The morning after all the rainy trekking we awoke to the most astounding mountain views we had so far.
We started walking at about 6:30am to take full advantage of the clear morning views.
The first village we passed through was Pisang (3200m).
We passed by a large Mani wall,with many prayer wheels to be spun as well as some mantras carved in stone.
After that we began a very steep and strenuous ascent, up 400m of switchbacks, to the quaint mountain town of Gharu (3600m). The redeeming factor of this hike was the magnificent view we had all the while, of Annapurna II and IV, across the valley.
Goji berries?
We continued walking for a few more hours along the edge of the mountain valley.
We stopped in a town called Ngawal (3700m) for a lunch of Dal Bhat...which always consists of lentil curry, vegetable curry, rice and a papad as well as some spicy pickle.
We passed a herd of bizarre looking goats.
A spooky gompa.
We descended down from the hillside into the valley, through some light rain, and arrived at the town of Humde (3300m).
We were surrounded by dramatically eroded cliffs and hillsides.
Spring barley was being planted in the field next to our hotel when we awoke the next morning.
The views this morning were the most spectacular yet!
These fantastic mountain views were all around us as the trail climbs towards Braka (3450m).
We spent two night in Braka in order to help us acclimatize to the higher elevation.
Outside Braka there were huge pastures full of grazing yak...
...and goats.
On our "rest" day in Braka we did a day-hike 800m up a nearby hillside to a monastery by 'Milarepa's Cave'.
We saw these deer-like creatures on our way.
After 2.5 hours we reached the monastery, at an altitude of about 4200m.
This very kind man offered us some tea and a chance to warm up by the fire in his tiny little stone house, where you had to crouch down to get through the door.
Milarepa was an eleventh century Buddhist mystic who is said to have lived for many years in a cave on the slopes of the mountain above us. He was famous for his insightful poetry and a variety of supernatural feats, including levitation, mystic heat, black magic, and sustaining himself on only a diet of nettles.
We were both fending off altitude headaches and were cold from the afternoon wind, so we soon headed back down towards Braka in the valley below..
After about 2 hours we arrived back to the comfort and warmth of our bed at the New Yak Hotel.
The next day we decided to have a very short day and walk about an hour over to the town of Tengki (3690m) passing through Manang (3550m) on the way.
It was a very cold and blustery day.
We stayed at the only lodge in Tengki, a small very basic stone house with only two guestrooms and very little insulation.
We sat in the kitchen to keep warm as a blizzard raged outside, and our host Ongma cooked us some dal bhat.
Our view of Tengki.
We awoke in the night to find that the skies had cleared and it was a beautiful starry night with moonlight reflecting off the snowy peaks.
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