gravel.
Gandaki River, diminished by the advanced dry season
At a certain point, we decided to go down to the riverbed behind the town.
A poorly constructed bridge made of sandbags, logs and planks allowed the crossing of the two arms through which the main flow was divided.
We crossed them, here and there.
Enough to admire the houses and the monastery that enclosed it at the bottom of the gorge, now, with much more of the Sangdachhe Himal mountain visible.
Panorama of Kagbeni with Sangdachhe Himal mountain in background, Annapurna Circuit
Every now and then, one or another local resident would pass by us, pointing to Kagbeni.
The Forbidden Threshold (for the price) of the former Kingdom of High Mustang
Satisfied with the view, we moved to the left bank of the river, where the village was located.
We came across a new path on the edge of Kagbeni and a black sign with yellow letters that held an “important notice”.
From then on, we would be entering a restricted area of Upper Mustang.
Poster announces the rules of access to the former Kingdom of Upper Mustang
The authorities granted exceptions and passage to three places, all not far away.
Access beyond these points required special authorization. According to what we had found out, it cost 500 USD per person for ten days.
Exorbitant, compared to the permits do Annapurna Circuit, is modest if we take into account the history of absolute interdiction of this region, once known as the Kingdom of Lo and whose capital is the walled city of Lo Manthang.
Upper Mustang remained a kingdom until 2008, the year in which the suzerain Nepal changed from a monarchy to a republic and forced the subordinate monarchy to adjust.
Its many centuries of enclosure mean that the region north of Kagbeni preserves ancestral Tibetan traditions and dialects.
Top of the newest building of Kag Chode Thupten Samphel Ling monastery, Kagabeni
As China imposes the ways of the Han civilization on vast Tibet, Upper Mustang is also changing. At the same time, the ancient kingdom's reputation for mystery has attracted more and more visitors, especially Westerners.
At that moment, with the sign in front of us, we are seduced by the idea of adding to the journey by annapurnas an embassy to Lo Manthang.
But we had been traveling through India and Nepal for four months.
The thousand dollars and the ten extra days would affect other plans and unmissable places.
We maintain this opportunity.
