1. 2,700 meters above sea level.
2. The Kaligandaki river is older than the himalayas.
3. The Kaligandaki gorge is the world's deepest gorge.
4. It lies at the crossroad of the Tibetan plateau and himalayan foothills.
5. It is famous as "saligram kshetra" (ammonite fossils).
6. The oldest fossils from jurassic era are found in the Kaligandaki area.
7. It is the only area on the foot of the himalayas where tulips and apples are grown.
8. It is the only area located at a safe altitude (below 2800m) and the nearest to the mountains, the Nilgiri & Tilicho peaks.
9. Hotel resort has been built with local sand, mud & stones keeping ecology in mind & transporting everything by helicopter.
10. Fully equipped with generators, water filtration plant, sewerage plant, laundry plant, hot/water boiler, kitchen equipment, telephone line, satellite cable tv, indoor swimming pool, massage & mediation center.
11. It is the only area offering green landscapes, high mountains, turquoise lake, holy temples, monasteries and roaring rivers.
12. It is the only stol airfield with highest reliability and number of flights north of the himalayas.
13. It is visited by the highest number of trekkers.
14. It is just 20 minutes flight away from Pokhara.
15. It is the only place where you need to fly between the himalayas: Annapurna & Dhaulagiri (both are higher then 8000 meters).
16. It is where the sun rises from the left over the mountains.
17. It falls under the Mustang region, which was another kingdom within the kingdom of nepal.
18. It is the area where cliff side cave dwellers used to live and the remnants are still visible.
19. Considered one of the most exotic areas for mountain biking.
20. Evidences of the himalayas former position beneath the sea are revered as embodiments of lord Vishnu.
21. Every year during spring and autumn, the Siberian cranes fly over Jomsom towards the south, covering the sky.
22. The sacred Tilicho lake situated at 16,700 feet is one of the highest lakes in the world.

Jomsom Mountain Resort operates interesting walking and pony tours to these regions. There are half-day/full day and sometimes overnight stays.

KALI GANDAKI VALLEY (2713M)

The Kali Gandaki Valley/Thak Khola Valley or Jomsom has been a major trade route for centuries. Until 1959, traders exchanged salt collected from salt lakes in Tibet for rice and barley from the middle hills of Nepal. They also traded wool, livestock and butter for sugar, tea, spices, tobacco and manufactured goods from India, but the salt for-grain trade dominated the economy. This trade has diminished, not only because of the political and economic changes in Tibet, but also because Indian salt is now available throughout Nepal at much lower price than Tibetan salt.

In its upper reaches, people call the Kali Gandaki the Thak Khola, thus the name Thakali for those who live in this region. The Thakali people of the Kali Gandaki valley had a monopoly on the salt trade of this region. They are now turning to agriculture, tourism and other forms of trade for their livelihood.

TUKUCHE (2590M)
Distance: 13.5 km from Jomsom
Duration: 4 hours walk

Tukuche was once the most important Thakali village. Tukuche (tuk - grain & che - flat place) was the meeting place where traders coming with salt and wool from Tibet and the upper Thak Khola valley bartered with traders carrying grain from the south.

A dramatic change in the vegetation, from pine and conifer forests to dry, desert-like country is visible in this stretch of land. Beside this agriculture rich area, the flow of air between the peaks of Annapurna and Dhaulagiri create strong winds that whirl up the valley. The breezes blow gently from the north during the early hours of the day, then shift to powerful gusts from the south throughout the late morning and afternoon.

MARPHA (2665M)
Distance: 7.5 km from Jomsom
Duration: 2 hours walk

Marpha is huddled behind a ridge for protection from the wind and dust. This large Thakali village exhibits the typical Thak Khola architecture of flat roofs and narrow paved alleys and passageways. The low rainfall in this region makes these flat roofs practical; they also serve as a drying place for grains and vegetables.

In Marpha, an extensive drainage system flows under the flagstone-paved street of this clean and pleasant village. There is a library (open from 5 to 7 p.m.) and impressive 'kanis' gateways mark both ends of town.

Marpha's large, impressive gompa (monastery) was renovated and enlarged in 1996. An efficient system allows you to deposit your rucksack in a storage room before climbing the steps to visit. This is a Nyingmapa Buddhist gompa; as in Tengpoche, the Mani Rimdu festival is celebrated in the autumn here. The gompa, as are all the buildings in Marpha, is painted with a whitewash that is produced from a special local stone. It is a wonderful and unique spot in this region.

EKLO BHATTI (2730M)
Distance: 9.5 km from Jomsom
Duration: 2.30 hrs. trek

Better known as Eklo Bhatti ('alone hotel'). Despite its name, it is a substantial outpost where the Tibet Guest House, Hotel Hill Ton, Hotel Monal and Holiday Inn offer you a chance to get out of the wind. In the Kagbeni Lodge you can shop for 'all kinds of Tibetan something' and also a break to eat something. The direct route to Muktinath leads straight up the hill behind the village. This is the base camp before the climb to Muktinath.

