Mustang, last forbidden kingdom

We pick-up you up and bring you to the hotel in Buddha area.
This is the base for the Boudhanath Stupa.
This is the largest stupa in Asia, and a very important Buddhist pilgrimage place.
The best time to visit the stupa is late afternoon, when the elderly Tibetan a Nepali Buddhist people stroll down to the stupa to light butter lamps, spin prayer wheels, chant mantras, socialize and stroll clockwise around the monument as part of their daily spiritual life.
Around the stupa are also many shops where you can find more Buddhist orientated gifts.

In the evening we will have a welcome dinner on a nice roof terrace from where we are going to have a stunning stupa view.
The briefing of our trip will also be given after lunch.

After breakfast, we will begin our journey by bus to Pokhara.
The trip takes about 6 or 7 hours.
We will have lunch along the way.
It is a nice drive along the Trisuli river.
We will pass many local villages where you can see more of the Nepali culture.
When we reach Pokhara, we will check-in to our hotel and then have time to take a rest.
You can choose to take a swim, or to walk around at the beautiful Phewa Lake that is close to the hotel.

In the evening you are free to take dinner in the hotel or in one of the many restaurants in Pokhara.

From Pokhara we fly to lower Mustang, Jomsom, this is a 30-minute flight.
There, we start the first part of our travel through Mustang.

We walk along the Kali Gandaki river up to Kagbeni, an easy walk of 2 hours.

The term Kali Gandakhi is dedicated to the female Hindu deity Kali (“black lady”) finding its visual expression in the color pf the river, which is of dark grey.The riverbed of the Kali Gandaki is well known for its famous Saligram stones, fossils which are kept as holy stones in the religion of the Hindus.According to the Hindus, the Salogram are manifestations of the deity Vishnu.
The Kali Gandakhi valley is also well known as the deepest canyon in the world.

Kagbeni, marks the end of lower Mustang and the beginning of upper Mustang.
From this part of the travel we will also only find real Tibetan culture.

At the gates of the old city of Kagbeni we will find the two old the pre-Buddhist spiritual protector of Kagbeni, called meme and pepe, or grandmother and grandfather.
They are the protectors of the city and they originally come from Shamanistic and Animistic tradition.

On our way to the Kag Choede Gompa, we will pass an impressive door chorten, on the ceiling we will see some wonderful paintings of mandalas.
This gompa is from the Sakaya lineage.
At Kag Choede you will learn all about the wheel of life and the four noble truths, which are the foundation of Buddhism.In the Gompa we will find a bronze statue of Buddha Sakyamuni, flanked by his disciples Saradvatiputra and Maudgalyayana.

We will make a walk in the beautiful old village of Kagbeni, we will see the protections people put on their houses.
They are called “zor”, and they are rooted in the Bôn culture. They are made from the skull of a sheep or a goat, decorated with crosses made of colored threads.

In the center of the old town is a private chapel, called “Red House”, we find an ancient spiritual remaining altar.The altar made of wood has some mystic animals and other spiritual being, and on top an impressive statue of Maitreya Buddha, future Buddha, topped by a garuda.

Then we take a walk in the old city and have an impressive view on the bank of the Kali Gandaki river.
We spend the night at a local guesthouse.

From Kagbeni it will take us 6 hours walking to reach Chhusang.

The first town we cross is Tangbe.
This is the place where the first traditional chorten group of Mustang is located.
Now a days there is only one chorten left, but a very beautiful one.
The chorten is decorated with stucco reliefs of elephants, horses, peacocks and garuda figures.
Just before we enter the village, we pass a group of three little colored llhatos, representing the bodhisattva Avalokitesvhara (white, Buddha Manjusri (red) and the protecting deity Vajrapani (grey).

After a short stop we continue or trip to Chhusang.
Chhusang is a small town of whitewashed stone houses and narrow alleyways.
We stay here to visit the ‘Mentsun Khang Cave Gompa’ or also called ‘the temple of the holy medicine’.
The temple is built directly in the rocks.
The temple has been built by a lama, called Künzang Logyel, in 1003 and was related to Padmasambhava.
The little sanctum shows a fantastic collection of clay statues and old murals.
They go back to the 11 the century

We overnight here in a local guesthouse.

From Chhusang we travel with the jeep to Tsarang, it will take us three hours and a halve to reach it.

We will make a stop in Ghemi, the third-largest village in upper Mustang.
We will make a short walk through the village.

And we will discover that in hidden places we ll find all old tantric paintings.
Like inside the door-chorten of Ghemi, where on the ceiling are nine mandalas painted as also here, we all find the mandala of the tantric deity Vajrayogini.

