Exploring Upper Mustang – Maybe

September 26^th, 2026

Lo Manthang, Nepal

Was up and down all night.  Bladder seemed to have a never ending fountain of piss to remove.

I woke around 5:00AM to use toilet and then just sat in bed listening to the rain coming down.

Heard a cat meowing out back, so went to the window and opened it up.  Did not see anything though.

Laid back in bed and decided to read in the Kindle for now.

I drifted off to sleep at some point as my alarm woke me at 7:00AM.

I got up to use toilet and then laid in bed again to stay warm and breakfast is not till 8:00AM.

I think I dozed in and out, listening to the rain coming down.

Finally got out of bed about 7:40, looked outside and it was raining enough that I could see the drops….or was that snow?

I put on my shoes (slept in clothes, so no need to dress, no hot water either, not taking cold shower today) and jacket, then walked over to the dining area.

Guide was already there, as I expected since he gets up quite early most days.

Looked out the windows up front and yes, you can see snow collecting on the windshields of the cars, and on the seats of the bikes.  Few other spots it collected, but nothing staying on the ground, melts upon contact.

You could see it on the ground farther up the mountainside where we had ridden into town yesterday, but just a light dust.

Ordered food and talked about various plans for today depending on what the weather does.

We were supposed to go visit the Jhong Cave, and also the old walled city and monastery in town.

The cave would require a ride on the bike, and with the snow/rain, that would be less than desirable to walk around in the cave all wet.

We will still look at going over to the city later today, either if the rain stops for a bit or at least lightens up.

The snow has already stopped, now just rain again.

When we were both done eating and discussion various scenarios for the following days if the weather causes any issues, we both returned to the rooms.

I spent an hour or so going through all my gear, checking the dampness level, and if already dry, moving it over to another place until I am ready to repack everything.

The stuff still damp I flipped over or moved to a spot where it might dry better.

I sorted through all the bags to make sure nothing wet was missed, then sat on the bed and just stared into space for a while.

Then I went through some of the smaller things to see if stuff was good, and found the money in my wallet was slightly damp. (I had waited till half way through the day to move the wallet into the plastic bag in the pocket, so got some moisture.)

I laid out bills to dry out, which did not take too long and then decided to go out into the café area again and work on videos and blogs.

I completed all the audio for the next video and exported it, but no internet still, so will not get put online for a few days likely.

The rain stopped outside about an hour ago, and looks to be holding off.

Guide was fairly sure we could get up the road to Jhong Cave and back before any weather returned.

We geared up (in still damp gear) and got on the bikes.  At least this time we did not have to strap down the bags and such and will be lighter riding.

We headed out of town and immediately onto some crazy rough, uneven, muddy roads.

We then turned off and headed down along the river area to travel the 6 miles or so to the cave area.

The road was nice in spots, but still quite wet in many and lots of mud still.  As we turned off again into the village it got really beat up as well, created some fun little obstacles.

We turned off toward the cave and the road was basically gone.  It had been washed away and/or buried over the last few days.

But it was still level enough and had been driven on enough to form a trail at least and we were able to bounce up that to reach the part of the road still in place and travel up to the parking area for the caves.

We had bought our ticket from a guy at the bottom of the washed out road, and then showed it to the guy at the caves.

The Jhong Caves (at least the main complex which we will tour) is a 5 story series of rooms dug into the sandstone cliffs of this region.

While modern steps have been added to reach the entrance and inside, the original inhabitants would have used rope ladders to access the various levels.

There are approximately 40 rooms in this section which all show heavy carbon build up on the ceilings from the use of fires inside.

This layer of carbon has been dated to around 2,500 years ago.

The exact identity of the people using the caves it not clearly known, nor is it clear how they used the caves.  Possible they lived year round in them, or could have been a seasonal hunting lodging while they hunted in the valleys around this area.

The caves were designed in a way to hold in heat, with only a few windows and air vents.

This also created a very defensible position, and the rope ladders access is another key that the complex was built to be defended.

We climbed up the steps and into the entrance.

Most of the ceilings inside are only about 4 feet high in spots, and in others barely enough for me to stand upright (6 foot).

We explored the small number of rooms on the lower levels, and then reached the 4^th level which has the largest number.  Most of the rooms are spread along the front wall, and maybe going 30-40 feet back into the cliff.

We did not go up to the 5^th level as the access is a bit tighter, and was already a challenge to fit through some of the ladder openings.

Once done, we descended back to the bottom and outside again.

And to make this exit more interesting, the sun was shining!  It’s been nearly 3 days since we saw any significant sunlight.

I needed to use the toilet, so we moved the bikes over to the building the attendant uses where I could use the facilities, and then sat for a bit to admire the view.

We also had a hot tea while sitting and I ended up buying a bag of chocolate candy from the large assortment of Chinese snacks on sale.

Note that we are only about 6 miles from the China border now.

