SGTrekker 12D Nepal Upper Mustang Tiji Festival Photo Tour (1-12 May 2013)

[limwhow]

Day 5: Syangboche to Lo Manthang

Well, finally this day came.
We were going to arrive at Lo Manthang... haha.. after all the toil and sweat.
The walled-city of Lo Manthang is essentially a very small town-like enclosure, and every part of this 'city' is within walking distance.
The Royal Palace and several monasteries of Tibetan Buddhism is within the city wall.

After a good night's rest at Syangboche...
... and after Adrian sustained a bang on his head with the horizontal beam on the roof (he is too tall for the upper Mustang guesthouse), and me almost falling off an insecure ladder, we were ready to move out.

Here, vngks, Adrian and wkcheah discussing the route for the day. It is going to be a 4 hour jeep ride to Lo Manthang.
I am beginning to get quite wary of the bumpy and narrow mountain roads... Frankly I'd rather trek.
But I guess if I were to suggest that I would be hum-tumed by the rest of the team.
So I just quietly followed. LOL..

A last visit to a relatively, reasonably nice WC..
We had already lost all phone signals from yesterday onwards. Who knew what would await us further up north.
So, charged whatever devices we had, stored whatever photos we had taken, and cleared whatever cooped up (ahem..) stuff we had in our bowels, and hoped for the best..

Early morning outside Nilgiri Guesthouse, Syangboche, as the sun climbed higher.

The luggage bags were loaded and we got ready to move off.

 

[pasta]

Nice... Looking forward to more of your story....

 

[vngks]

1. limwhow enjoying the sights at Boudhanath

2. Devotees at Boudhanath

3. limwhow posing for the camera at Jomsom airport

4. A view of Jomsom Airport from our lunch place

5. A view of the majestic Nilgiri from our lunch place at Jomsom

 

[vngks]

6. Some mules approaching us as we started the trek from Chhuksang.

7. SereneXMM looking forward to "cheong" up the slope to Chele. You can see Chele perched at the top of the hill on the top left of the pic.

8. The slope up to Chele. My legs felt a bit weak looking up this slope.

 

[vngks]

9. [Infrared] SereneXMM posing in fields of wheat. Was limwhow playing "Sound of Music" on his iPhone?

10. [Infrared] Kagbeni

11. wkcheah doing his stuff

12. [Infrared] Somewhere after Kagbeni


13. [Infrared] Lonely trekker along a rocky trail

 

[vngks]

Some iPhone shots when camera wasn't handy:

a. Our golden couple with full gear at Jomsom


b. Record shot of our little guesthouse at Chele


c. The little room I shared with wkcheah in Chele

d. It says "Hot" but there's no hot water!

e. Interesting little garden in Chele

 

[limwhow]

Some iPhone shots when camera wasn't handy:

a. Our golden couple with full gear at Jomsom

Fwoooooooah! Stylo Mylo yah!

d. It says "Hot" but there's no hot water!

That was why no one showered when we spent the night in Chele.. LOL!

 

[wkcheah]

As they always said, better late than never.


I'm going to start from where we were at Kathmandu.

The splendid dome of Boudhanath stupa is approximately 120 feet in diameter, 1 hec in width and 43 m in height. Its simplicity of form is its principal feature, unique among monumental stupas in the valley in its lack of the appended five shrines of the Buddha. Some consider it represents the Adibuddha, the first or Primordial Buddha, free of conceptual emanations. Only the steps built into it on the north side, seemingly the ladder that Sakyamuni ascended into Tushita heaven, breaks its uniformity.

The stupa is commonly known as Boudha or Boundhanath, meaning lord of wisdom. It is a protective, purifactory and wish granting stupa. But further, because of its antiquity - its origins are beyond the recall of folk memory, its foundation and fabric impregnated with the vibration of innumerable generations of devoted worship and powerful meditation, its awesome size and unique form, and its basis in myths and legends.

Wee morning of the second day, we flew into Pokhara. Spent the afternoon visiting the Mountain Heritage Museum, before proceeding to the World Peace Pagoda.

World Peace Pagoda at Pokhara, Nepal. Balanced on a narrow ridge high above Phewa Tal, the brilliant-white World Peace Pagoda was constructed by Buddhist monks from the Japanese Nipponzan Myohoji organisation. There are three paths up to the pagoda and several small cafes once you arrive.

 

[wkcheah]

Here is another perspective of Boudanath. Reflected off the window of one of many ornament shops surrounding the beautiful stupa.

 

[wkcheah]

From Pokhara, we made our way to Jomsom. A 14-seater turned out to be a 4WD jeep. Apparently, it could fit 14 Nepalis, but when normalized to a Singaporean size, we could hardly fit all of us into the jeep. So, off we went on a bumpy ride, across rocky terrain, in a convoy of 2 jeeps.