On our way we pass the blue, grey and red cliffs and one of the longest mani walls (300 meters).
The story tells that the color of the cliffs was caused by the blood of a demon, who was killed by Guru Rinpoche.

In Tsarang we will visit the old city.Tsarang was the former capital of Mustang.Here we visit the Ngor-Sakaya monastery, which has a large collection thangkas, old paintings and buddha statues.
In this town is also a nunnery and school, where we can have a look how their daily lives functioning.

From Tsarang we have a nice walk of three hours, to what supposed to be one of the oldest Buddhist monasteries, founded by Guru Rinpoche.
Even older then the first monastery in Tibet, Samye.

Ghar Gompa is related to Samye Monastery, which is in Tibet near to Lhasa airport.During Samye’s construction, it is said, demons destroyed the monastery several times. Guru Rinpoche give instruction that first on this place, Lo Ghakar, needed to be built a monastery. And after Ghar Monastery was built the could proceed the construction of samye without any incident.
The legend said that the great magician and saint Guru Rinpoche visit Ghar Gompa and some texts called terma for later discovery by the right teachers.
Ghar gompa is one of the oldest active gompas in Nepal, and belongs to the Nyingma lineage.
This monastery is known for its 414 plates with colored stone carvings, showing different deities.
The monastery also has a beautiful statue of Padmasbhava flanked by his consort, Yeshe Tsogyal, and female disciples.
On the second floor we ll find an old tantric temple, where we can take time to meditate.

After our visit at the oldest monastery, we will walk back to Tsarang, passing the town of Lo Gekar.
We can enjoy the stunning nature of this area.

From Tsarang to Lo Mantang, the current capital of Mustang, we will have a walk of 5 hours. This gentle walk through the Tholung Valley.
We pass one of the most beautiful chörten of Mustang, Sumda Chörten.

The nature is a desert-like landscape.

Then we reach the impressive city Lo Manthang, surrounded by a huge wall.

Today we take time to have a first impression of this old, nice city.
With many chortens, little stores and gompa’s.

From Lo Manthang will have a gentle walk of two hours and a half to Garphu.
Garphu is a hidden jewel.
This was also the main trading route to Lhasa, a route used over the centuries by pilgrims, apostles and traders.
We are here around 5 kilometers from the Tibetan border.

We take here time to visit Nyiphu – Jhong Cave – Nupchokling cave temple.

The Ngor Sakya sanctuary of Nyiphu, red colored and spectacular located into the rocks, shows the typical stripes of the Ngor-school in front of the cave monastery.
This little monastery was in the past a meditation cave.

This cave ensemble shows a typical historical cave city, probably about 3000 years old.
Here people also stayed during the wars between Nepal and Tibet.

We can climb through different stores of the caves and have a stunning view on the area around.

In a small canyon we visit Nupchokling cave. The entrance shows impressive mandalas of the 13 the century on the ceiling. Inside the cave we find many old spiritual murals.

If the little Nyingmpa monastery is open in Gharphu we take a visit.In the monastery they have different statues of Vajradhara, Padmasahmbhava and Buddha Sakyamuni.The monastery is surrounded by white colored doorways with many beautiful and old mandalas on the ceiling.

We stay the night in a local guesthouse in Garphu.

We return from Garphu to Lo Manthang with horses.
We cross the white river and after 30 minutes we reach Lo Manthang again.

Lo Manthang there are four very beautiful temples.

Inside the temple is a huge 15m-tall painted clay statue of Jampa, Maitreya, the future Buddha, sitting on a pedestal that occupies the entire ground floor. Unlike most statues of Jampa, which are seated on a chair, this statue is seated in a meditative lotus position.

The walls are painted with elaborate mandalas that rank as some of the finest in the Tibetan world. That is why this temple also got the name ‘the mandala temple of Lo Manthang’

The ground floor is related to sutra teachings or the lower tantras, the middle floor to Yoga tantra’s (47 mandala’s) and the the upper one to Anuttarayoga tantra teachings (42 mandala’s).

The Gompa has a massive assembly hall supported by 35 huge wooden columns.
It was built by the third king of Mustang in the 15 the century.

There many big old statues of Buddha, Padmashambhava and many more.

The fresco’s around are stunning.

This Gompa has very beautiful statues as a silver Tara and a silver Chörten.
There is a Mahakala chapel inside the complex with an image painted of the fearsome protective deity Mahakala, and it contains dozens of beautifully craved bronze, brass and cupper statues.