We then left the cave parking lot and bounced down the road, where we took another turn to cross the ripped up section (which was quite the challenge and bottomed the bike out once) and up a small road which will take us to the old monastery.

This road was very muddy, and almost lost the bike on one muddy hillside, but going slow enough to catch myself with my foot and keep it upright.

We arrived at the monastery, which was built into the cliff a bit. 

This monastery is not that old, having been built only in the early 1990s, but was used by the monks until a much larger and newer building was completed nearby just recently.

We climbed up to the main rooms and looked around, then left to get back on the bikes.

We rode out of the village by a different road and stopped briefly at the crossroads where the road continues up to the Chinese border and goes over to another village.

Here is where the Nepal Customs office is.  It looks more like a temporary camp, lots of large tents and trucks parked all over.

Not sure if this is just due to the increase in truck traffic since the tragic flood that destroyed the main truck border east of here, or if they always looked this casual.

We then proceeded up to the village and then out another road that would loop around and connect back up to the road we took this morning outside of Lo Manthang.

Several sections of this road were beat up, or under construction, so lots of mud to navigate and bike was getting a bit loose in the front at the worst spots.

A few more deep gashes in the roads to bounce through and we reached the edge of town.

We tried to take another road into town, to avoid the really bad muddy one, but a small van was stuck in the road as it too was quite muddy and on a hill.

We arrived back at the hotel and agreed to meet for lunch after getting out of our gear.

Lunch was chicken sandwich and some fries, way too much food.  I am starting to think the altitude is decreasing my appetite and metabolism as I get full with what would normally be a regular meal for me, not even over eating.

It was now 3:00PM, so we could get access to the monasteries inside the old walled city nearby, so walked over to the city gates and visited the first monastery where we bought our access ticket to all 3.  The city itself could be walked without a ticket, but entry to the monasteries requires one.

We got that sorted and then stood in the courtyard for a bit while guide described the place.

It had the original 15^th century monastic building and the much newer building next to it.

We went inside the older building which is now only used during festivals.

It was a typical Buddhist layout inside with some old artwork on the walls.

We left this building and the monk that had been giving another group a tour opened up the museum on the ground level of the new monastery (which we cannot enter).

This place had lots of old buddha figures, artwork, temple artifacts, musical instruments, and clothing on display.  Much of it was 18^th-19^th century, but some pieces went back to the 14^th-15^th and even a few to the 12^th century.

Once done, we gathered in the courtyard and watched all the kids playing with a small ball or other things, and a group playing with one of the big dogs that are common around these parts.

Once all 3 groups that were getting tours were done, we went with the monk over to the next monastery and he opened it up.

This one was also quite old and we climbed up to the main hall and then later up to the roof of that building for some views of the valley.

Once done we made our way to the 3^rd place, though we ended up waiting in a light rain for the rest of the group to catch up.

This place was quite large and had several large Buddha at the front of the building.

When done, we made our way over to the main plaza in front of the old royal palace.

The Mustang region was an independent kingdom alongside Nepal until the dissolving of the Monarchy in 2008 with the creation of the republic.  At this time, the Mustang royal institution was also dissolved and the region became part of the Nepal republic.

The palace now sits empty, no one lives there.  The last members of the royal family all live in the capital, Kathmandu, now.

We then left the old town and walked back to the hotel, with a steady light rain now.

We arrived back at the hotel, slightly damp, but at least not soaked.

Went up to the room to get out of the wet jacket and sat on the bed for a while to rest as the physical activity had hit me pretty hard in the thinner air (and I am badly out of shape to begin with).

We had about 3 hours till dinner, so I was planning to take the laptop to the dining area and work on videos.

But I was really cold after being out in the rain, so crawled under the bed covers and sat on the bed for a bit while I tried a few chocolate candies and tried to see if internet was working with the better weather, but still down.

The power went out while I was doing that, and I hunkered down in the bed covers to get warm, no point in going over to the dinning room if there was no power.

I then fell asleep, as I do not recall anything till, I woke up about 6:30PM, not long before I was to meet for dinner.

I then laid there for a bit longer as no point in going down early.

Walked over to the dinning area and sat down.  Was a bit cold, but my jacket is still damp, so made it worse if I tried to wear it.

Guide was there, and we sat in the corner so I could plug in the laptop.

Ordered a hot chocolate and a bowl of soup as I was not that hungry

The drink warmed me up and the hot soup helped even more.

I was unable to finish the soup though, still feeling stuffed.

Once done eating, the guide left to his room and I finished typing this blog up.

I am now going to return to my own room and go to be soon after.

We will be having breakfast at 8:00AM again, and then hopefully on the road by 9:00AM.

While it is raining good again, we are hopeful it will pass in the night and at least let us ride back down in dry air, even if the road is wet and muddy.

Guess we will see what the morning brings.

I will likely be up early anyway since I am going to be so early, and can then get packed as nearly everything is out of the bags to dry over last 2 days.

Catch ya down the road.