MattStewart.org - Nepal 1999

Nepal: Summer of 1999

This was from a two-month trip to Nepal I took during June and July of 1999 while participating in the SMP program at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois. We spent about three weeks in Kathmandu, two weeks in Pokhara, two weeks trekking up the Kali Gandaki towards Muktinath, and another week of small trips around the Kathmandu area.

Part of the time on the trek and in Kathmandu was spent doing some research on the Lopa ("People of Lo"; or "Loba") of what is officially the Mustang District of Nepal. Mustang is the section along the central portion of the Nepal-Tibet border that juts into Tibet on the high, desolate plateau beyond the Himilaya. The 14,500 inhabitants of Lo are a fairly isolated people practicing a combination of Tibetan Buddhism and ancient local religions.

Trek Journal: Click here to read the portion of my trip journal written during our trek in the Himilaya.

Tibetan Culture Preserved in Lo: Click here to read a paper about the isolated religion of the Lopa.

Kathmandu rooftops

I miss two things most about that city: the flat, inviting rooftops and the little laidback hangouts where we ate.

Church in Nepal

Men's side of the room shown. Women were over to the left.

Our group, early in the trip

Jimmy, Garrett, Jeremy, Dan, Heather, Tracy, Danielle, Gabriella (kid), Mike, Jeannine, Sophia (baby), Matt

Fake holy man

He just wanted money.

Snake charmers

Monkey

Long cable bridge

Near Dhulikel

Dal Bhat

Finally, real Nepali food.

Playing guitar on the rooftop

Supposedly you can see Everest from this spot on a clear day (in Dhulikel, east of Kathmandu). We were there during monsoon, but you can still see the Himilaya in the distance.

On top of the bus

Ducking power lines.

Kids begging for chocolate

My jewelry store friends

Photo by Jimmy Simpson

My other jewelry store friend

The daily Thamel elephant

Smiling sacrifice man

Devi Falls

Near Pokhara and the Tibetan refugee camp

Jeremy and Tibetan kids

Nice temple

At a refugee camp. As you can tell, these are somewhat long-term refugee camps.

Tibetan tea

... which consists of water with yak butter and salt.

Football with the monks

Jimmy playing soccer with the monks at the semi-permanent Tibetan refugee camp.

Machhapuchhre

"Fishtail" Mountain, seen on a rare clear day from Pokhara

Resting on our practice hike

We hiked up and down Sarang Kot (outside Pokhara) on 7/6 to get used to our gear for trekking.

We saw this person carrying a heavy load of supplies toward Sarang Kot on our practice trek.

Machhapuchhre

Seen from the back side of the top of Sarang Kot.

Machhapuchhre

Again from Sarang Kot.

Pokhara from Sarangkot

The view from the top

Map

Our backpacking trip took us up the Kali Gandaki valley from near Baglung to Muktinath. From Muktinath, we walked back to Jomsom and took a plan back to Pokhara.

Trekking permit

Immediately after we got these, they changed the rules and exempted the popular Annapurna Circuit (a part of which we were trekking) from the permit requirements.

Jimmy sinking in the mud

Playing around by the Gandaki in Dana on 7/11

River crossing

We had to cross a lot of slow-moving but sometimes deep water on 7/13

Jeremy crossing a bridge

Offering to the Gandaki

Tracy lost one boot on a river crossing, so she threw the other one in just in case someone downstream could find and wear both of them. Khogan made a valient effort to catch the first one.

Morning mountains

Next three pictures are of the peak we could see through the clouds leaving Kalopani on the morning of 7/13.

Tukche

One regret I have it not buying a map sooner and not have a decent grasp of how to identify the peaks when we saw them. This is Tukuche Peak viewed from Kalopani (from the south), but I only know that from finding other pictures on the web.

Tukche sits right next to Dhaulagiri at just under 7000 meters, so quite a bit lower. Still, a nice mountain.

Lunchtime rest

Outside a guesthouse with good pizza in Tukche on 7/13

Afternoon peeks at peaks

These came out right after lunch between Tukche and Marpha.

Nigiri

I'm pretty sure, from looking around on the web, that these are two of the Nilgiri peaks (Nilgiri North and Nilgiri?), so I probably took the picture facing east from just above Tukuche.

Streets of Marpha

Spent the night of 7/13 here.

So clean

I love the Lopa whitewashed look, and the dry climate seems to be responsible for the cleanliness

Marpha's orchards

Marpha's apple orchards on 7/13

Marpha

Looking south near Marpha

I'm not sure where this was taken.

Trekking to Jomsom

from Marpha on 7/14

Nilgiri from Jomsom

Part of our group posing with one of the few clear shots we had of the Himilaya. When the monsoon clouds pulled back during the mornings, we could see we were surrounded by the biggest mountains we'd ever seen.

Tilicho and Nilgiri

Looking straight south from Jomsom, I think.

Nilgiri

Jomsom

Probably looking south-west along the Gandaki.

Desolate Lower Mustang

North-east of Jomsom, as we made our way higher up the Kali Gandaki toward the land of the Lopa.

In Kagbeni

We didn't stay here...I think that dead yak head was the closest we got to seeing the high-altitude creature.

To Muktinath

Trekking up the steep trail that leads east out of Kagbeni to meet the trail coming from Jomsom toward Muktinath

Still climbing

out of Kagbeni. This incline went on forever, at least for most of our trip on 7/16

Pilgrimage

We kept running into this lady, apparently on a pilgrimage, during our trek to Muktinath

Above Muktinath

Looking down on Muktinath and towards the Kali Gandaki gorge

Muktinath

The 108 water spouts

Prayer flags

at Muktinath

Prayer flag

Chortens

Near Muktinath

Muktinath

Looking out the gate of the holy area at Muktinath

Descending to Jomsom

On 7/17, the Muktinath group took the trail directly to Jomsom to meet the rest of the team.

Mountain underwear

This was born out of the frustration of not being able to find the correct trail for a day trip on a rest day in Jomsom on 7/18. Heading east from Jomsom, we hoped to get to this beautiful valley in the moutains. Instead, we dead-ended at a closed military base.