This is also called the “new” gompa, because this is the monastery school. Every morning and evening we can watch the monks doing their prayers and puja.
The gompa belong to the Sakya lineage.
We also can see the masks they use in their annual mask festival.

The Herbal museum on the ground floor is a visit worth for who is interested in the herbs used in Traditional Tibetan medicine.

We sleep in a local guesthouse in Lo Manthang

From Lo Manthang we travel with the jeep to Syangboche, it will take us four hours to reach it.

On our way we make a stop in Gilling, called ‘the island of virtues’.
Here we visit the Tashi Chölong Gompa which contains many tantric wall paintings, as Hevajra, Chakrasamvara, Vajrayogini, …
Above is the chapel of the protecting deities, but here women are not allowed to enter.

From here we drive over the Syangboche La pass (3850 meters) and reach then Syangboche.

Today we make a wonderful hiking from Syangboche to Samar, with a stop at Ranchyung Cave Chorten, one of the highlights of this travel.

In total our walking will take about 5 hours.
We will sleep in the town Samar in a local lodge.
Samar was originally calls Sa-dMar, what means “red earth”. Actually, the environment looks a little bit like the canyons in the US.

From the road of Syangboche we walk into a steep narrowing ravine. After a while the gorge joins another which we ascend until a large flat rock indicates a series of steep steps up to the prayer flagged Rangchyang cave. 

 This sanctuary is dedicated to Padmasambhava, the great sage who brought Buddhism to Tibet, who used the place for meditations during when coming back from Western Tibet in the 8 the century.
It is a very huge cave and is watched over by a lama, who sleeps there.
The center of the cave is dominated by an impressive rock with four big images of Buddha Sakyamuni, Padmasambhava, Buddha Amitabha and Avoliketsvhara.

Also, Atisha, an important Indian scholar, has also meditate here in the cave.
At the front of the cave, there are 184 images of Padmasambhava, painted in golden color.We take time to wander around, to meditate and talk with the local lama.

Today we travel from Samar to Muktinath by jeep, a travel of four hours and a halve.

The holy ground of Muktinath, is one of the most important pilgrim places in Nepal for Hindus and Buddhist people.

In the spiritual area above the town we will find temples of both religions.
The focal point of the Gompa Sambha is the pool and the 108 brass waterspouts, in the shape of cows’ heads, which poor sacred water.

There is a Nyingmpa Monastery called ‘the temple of the holy fire’, where a natural phenomenon is housed.
Some natural gas, coming out of the earth, is forming blue flames at different places, just above a spring.

This auspicious combination of earth, fire and water is responsible for the religious importance of muktinath.
The temple also has beautiful statues of Padmashambhava, Manjushri and Avoliketshavara.

Also here is a temple, the Marme Lakhang, “temple of lights”, dedicated at Padmashambhava, who visit Muktinath in the 8 the century.

From Muktinath will have a gentle walk of three hours and a half to Lubra.
Lubra is a traditional village hidden in the side valley of the Panga Khola.

Lubra has managed to preserve the Bön religion since the 12 the century and still has two Bön monasteries.

In Lubra we will visit the Yung Drung Puntsoling Monastery, which belongs to the Bön religion.
This monastery is built in the 11 the century and contains interesting wall paintings and statues.
Here we find a statue of Kundu Zangpo, who holds in his hand a left turning swastika.
This monastery holds many mandala’s, old wall paintings, and statues.

From Lubra will have a gentle walk of three hours and a half to Jomsom.

In Jomsom we will visit a very old Labyrinth, for both Hinduism and Buddhism, the labyrinth is seen as a path of contemplation for those seeking divine wisdom or peace.”

Here we also visit the Mustang Eco Museum, where they display herbal medicine and a chapel

Today we take the early flight from Jomsom to Pokhara.
We will cross the Annapurna Range, an amazing flight over the Himalaya’s.

We arrive early morning in Pokhara, the second biggest city of Nepal.
After our amazing trip through Mustang, Pokhara is the perfect place to recharge your batteries.

There is for everybody something to do around Pokhara:

• You just can choose to take a rest in your hotel and spend some time reading a book at the swimming pool.
• It is a perfect shopping spot
• You could stroll along the beautiful Phewa Lake and enjoy the mountain view
• You can hike up to the Peace Pagoda
• The Mountain museum is also a recommendation to visit

And so much more.

You are free to spend your day as you wish.

Today we will take the buss back from Pokhara to Kathmandu.
We will have a stop on the way to eat lunch.
Depending on the traffic we arrive in time in Kathmandu to do some last shopping.

In the evening we have a farewell dinner together in a nice restaurant in Thamel.

Today our special journey ends.
We will drop you off at the airport