Moving up the Kali Gandaki valley, we passed through villages with strange sounding names like Kagbeni, Tangbe, and Chhuksang. Then the work started, as we followed the Golden Staircase, a tough climb carved out of the side of a great gorge. Our reward was a delightful campsite and fine food, at the village of Samar. At Tsarang we pitched our tents on the roof of a house owned by the King's nephew, Tsewang Bista, a twenty-eight year old who gave us our first understanding of how life was changing in Mustang. The landscape, however, is eternal, and a few more hours of walking led us to a magnificent view overlooking the medieval city of Lo Manthang, and the prospect of tea with the King.
Permits are limited and a government liaison officer is required.
Air transport is used from Kathmandu to Jomson near the Mustang border. A Grand Sherpa Wedding at Namche Kalden and Ang Kenji Sherpa, who live and work in Vancouver, were married November 22 in a traditional Sherpa wedding at Namche Bazar in the Khumbu. A Buddhist wedding does not feature the bride and groom as in our culture. Juniper branches are burned in the courtyard as a ritual cleansing, and prayer flags decorate the walls and houses. To open the ceremonies, a welcome speech by the Lama praised the qualities of those in the room with great wit, to judge by the gales of laughter and rejoinders that came from the audience.