Tiji Festival Trek

The representative of Oriental Journeys will welcome you at the airport and transfer you to the hotel in Kathmandu. After taking a rest, a briefing about the program will be provided. Also, the trekking guide will introduce and help you in preparing trekking equipment lists. Overnight stay at a hotel in Kathmandu.

If you wish to take a flight from Kathmandu to Pokhara, we will drop you at the domestic airport for 25 minutes flight to Pokhara. Or, if you want to take the drive, you can take a tourist bus from Kathmandu to Pokhara. It takes 5 to 6 hours to reach Pokhara. During the drive, you will enjoy and explore the scenic beauty of the rural village, Riverside, and farmlands. Since Pokhara is the best tourist destination, it offers you magnificent views of Mt. Dhaulagiri, Manaslu, and Machhapuchhre. Besides this, you will enjoy boating in Phewa Lake in the evening. Overnight stay at a hotel in Pokhara.

If the weather permits, we will take a flight early in the morning to Jomsom from Pokhara of about 25 minutes. The flight offers spectacular views of the Mountains and the beautiful hillside of Nepal. Jomsom is very windy in the afternoon therefore, normally the flight will be carried out before noon. the trekking starts from Jomsom. The trekking trail is quite barren with craggy rocks and sand but the land is almost flat. Besides this, you will enjoy picturesque peaks including Nilgiri, Dhaulagiri, Tukuche, and Dhampus on the way. After this, the trekking trails consists of some and up and down trails like sea wave until Kagbeni. Kagbeni is a very beautiful place and it lies on the gorge of the Kaligandaki River. Kagbeni provides you a taste of scenes of Upper Mustang along with its narrow alleyways, tunnels, irrigation canals as well as green fields of wheat and barley. overnight stay at Kagbeni.

Today, we start trekking onwards to the riverbank of Kali Gandaki upstream after a special permit check. Then we enter the upper mustang trekking trail and follow the east bank of the river. During the trek, we will cross a series of small ridges. After this, the trail leads us through the scenic and picturesque villages surrounded by barley, buckwheat, wheat along apple orchards. After this, the trek leaves the Kaligandaki valley and climbs steeply up a rocky gully to Chele.

The trek continues along steep, treeless, and dry terrain in the Mustang area. You will climb above Samar and descend into a large gorge and go to another valley. After crossing the stream, you will climb up to a ridge at 3800m elevation. Before this, we climb to Taklam La pass (3,624m) through plateaus and narrow stretches with a mesmerizing view of Tilicho peak, Yaskawa Kang and Damodar Danda. Nyi Pass is the highest point of the trek and also afar and the southern boundary of Lo. After this, the trail drops steeply to the whitewashed buildings of Ghiling.

The trail from Ghiling to Drakmar descends below the blue, red, and grey cliff to a steel bridge across the Tangmar Chu. Then you need to climb a plateau and pass the longest and spectacular Mani Wall in Nepal. From the end of the wall, the trail takes you to the east to the village of Charang. At the eastern end of the village, there are a huge Dzong and red Gompa. Where we found an excellent collection of Statutes and Thankas as well as large paintings of seated Buddha.

The descending trail is still continuing and it is still about 125 m from Charang and crosses the Tsarang Chu. After this, the trail follows the track to a carin on a ridge at 3850m elevation then you will enter the Tholung village. From here, the trail ascends gently to the windy pass of Lo with 3850 m elevation. From here you can see the Lo-Manathang Valley (3700m), beautiful views of the walled city on the Tibetan border. Again the short descent leads into the plain of Aspiration and the trail crosses a stream and climbs up onto the plateau of Lo-Manthang.

Today is the first day of the festival. You will get a chance to observe every activity during the festival. Early in the afternoon, horns resounded, announcing the two twelve-foot copper duncens, with their elephantine blurting, followed by two double reeled horns, all accompanied by drum and cymbals.
Next, an ancient and enormous Thanka three stories high was unrolled down the entire south wall of the square. The Thanka portrayed Padma Sambhava or (Guru Rimpoche) who brought this ceremony to Tibet in the 8th century.”

Late afternoon, in high wind and blowing dust, eleven lamas in maroon and gold, wearing high red hats, came from the palace and take their places along the wall beneath the thanka, with Tashi Tenzing on the elevated seat just in the center. The masked dancers start the portrayal of the Tiji myth then Dorje Jono repels the demon through the power of his magical dancing. When the end of the dance, Dorje Jono kills the demon, after which his people are relieved of their plague of misfortunes, water becomes plentiful once more, and the balance and harmony of existence are restored.

On the second day of Tiji, We will see Tibetan women in their traditional dress and colorful jewelry, monks in their robes, and dancers in elaborate costumes. The King of Mustang “wears a whole crown of tiny river pearls set off by dozens of large red coralline tones interspersed with matched ornaments of turquoise. The costumes and masks, the twelve-foot horns, the gold cups of wheat, the butter cakes, the snow peaks and wind and dust and sun, the methi, snow leopard, snow pigeons, Saligrams, the dying glacier and the desert ruins, the drunks and rajas and foreigners, the dogs and yaks.

On the third day, Tiji ends with the ceremonial destruction of the evil remains, represented by some long black yak hair and red torma cakes minced to a dark red gurry. The demons red remnants are set out on an old tiger skin, whereupon they are attacked by bow and arrow, slings, and the old guns. The poor devil’s remains are overturned upon the ground, each time to a wild cannonade from the old muzzle-loaders and a wave of cheers and smoke.

When the festival is over, you will trek back to Lo Manthang. Overnight stay at Yara.