Upper Pisang to Mungji (10min before Bhraga)

Day 6 of my Annapurna circuit trek. Today was a long day, I just couldn't stop taking photos. The weather was perfect and had a great view to all the Annapurnas all around. It was so beautiful that I had to stop for a photo from a different angle every 5 minutes. There ascend to Ghyaru is steep but easier than I anticipated. The views though are so nice that if you just go up day you'll miss them. I have to admit though that the views keep getting better and better all the way to Ngawal and when after that.

In Ngawal I stopped in Kailash guest house for a cup of tea and a rice pudding, an old guest house built in the 1900 (or so they claim). The roof top sitting place offered some great views all around although there were heavy cross winds blowing and I had to take put my fleece after a few min of sitting there.

After Ngawal I followed the red and white path down to Chulu, I have to admit I was the only person on the trail for a long time. I'm not sure if other people decided to stay in Ngawal or if they followed the shorter not blue and white trail down. After I got down I had two choices, take the left path to Bhraga following the red and white trail or take the upper path to Julu and then descend to Bhraga. I chose the first one and after maybe another half an hour of walking alone I joined the main path and started seeing people again. For nearly 1.5 hours the only life I had seen to that point were 1 Nepali lady outside the Karma Samten Chukhuk Ling monastery, two dogs, three cows, there yaks and two horses.

Once I was in Mungji, which is the small village right before Bhraga, it started raining lightly and I saw Mungji Lodge and Trekkers bakery was just before the ice lake trek start point that I had planned to do the next day anyway. I went in asked if they had rooms and sure enough they did. Once I settled on the rain got a lot heavier and it started pouring so I was happy to stop here instead of going all the way to Manang and backtracking the next day to do the ice lake. The food is great and portions are huge in that lodge but that's really the best thing about it. Prices are also reasonable with apple pie being 150 rupees or the same for a huge chocolate roll. He does bake his own stuff so bakery item prices are reasonable. I had a Yak burger for dinner and a decent breakfast yet this was my cheapest stay in the past few days.