Muktinath (3800m)

Muktinath was strikingly different from any other village we had seen on the other side of the pass. First of all, it was much, much bigger. The main dirt road was wider, there were people selling goods on the side of the road, and there was a Bob Marley Bar (apparently named after him because he visited the place!) The village seemed to be "richer" and more built up, probably because there is an airport in Jomsom a few towns away and there was a road that vehicles could access. It was so strange to hear the sound of motorbikes again! I didn’t miss the fumes from the exhaust.

The teahouse where we stayed had shared squat toilets and running water... kind of. It was frozen most of the time. There was also a gas heated shower that you could partake in for 100 RPS (under $2) but hell, it's already been 2 weeks, what's another couple of days without showering? It didn't look too pleasant anyways. There was also a very cute and very excited kitten that we quickly became friends with. Bonus! The family who ran the teahouse were very friendly and they had two cute kids who really enjoyed playing with us! It was all fun and games until the little one sneezed in the food...

For lunch, Eric got Chinese Chopsuey, curiously different from the American Chopsuey on the menu (we never found out what the differrence was). He wasn't disappointed though, it was stir-fried veggies and meat on top of a bed of crispy noodles, all topped with a large egg omelette. I had mutton biryani that unfortunately tasted like rice stir-fried in ketchup with partially rehydrated unnamed meat.

By the time eveing rolled around, it had gotten pretty cold, so we sat around a large table under which a bucket of coals was placed. The tablecloth doubled as a blanket so we covered ourselved and kept the heat in. It worked well, but we were all a bit nervous about the fire on the coals licking the underside of the wood table, especially when there would be billows of smoke every once in a while.

In the morning, we walked to the monastary and nunnery at the top of town. There were 108 fountain heads spewing water that means something special but I don't know what since the guides couldn't seem to explain the meaning behind it all. There was also a Hindu temple which us non-Hindus were not allowed to enter. We also saw a naturally burning gas flame that was discovered back in the day. It is now housed in a little stone structure and curiously smells of gas... I'm pretty sure natural gas has no smell, and that the smell we associate with gas is intentionally added so that we could detect it. Nonetheless, I'm sure there really was a naturally burning gas flame, which must have brought much awe and wonder to people who discovered it, but I suspect that the flame has since been "enhanced" if you know what I'm sayin'...

We headed back to the hotel to collect our things and we headed to Kagbeni.