THINI VILLAGE
Distance: 5 km from Jomsom
Duration: 2 hrs walk

As outstanding village on the other side of Jomsom. Its strategic location overlooking the salt route still commands respect. Most of the traders and citizens scattered around Kali Gandaki basin have their ancestral home in this fascinating and oldest village of Thini. Inhabited by elders while the young goes off to greener pasture, this village is worth visiting.

DHUMBA LAKE
Distance: 5.5 km from Jomsom
Duration: 2 hour's trek

A sacred Turquoise lake nestled in the lap of Mt. Nilgiri. Legend says this lake water turned red on its own and it was only after performing a long and devoted religious ceremony, the lake water slowly began to return to its natural turquoise color and since then it is considered a sacred lake. This lake today attracts people from surrounding areas in all their finery and bright colors in all shapes, sizes and ages. They throng this lake for prayers that similar change for betterment may occur in their life.

SHYANG
Distance: 4 km from Jomsom
Duration: 1.30 hours walk

A small sleepy town left aside through the ages, As it is perched high on a plateau, away from the route, it was left aside and this has been a boon in disguise. Though the other surrounding villages have prospered and developed, as Shyang was left aside, it has maintained its century old tradition of living. It is worthwhile to visit this forgotten village and marvel at the simplicity of life.

KAGBENI (2810M)
Distance: 10.5 km from Jomsom
Duration: 3 hour's trek

A green oasis at the junction of the Jhong Khola and the Kali Gandaki river. Kagbeni looks like a town out of the medieval past, with closely packed mud houses, dark tunnels and alleyways, imposing chortens and a large, ochre-colored gompa perched above the town. Many people still dress in typical Tibetan clothing, though the children have even in this faraway village, learned to beg, rather insistently for pencils and a rare commodity. Their innocence and ever cheerful faces always brightens the drab surrounding.

Kagbeni is the northernmost village in this valley that foreigners may visit on a normal trekking permit. The police check post at the northern end of the village fastidiously prevents tourists from proceeding towards Lo-Manthang, the walled city of Mustang without the proper documentation.

DANGARJONG
Distance: 13.5 km from Jomsom
Duration: 3.30 hrs. walk

A prominent massif on the northern parts of Jomsom approximately 500m above Jomsom valley. This prominent peak offers a splendid vista of the Kaligandaki valley and Tibetan Plateau in the horizon. The view of Mt. Nilgiri, Tukuche and Annapurna range is breathtaking.

JHARKOT (3500M)
Distance: 19.5 km from Jomsom
Duration: 5 hour's trek

Jharkot, with its picturesque 'kani' and large gompa is well worth exploring and many people suggest staying here instead of Muktinath. There are some peach trees nearby; people press the peach seeds to make oil. Across the valley you can see the ruins of Dzong, the ancient capital of this region and the smaller villages of Purang and Changur.

Climbing over some walls then trekking past the village crossing the mule stables and climbing up a steep barren hillside, immediately gives you that sense of adventure in this postcard scenery.

RANIPAUWA (3710M)
Distance: 21 km from Jomsom
Duration: 6.30 hrs.

After passing through Khingar and Zharkot villages, the first part of Muktinath that you reach at 3710m is known as Ranipauwa and is the site of a large rest house for pilgrims and a host of hotels, bhattis and camping places.

MUKTINATH (3800M)
Distance: 21.5 km from Jomsom
Duration: 7 hour's trek

The temple and the religious shrines of Muktinath are about 90m in elevation above Ranipauwa. There are no hotels and the temple committee does not allow camping. Muktinath is an important pilgrimage place for both Hindus and Buddhists. The holy shrines at Muktinath are in a grove of trees and include a Buddhist gompa and the pagode-style temple of Vishnu Mandir, containing an image of Vishnu. Around the temple is a wall from which 108 waterspouts, cast in the shape of cows' heads, pour forth sacred water. Even more sacred is the water that issues from a rock inside the ancient Tibetan-style Jwala Mai temple, a short distance below the pagoda. Inside this gompa, behind a tattered curtain, are small natural gas jets that produce a perpetual holy flame alongside a spring that is the source of the sacred water. This auspicious combination of earth, fire and water is responsible for the religious importance of Muktinath. It is often possible to see Tibetan women with elaborate turquoise-embedded headdresses, engaged in devotions at these shrines.

PILGRIMS TO MUKTINATH

Muktinath is an important pilgrimage place for Hindus. You will encounter many Nepali and Indian Pilgrims on the trail. Well-to-do Indians fly in to Jomsom and walk or ride horses to Muktinath. The most colorful pilgrims to Muktinath are the ascetic sadhus, whom you must have already seen many times. They travel in various stages of undress, smear themselves with ash and often carry a three-pronged spear called a Trishul. A rupee or two donations to these holy men is not out of place. They are Shaivite mystics on a pilgrimage of Ocean to Himalaya which, more often than not, began in the tropical heat of southern India.

