Day 26 was the last of our trek. We were now less than ten kilometers from Jomsom, most of it downhill. As we came past the first farming village, we could hear a symphony of animal bells and farm workers singing. We climbed over a small ridge and descended a long, steep scree slope, which was very hard on Marcia.

The scenery was of unbelievable scale. Directly across the valley was the face of Nilgiri, part of the Annapurna massif. Further down our side of the valley was the peak of Dhauligiri I. Between the two, the Kali Gandaki river flowed through the Himalaya in a valley 6000 meters (20,000 feet) beneath the summits on either side. This is generally considered the deepest valley on Earth, though the Chinese recently dispatched a team to the Tibetan border to “scientifically prove” that the great bend of the Yarlung Tsampo / Brahmaputra is deeper. Regardless, it was a sight to behold during our last descent.

And then suddenly we were in Jomsom. After a few hundred meters of trail along the riverbank, we found ourselves walking down a stone-paved street past jeeps and motorcycles. Our hotel was near the airport on the other end of town, and along the way we passed the Nepal Army School of Mountain Warfare, a bit of a joke considering how badly they fought a loosely organized band of 15,000 Maoists over the last decade. Marcia and I hadn’t seen a military or police presence since we left Dunai 25 days ago.

Jomsom has changed since some of our friends visited in the Eighties. A road down the valley now lets motorized vehicles bring people and goods in and out. The stretch near the airport is lined with dozens of trekker hotels offering nice rooms and international dial telephones to the thousands of foreigners passing through on the popular Annapurna loop.

We took hot showers and had a big lunch in our hotel’s upstairs dining room. From our window we could see groups of trekkers stopping in at the checkpost. They all looked so clean! Personal cleanliness must be a lot easier in the local teahouses than in a tent in Dolpo.

In the evening, Sonam and his crew served a huge feast now that they had access to better ingredients and equipment. After dinner, we gathered everyone to give thanks and the obligatory tips, a standard ritual at the end of any trek. Marcia handed out ceremonial katas (scarfs) and I distributed wads of cash to each person in proportion to their contribution. Everyone seemed genuinely happy. We had been through a lot together.

We arose early for the flight from Jomsom to Pokhara, the only quick way out. Jomsom has a new airport and control tower, though it fortunately still uses the old entrance surrounded by Tibetan prayer wheels, which I used to ensure a safe flight. Those should be a feature of all airports!

The flight took off about an hour late because the Agni Air pilots decided to have breakfast. But once we got in the air and did the steep turn in the valley, we had a spectacular view flying down the valley between Annapurna and Dhauligiri. After crossing the shoulder of the mountain, the plane descended over farming terraces into Pokhara, the only developed city in western Nepal.

Although Pokhara seems like a delightful place to spend a few days, Marcia and I plan to come back later, and we were motivated to get back to our clean clothes in Kathmandu. So we had Kinna negotiate to get us the last two seats on a flight leaving right away, and by 11am we found ourselves back in the big city.

It took a little work to find a good hotel room, since our organizer Ngima was away on a trek and he hadn’t booked a room in the guesthouses that are always booked full in this busy season. But his wife met us and was very helpful in helping us move to another hotel in a quieter location. The room was large enough for us to lay out our stuff and it had a bathtub, Marcia’s primary requirement, though we learned later that its hot-water heater was only large enough to fill a quarter of the tub.

Kathmandu is overwhelming even when arriving from another place in the twenty-first century. But for us who had not seen a car in almost a month, it was like coming to a different planet. The smells, the sounds, the crush of people were all a shock. But it was comfortable and it had good food.

Marcia and I are spending a few days relaxing and letting our muscles heal before posting everything and making new plans. Come back soon for more!

========== End of detailed Dolpo postings ==========

Marcia and I flew back from Jomsom to Kathmandu today and we are back online.

Thanks, Russell, for posting updates while we were away. As the last post said, we had an amazing trip to a very wild region. It was also very strenuous, crossing 7 passes over 5000 meters high. Marcia and I managed to stay healthy except for some aches and pains. We are now enjoying some much needed rest and maybe a bath or two.

I do have a month’s worth of postings drafted on my PDA, and I will upload them and pictures as soon as I figure out how to move them over. Please check back in a day or two.