Not having time enough to hike the entire Annapurna circuit, I flew up from Pokhara to Jomsom. Weather permitting, planes can land and take off here during about two hours of early morning calm. The rest of the day the valley is too foggy or too turbulent.

A few months after I flew in here, the 14-year-old Karmapa, an eminent lama, escaped from Tibet by trekking down this valley from the Mustang district north of Kagbeni. He may have flown out from here on his way to Dharamsala, India.