Our drive trails along ridges of the Kali Gandaki river bed (Kali means black in Nepali). The river bed is often dry (such as on the picture) and the river water that runs through it is black as a result of the black stones/sand on the river bed.

A lone trekker we passed by along the way...

 

[wkcheah]

As we travel up north, we were presented with arid landscape and battered canyons, colorful stratified rock formations and a barren desert like appearance. The mountain ranges of Dhaulagiri and Annapurna keeps us company along the way.

 

[wkcheah]

Along the paths of regions under the influence of Tibetan Buddhism the traveller is often confronted with Mani walls. These stone structures are a compilation intricately carved stone tablets, most with the inscription "Om Mani Padme Hum" which loosely translates to "Hail to the jewel in the lotus". These walls should be passed or circumvented from the left side, the clockwise direction in which the earth and the universe revolve, according to Buddhist doctrine.

They are sometimes close to a temple or chorten, sometimes completely isolated and range from a few metres to a kilometre long and one to two metres high. They are built of rubble and sand and faced with mani stones engraved in the elegant Tibetan script.

Along the way to Lo Manthang, we stopped to marvel at the longest Mani wall.

 

[wkcheah]

Kagbeni is a village in Upper Mustang, Nepal, located in the valley of the Kali Gandaki River. Administratively, Kagbeni is a Village Development Committee in Mustang District in the Dhawalagiri Zone of northern Nepal. A small village, it probably had a population of not more than 2000 people. It lies on the trail from Jomsom to the royal capital Lo Manthang, near the junction with the trail to Muktinath.

We had to make a quick stop here at Kagbeni to validate our Upper Mustang permits before proceeding onward to Chuksang.



On the foreground, lush green wheat crops dances to the wind..

 

[wkcheah]

Arid landscape and long trail awaited us as we trekked from Chele to Syangboche.

 

[limwhow]

Wah.. nice nice movement shot!

Man, you guys were all so intensely focussing on your shooting at World Peace Stupa.
The shots certainly tell. And this one is swee!
SereneXMM and I were simply relaxing and walking leisurely around.

 

[wkcheah]

Arriving at Lo Manthang, a walled city awaits us. We were greeted by friendly young children, villagers and occassional blast of sand in our faces as the afternoon wind picks up.



On the Tibetan Plateau north of the main Himalayas range, Lo Manthang is a medieval walled city and Village Development Committee in Mustang District in the Dhawalagiri Zone of northern Nepal. It served as the capital of the ancient Kingdom of Mustang, which survives as the Kingdom of Lo (or "Upper Mustang" (the northern two-thirds of the present-day Mustang District). Lo Manthang was founded in 1380 by Ame Pal, who oversaw construction of the city wall and many of the still-standing structures in the early 15th century. The population includes ethnic Lhobas.

The village is noted for its tall white washed mud brick walls, gompas and the Raja's or Royal or King's Palace, a nine-cornered, five story structure built around 1400. There are four major temples: Jampa Lhakhang or Jampa Gompa, the oldest, built in the early 15th century and also known as the "God house"; Thubchen Gompa, a huge, red assembly hall and gompa built in the late 15th century and located just southwest of Jampa Gompa; Chodey Gompa, now the main city gompa; and the Choprang Gompa, which is popularly known as the "New Gompa".

 

[wkcheah]

Children of Lo Manthang seems to be very camera-friendly and will put on their cutest look for you.
However, the older generations aren't as friendly and most do not like to photographed.

 

[wkcheah]

Our fellow heros and heroins waiting for a room at the New Lo Manthang guest house. Little did we know then that we will end up staying with a local farmer's house just a couple of blocks away... The farm house stay was truly enjoyable one.

 

[wkcheah]

The primary objective of our trip was to witness the Tiji festival.
The word Tiji comes from the Tibetan word Tenchi which means hope. The Tiji festival celebrates the triumph of good over evil when DorjeSonam, a demon’s son, slays his own father to save the Kingdom of Mustang. This sacred dance is performed over 3 days by monks of Chhode monastery in the courtyard of Mustang Royal Palace. Originally it was performed in the last part of the twelfth month of Tibetan calendar but nowadays it is performed in the last part of third Tibetan month (May). The main dancer (Tsowo) has to complete 3 months retreat practice before the main event. Mustang royal family and all the villagers of seven provinces of Upper Mustang (Lo Chhodun) participate in this sacred dance with ritual.

Day 1 of the Tiji festival.
After the old Thangka was unveiled at the Courtyard of Mustang Royal Palace, the courtyard ground would be watered (to soil the ground and keep the sand at bay) and then the red circular markings would be drawn up. As the crowd gathers and take their position, the 3-days Tiji festival commenced.



Shadows grew longer as the day progressed into late afternoon. Yet, the dancers move through their steps and rituals, intriguing the international audience around them.

 

[wkcheah]

The main dancer, Tsowo, is always centrestage and leading the ritual.