Day 19 - Thini Gompa

Thini

I wanted to go through Thini from the beginning, as it is possible to reach Marpha with a detour through Thini from the other side on the Kali Gandaki. But we didn't do it because it was hot and very windy.

Today I realized that I need to walk to the bank, since I'm running out of cash. And over here there's no other way to pay than cash. Well, it's fortunate, since there is no bank anywhere on the trek other than in Jomosom and then at the end in Pokhara. So I'm off for the bank and it is not yet raining. I enjoy the hike up the valley in record time. No pack, no views but also no wind.

After a successful withdrawal from the ATM I am heading back to Marpha. This time, however, I plan on crossing the river to the other side, go visit the old Thini gompa and then hike on the other side of the river all the way to the Tibetan refugee Camp where I can cross back the river and return to Marpha.
I am just about to leave town when I notice the hair salon on the left. It is a small room with 2 chairs where 2 customers are getting their hair cut. The ad also mentions "Head Massage". So be it. How much for a haircut? 200Rs. Perfect.

I need to wait for about 5 minutes then it's my turn. I push away any coward thoughts about diseases, skin rash, fleas, etc. I get a nice haircut without any kind of chemicals to it. And the head massage!
I have a suspicion that I get a very special treatment, the man is very eager to show me all his skills and overwhelm me. I am a bit afraid for a few seconds he'll just crush my skull as he presses hard on my forehead and then ears. Will he punch or squeeze out my eyes from the eyeholes as he applies pressure on the different sensitive spots? Then I feel his hands going deeper to my neck and pressing and massaging my neck. Wow, you should open a massage salon!

It's finally pay time and the older man who sat for a while and watched us comes to me proudly announcing that the hairdresser is his son. Well, congratulations! I pay and leave with my head feeling very light. Do I feel a little bit dizzy as well? Maybe, but I survived :-)

The rain starts even before I reach Thini on the other side of the valley. It lies right across from Jomosom but higher up. The trail takes me upstream first and then through millet fields and I only get a confirmation that I'm going the right way when I catch up with two women carrying heavy baskets loaded with fodder for their cattle. The village is on the hillside overlooking the valley to the South and I think it offers views of Dhaulagiri. It consists of several dozen typical flat-roofed stone houses. Below te houses to the river are fields and orchards. From here a trail takes you East to Tilicho Lake but it is more difficult than accessing Tilicho Lake from Manang as it goes up steeply to high elevations. Thini is unspoilt by tourism. I doubt there are many trekkers coming here to just see the gompa. There are no guest houses, no restaurants, nothing. It's just the simple village life you can see here and the beautiful scenery around.

The small gompa in Thini offers me, in a wonderous way, a unique wonderful surprise and experience. It is being restored. A team of men from Kathmandu are totally immersed in their art-work. Whereas a couple are up on the roof, three men are repainting the walls inside. On the floor and the basic scaffolding there are dozens of pots and jars with many colours of paint.
I am equally surprised and impressed. One man seems to be busy painting the main features whereas another one paints the details. He holds a tiny brush in each hand and with quick confident strokes he paints the details, thin lines, dots, spirals, quickly exchanges the brushes and keeps repeating these movements over and over. Another man is painting high above the altar where statues of the Bon deities await some restoration as well. The Bon religion, a pre-Buddhist religion, is practiced in one village only in Mustang.

Some of the paintings on the wooden pillars and struts are finished in great detail, others are still missing the last details - eyes, dots and such. It is an amazing feast to watch these people work with so much skill and patience and talent in the poor light conditions. There is no sketch or drawing for what they're painting. I am in awe.

I leave Thini behind on the narrow slippery trail which takes me past beautiful orchards up to the ridge ahead past a small lake (the holy water of Dhumba lake does not look different from any other lake, I have to confess) and to a bigger monastery perched high on the ridge overlooking the whole valley. It is raining heavier and heavier, I'm only wearing sandals and no socks but I am happy and enjoying the peacefulness and feeling of remoteness. There are absolutely no views but I let my imagination fill in and paint - without sketches - Dhaulagiri peak and the rest.

The Kuchup Terenga Gompa is an old monastery with a beautiful history and garden; it is still housing some lamas. The flip-flops at the yellow painted doors in the tiny inner courtyard doors confirm their existence. I do not get to see anybody except for the old guardian whom I pay the entrance fee. Inside the wall paintings are beautiful and old and in desperate need for restoration. The inner walls are bulging out in their unevenness.

I continue my hike down the other side of the ridge to the little hamlet of Dhumpha amidst lovely apple orchards. I can imagine what a lovely tour and walk this would be on a sunny day. After gaining some elevation over some switchbacks the trail continues almost flat skirting the slope high above the Kali Gandaki. I am enjoying it a lot in spite of rain and wind. As it stands, it rains so heavily that I cannot even take out the camera when I am right across the valley from beautiful Marpha. The green puzzle between village and riverbed is the only patch of vivid colour in this grey day. There is no depthe in the sky, just an opaque heavy ceiling topping the valley and soaking everything.

I am deep in thoughts when I notice an eagle flying above me circling and eventually landing right on the trail a bit farther ahead. It is only when I get closer to it that I realize startled what it is. A huge brown vulture with its legs wrapped in lighter fluff. With the neck upright I think it reaches to my waist. I stop and watch it. It doesn't care much about me but is aware of my presence. What an encounter. Would anybody believe me? I can't take a picture because of the heavy rain. So after a while I continue my hike and as I'm approaching it finally takes off, gains elevation and distance eventually disappearing somewhere above the other side of the valley.

The rest of the hike is uneventful. It rains continuously and when I reach the Tibetan Refugee Camp people look at me with disbelief walking around in sandals in the rain with this bright orange raincover I wear. I haven't met anybody on the trail. I only met a couple at the big monastery hours ago.

The Chhairo gompa is locked again but an old Tibetan woman offers help. She doesn't speak a word English but sign language is international. She leads me to the house of the gompa guardian. Nobody home and I understand that the guardian is in the field. Tough luck. But the woman does someting I don't quite understand first. She invites me to follow her and enter her home.
Her home is nothing more than a small little dark room. One small window lets some light in, but not much. Inside a stove on one side, a cupboard on the adjacent wall and a little coffee table and a bed and some pillows and rugs next to it to sit on. She invites me to sit down and brings out a cup and a thermos. Butter-tea. Am I lucky! I am amazed by this new encounter. And I am grateful for this hot tea at the right time. I am soaked and sitting in the chilly air is not exactly ideal. But with a tea and such an invitation I'm in heaven.

The old woman brings out a bag and setas herslef on the floor in front of me. From the bag she extracts a pot. Inside the pot wrapped carefully in a cloth are some Tibetan souvernir items, bracelets, beads and the kind of things I've seen in the souvenir shops. She shows them to me one by one and I pick a small bracelet. I cannot offend her though I don't want or need anything. We negociate a price and close the deal. Everybody is happy.

I am thankful for the rain, I am thankful for my loneliness and this wonderful land and people that give me these opportunities for encounters and experiences like this one. I think also of Jigma Lama up at the Milarepa gompa. People who live in these simple, most basic conditions, who are very reserved though not unfriendly, who have lots of humour and a great heart, but so little in earthly goods and so much hardships to face - to be able to see these people in their most private surrounding and share a bit of their universe I consider to be a great gift I just received.

Once again I think that not belonging to a group and not following just the beaten track helped me have these experiences, though I didn't have to wander much off the beaten track.
I am happy and I'm now singing in the rain all the way back to the guest house.