Your first impression of arriving at Tribhuvan International Airport is an experience in itself. But don’t be worried by the apparent confusion as your airport representative will be waiting to welcome you with your name written on a placard. Depending on traffic, you will be at your hotel within 20 minutes or so.

The day is spent visiting some of the major World Heritage Sites of Kathmandu. More…

You will have plenty of time in the afternoon to prepare for your trip and check that you have everything you need. You might want to visit Thamel, the tourist hub of Nepal where you can easily find all you need. Or if you just want to relax, there are many cafes and bakeries serving excellent local tea and coffee. It is best to avoid the street food, however, unless you have a very strong stomach. It is recommended that you have an early night as you will have an early start in the morning.

Drive from Kathmandu to Pokhara, you arrive in the late afternoon. Lakeside offers lovely views of the surrounding Annapurnas.

Flying from Pokhara in the early morning, all flights go early to avoid the high winds that build up during the day. It is a spectacular 30-minute flight, not for the fainthearted as you feel your wingtips almost brushing the sides of the mighty Kali Gandaki river gorge and the massive Dhaulagiri mountain along the way up. As you go up, the landscape changes from the lush greenery of the Pokhara area to the barren, rocky terrain of Mustang.

Your road follows the Kali Gandaki up to Kagbeni where you look down into the valley that is the gateway to Upper Mustang. Here houses are flat-roofed in the Tibetan style.

You continue along the road that was completed only in 2015, linking Lo Manthang to Jomsom and Pokhara. The landscape is stark as you head up into the edge of the Tibetan Plateau. Ghami is a large village of whitewashed houses and one of the larger villages in the region.

Lo Manthang, the capital of Lo, is a small town that lies within a tall whitewashed mud-brick wall. This is where the king of Mustang used to live. Mustang’s status as a kingdom ended in 2008 when its suzerain Kingdom of Nepal became a republic.

“Tiji” is an abbreviation of “Tempa Chirim” or “Prayer for World Peace”. The festival commemorates the victory of Lord Buddha’s incarnation Dorjee Sonnu over a demon called Man Tam Ru, a vicious creature feeding on human beings and causing storms and droughts.

The monks from Lo Manthang’s Choedh monastery perform ritual dances. In the first day of the festival, you can see a dance called “Tsa Chham” showing the harassment of Ma Tam Ru Ta. The Choedhe Monastery belongs to the Sakya sect of Buddhism and about 65 monks from Lo Manthang, Nhenyul and Chhosyer live there, headed by a Rimpoche. Masked dancers in colourful costumes come to perform in the main square in front of the Royal Palace to the music played by the lamas and monks of the Nyingmapa.

On the second day, you see the birth of Dorjee Sonnu as the demon’s son depicted in a dance called “Nga Chham”.

The Mustangi people look very much like Tibetans and come with their own traditional dress and pieces of jewellery. There is usually some horse racing and a tug-of-war. Lo Manthang is a fascinating place to explore. Tough it is called a ‘city’, it is more like a large village. It is full of narrow alleys that wind between closely packed stone houses, temples, gompas and the four-storied palace. In the surrounding fields, wheat, barley, peas or mustard are cultivated. It is a prosperous town that made its wealth from the wool and salt trade from Tibet. Despite politics, the trade still continues along this route and many Lobas also travel south to India to trade during the winter.

There are about 150 houses as well as well as the residences for the many lamas who live here. There are four major temples within the city. Champa Lhakang contains a huge clay statue of Buddha and beautiful mandalas painted on the walls.

You see the attempt to return the demon to Lord Buddha’s realm in the dances performed on the third and final day.

It is a long day on the road back to Lower Mustang and to Muktinath. Sacred to both Hindus and Buddhists, this village attracts many pilgrims. Here spring water flows from a rock face via 108 spouts (108 is a sacred number to Buddhists). This water wall surrounds a temple sacred to Vishnu and below the statue runs a trickle of water with pale flames of burning natural gas. There are shrines to Shiva, his consort and Padmasambhava, as well as numerous chortens and the surrounding poplar grove, supposedly sprang from the staffs of the 84 Siddhas.

The road takes you down beside the Kali Gandaki, the deepest river gorge in the world. You pass villages and arriving in Pokhara at the end of the afternoon.

You have some time in the morning free in Pokhara before driving back to Kathmandu. You could visit the International Mountain Museum (IMM) or go boating on Lake Phewa. Pokhara’s Lakeside is a good place to relax and admire the views of the mountains over an excellent cup of locally grown Himalayan coffee.

You transfer to Tribhuvan Airport to connect with your onward flight. Please note that you should check in three hours prior to your flight time.