Easy Walk (Day 19)

"It's easy to walk from Muktinath to Jomsom..." claims the Lonely Planet guide book. Those words would end up haunting us for the rest of the day since we failed to read the boxed text titled "Windy Trails." It seems that in the valley we would be passing through strong winds pick up after 11AM.

Up until 11AM it was a rather pleasant walk. True, it was on a road, but there wasn't much traffic, the scenery was inviting and it was a dang nice day out. However, as soon as we reached the village of Kagbeni at 11:15AM, we were exposed head-on to the full force of the wind.

We did our best to protect ourselves from the sand that was carried by the wind. I wore a hat, sunglasses and wrapped a scarf around my mouth and nose. Krissy wore sunglasses and had her whole head wrapped in a scarf (I told her she looked like a leper). The protection proved to be minimal as we still got sand in our eyes, ears, nose and mouth. I would end up chewing on grit for the rest of the day.

The guide book also claimed that it would take four and a half hours at most. We stopped briefly two or three times to sip some water but mostly we were in a hurry to get out of the sandstorm. Even with our hurried pace it still ended up taking us five and a half hours. So much for an easy walk.

Our frustration with Lonely Planet's estimated times and touted "easy walk" would have been more apparent had we not been so relieved to be out of the brutal winds. Not only were we out of the elements, we were now in a regular town with Wi-Fi, hot showers, cheap beer, an ATM and good food. We got a room at Om's Home and spent the rest of the afternoon eating, doing laundry, washing off the sand and even playing ping pong. This Jomsom place almost resembled civilization.