Muktinath and Chitwan

This was the road above Gasa. It was a HUGE improvement on what we had been over in the bus the day before. There is no steep bank and the track is not too rough, but very definitely still single track.

These are both views from above Gasa looking back at the backside of Annapurna. The second picture was taken while we were walking through the spruce forest. It was a really pretty part of the trip and a change to walk on soft needles.

This was looking to the otherside shortly after the previous pictures. You can see that our view was restricted by the mist and cloud and I am not sure whether you can pick up the colour of the rhododendron.

Another long bridge, but all of these on this route were high quality and very stable. This was just after we left Kalopani and you can see we knew we were on the right route.

 These two pictures were taken as we got closer to Larjung. The river is the Kali Ghandaki and this was the riverbed we walked along for much of the later trail. Actually we wanted to walk on it from Larjung to Tukuche but our porter disagreed (although all the traffic was going that way) and we walked on the road, which was far more up and down and under some alarmingly overhanging cliffs.

These pictures were taken around Larjung although Marpha and Tukuche were very similar. Each had this narrow paved road going through and you can see the squat design of the houses. We were greatly taken by the ladders (middle pic) which we saw in several places. Unfortunately the lower picture does not show the apple blossom, but it is a good example of the orchards of the area.

Another shot which shows the vastness of the riverbed.

These are all pictures of Tukuche. Good stacks of firewood on top of the houses. The trapdoor and stairs showed the route from our bedroom down to the dining room. The lower picture shows the roof of the hotel, trapdoor to the left. Our room was the blue door at the far end and you can see how the buildings are open in the middle. The glassed in area to the right is another dining room, but far too cold for us to use. The roof afforded stunning views. The next morning the full moon was sitting above the snows of Dhaulagiri and opposite were great views of Nilgiri range. The other shot is of the street from the roof of the hotel.

This is a shot of Kagbeni from the other side of the river en route to Tiri. The mountain in the background is Nilgiri which was directly outside out hotel bedroom window in Jomsom.

This picture is taken from by the monastery at Tiri. The mountains in the distance are just beyond Muktinath and the pass on the lefthand side of the picture is the route those on the circuit around Annapurna take (Thorong Pass). Our route up to Muktinath started towards the bottom right of the picture and more or less went diagonally across until we were almost directly below the pass.

Sorry about the sunglasses!

This is Chitwan. As you can see absolutely flat. We stayed on the second floor of this house and the picture below was the scene from the front deck there. I think you will be able to see the water in the rice paddies. This ditch that ran along the length of the road had very clear water in it. We watched young lads from the house opposite strip and jump into the ditch to cool off several times. Don't blame them!

This was our transportation to and from the park in the afternoon. The other horse was fresher than this one, but was spooked by car lights and one time tried to run right off the road to avoid them.

There you are Benjamin. Crocodile just waiting for his dinner. He was one of three we saw.

Not sure where or how this camel came to be there, but he was one of three we saw.

Lots of elephant! When we started walking home after sunset we passed another 6 or 8 elephants walking home with through the streets among the cars and other traffic. The fellows in the top picture were being taken into the park to spend the night. They sat on the elephant as though it were a horse, not as we did. We also had to climb a ladder to a platform to get onto  our elephant. Not clear in these pictures but they wrap extra goodies in this grass and make a ball of it to make sure the elephants get the food they need.

Chitwan at sunset. Unfortunately a bit grainy because of the camera, but you get the idea that it was very beautiful.