KAGBENI TO MUKTINATH

A trail to Muktinath starts at the southern end of Kagbeni. It makes a steep climb up the Jhong Khola valley, passing the windmills that sometimes provide electric power for Kagbeni and joins the direct trail to Muktinath below Khingar. Along the way the direct route to Muktinath climbs from Eklo Bhatti. Along the way you will see hundreds of small piles of rocks, erected by pilgrims to honor their departed ancestors.

EKLO BHATTI TO MUKTINATH

The direct route to Muktinath climbs from Eklo Bhatti along a windswept slope to a plateau above the Kali Gandaki then turns east up the Jhong Khola Valley. The trail ascends to Khingar and Zharkot through country that is arid and desert-like in the same geographical and climatic zone as Tibet. The striking yellows of the bare hillsides contrast dramatically with the blue sky, white peaks and splashes of green where streams allow cultivation. The views of Mt. Dhaulagiri and Mt. Nilgiri are tremendous.

VISHNU IN STONE

The Tibetan traders of the Kali Gandaki valley are unrelenting in their efforts to convince you to buy their wares. One item that is unique to this region is the Saligrams (Ammonite fossils). These are black stones that when broken open, reveal the fossilised remains of prehistoric ammonites formed about 130 million years ago. You might find some saligram yourself between here and Jomsom, though you can always buy them at inflated prices from the traders and then curse yourself all the way back to Pokhara for carrying a backpack full of rocks. The old specks that appear on many saligram are pyrite (fool's gold). Hindu pilgrims purchase these ammonites because they represent the god Vishnu.

EKAI KAWAGUCHI

In the beginning of March 1899, Ekai Kawaguchi began his journey from Kathmandu, via Pokhara, travelling across the Tibetan plateau of Mustang to Tibet. Ekai, a young Japanese monk, in his quest to study Tibetan Buddhism ultimately reached Tibet in disguise. He was the first Japanese and the first outsider to enter the mysterious country of Tibet. His journey through Mustang was as dramatic. He was master of disguises, learning the language, customs and Tibetan religions Philosophy in the process. Though he was not adequately equipped to handle such an arduous journey, he managed to survive robbery, starvation, extreme cold and an appalling sense of direction.

Tukche:
He stayed as a guest in the home of Harkman Serchan, the local Governor of Tukche. His home was the largest, a three-storied house with a courtyard, a big chapel-like gateway, a large chapel where Kawaguchi stayed and Mani walls. (Mani walls found abundantly in the region, are freestanding walls with irregularly piled stones, each stone carved with a figure of Buddha or a Buddhist prayer). Tukche was a busy trading town where all caravans traveling between Pokhara and upper Mustang rested. This is where Kawaguchi eavesdropped on traders' conversation, his knowledge of Tibetan language allowing him the liberty and discovered that the route through which he planned to enter Tibet was being well-guarded and that he had to change his route.

Tsarang:
At Harkaman Serchan's he met a monk called Serab Gyaltsen "possessed of profound knowledge" and proceeded to Tsarang with him, via Muktinath. Serab Gyaltsen took Ekai, disguised as Chinese Monk, to the Chapel of the Chief of Tsarang. He writes of volumes of religious texts preserved there, not for their contents but for their religiosity. He stayed almost a year in Tsarang from early March 1899 to 10^th March 1900. There he spent in study with Gyaltsen, six hours a day on Tibetan Buddhism and Tibetan rhetoric and penmanship. All in all he spent 13 to 15 hours a day on lectures and study, six days a week. On Sunday, he spent the day carrying a bag of stones up a nearby mountain to prepare for his difficult trip ahead.

Marpha:
On the third month after leaving Tsarang, he reached Marpha and stayed in the family Chapel belonging to Adam Naring, the village Chief. The innermost part of the chapel "contained a fine set of Buddha images, as well as the Tibetan edition of the Sacred Text and other volumes of ecclesiastical writings, while the windows of the front room commanded a charming view of a peach orchard". "Five or six hundred yards beyond his (Naring's) residence was the Kaliganga (Kaligandaki) river, gliding serenely along with a fresh green wall of small pine-trees to set off its waters. Towering behind and above the emerald grove stood a range of snow capped peaks, the tout ensemble making a view delightful for its primitive joys and natural beauty". He left this beautiful haven June 12, 1900, as his identify came under suspicion.

Thus traveled the famed Japanese Monk across the Tibetan plateau to Tibet, learning, seeking and enduring in his quest to enter Tibet. His stay in Tukche, Tsarang and Marpha are described extensively in his journeys. His narration is interesting in that he makes truthful observations. He has been described extensively in his journeys. He has been described as a "truthful narrator but not a scientific discoverer". His discovery however is important in the Asian context, because his journey was not only a physical quest, as go most traveler adventure, but a spiritual quest too. This distinction makes him a more thorough chronicler of the times.