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Jomsom to Kagbeni    Kagbeni to Jharkot        Mukhtinath       Tukuche
The horse I have hired to carry me up the mountain to Mukhtinath waits patiently in the interior courtyard of the Red House Lodge, a monastery converted into a hotel in Kagbeni.

 

Waiting patiently outside the Red House Lodge for the photographer/client are my guide Bishnu and the boy that came along to tend the horse.

Me on the horse (named "White") that carried me from Kagbeni to Mukhtinath. In the background is Dhaulagiri, eighth-highest mountain in the world.

The horse-tender boy sang a popular love song as we walked along, about how to reach his lady the singer would climb the highest mountain and swim the widest river, carried along by the strength of his love..


Photo: Bishnu Subedi

Riding horseback toward Jharkot and Mukhtinath, on the edge of the Tibetan plateau in Nepal.

The mountains ahead are Yakawa Kang and Khatung Kang. Between them lies the Thorung Lo pass—one of the highest in the world, and the most difficult part of the Annapurna circuit.

Obligatory donkey shot. Caravans of donkeys and/or mules are the trucks of the mountains, carrying every manner of cargo up and down the rocky paths.
A wooden plow leans against a mud wall in Jharkot. The mountain in the distance is Yakawa Kang.
Gurung family in Jharkot, Nepal, filling baskets of manure to transport to a field. The large Gurung family populates much of the Kali Gandaki valley.

Bishnu pointing to a faded political poster from the previous year's election.

Bishnu is a member of the Communist party, which he sees as a voice for the landless poor like him. Current Nepali politics includes many parties whose influence has faded in the rest of the world, including a Maoist party.
Buddhist prayers flags on the roof of a house in Jharkot, Nepal. This string is attached to a wooden cross wrapped with goat skins and wool, a fetish used in the area to ward off evil.
Jomsom to Kagbeni    Kagbeni to Jharkot        Mukhtinath       Tukuche
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