Nepal Landscape

This is the plane that brought us to Jomsom, a mountain town in the Annapurna Conservation area.  The planes travel between Pokhara and Jomsom.  Pokhara airport has problems with morning fog and Jomsom has winds too high by noon for flights.  So there is a short window most days for air travel and some days you are unable to fly.  It is only a 20 minute flight between the Pokhara and Jomsom but it is a two day bus ride. 

After landing in Jomsom we walked 10 kilometers to Marpha. 

Most of the mountain towns were built jut outside the flood plains.  The best soil is just outside of the river bed.  The Nepali people have worked to improve the soil.  Every year they collect the manure from the animals and work it into the fields.

Early morning reflections in the river gravel ponds.

The local people carve prayers into local stones.

Animals are a found in the fields and in town.  Always good to look where you are walking.

Jomsom has the Kali Gandaki River running through the middle of town.  There is no road bridge across this river.  We rode a bus to one side of town, walked across the bridge, and got on another bus to continue our journey to Kagbeni.

The fields and town of Kagbeni  run along the river. This historic trading center straddles the old border between the Mustang Kingdom and Nepal.  

Kagbeni has lots of narrow passageways.

There are a few tractors in the mountains but they aren't used to work the fields.  Tractors are used to gather rocks and gravel from the rivers.  This material is used to build homes and animal pens.

This small stream runs up hill toward Muktinath, the last town we will visit in the Annapurna Conservation Area.  I found a large snail fossil while walking this stream bed.

The mountain in the background is over 20,000 feet tall.

Prayer stones around a chorten.

One evening I hung out in the river valley to shoot star trails.  Unfortunately after about an hour of shooting continuous ten second exposures my lens fogged over.  

The sun cut spectacular angles of light as it rose behind the peaks. 

Occasionally you could find a little bit of color in the mountains.

Layers of mountains.

Small reflection pool.

Most of the taller trees have disappeared.

The sun light was filtered through yellow leaves casting a colorful glow on this water channel.  

Doorway to a field of apple trees.

I like the pattern of stones and mud.

The road to the towns of Jharkot and Muktinath.  

Early one morning three of us set out to walk to the Dzong Monastery. 

A little color on the walk.

The Monastery is on top of a hill before the mountains.

Getting closer

The monastery is locating in Dzong which was once a regional capital for this area.

Dzong

At one time there was a fort next to the monastery.  Some of the old mud rammed walls still stand.

Fortunately several pedestrian suspension foot bridges were built across the gorges. 

These switchbacks lead to the Thorung Pass where several trekkers lost their lives just a couple of weeks ago.

Small pond reflection with prayer flags.

I walked up to this pond to catch early morning reflections.  But it was so cold that the pond was iced over.

Terraced fields are prevalent in the mountains.

Mountains from the roof of a monastery.

This is the last blog from Nepal.  I hope you enjoyed them.