Over the Indus River and into the villages of Stok and Matho

Luke has added some photos to the September 13 post from the our evening in Phyang at the sweet little guesthouse and of the rising moon that night. He also added some from the second cham dance we attended at Spituk. Some of the masks are pretty scary, which is the point it seems, since scaring off ignorance, fear, anger and like out of our minds takes an equally scary adversary. I can get that.

We had a great day out on the new bike. It is better in all ways: it has a horn that works at all speeds, two side mirrors, an elevated passenger seat so I can see over Luke's helmet now, a working speedometer and back-saving luggage racks. We rode across the amazing Indus River and into the tiny villages of Stok and Matho. We visited the palace at Stok where the Ladahki Royal Family has been spending part of the year for centuries. We were taken through a few of the many rooms of the palace and were shown photos, generations of clothing that belonged to the royal family, their dishes and tea pots that were used in ceremonies and other personal items. It was a short tour, but interesting. It was also just Luke and I there, so we could linger over the items that caught our eyes. While we were waiting for the museum to open, the palace dog and a roaming donkey got into a tussle. I had never seen anything quite like it. The dog was barking ferociously and the donkey was braying, well, I guess, ferociously too. The dog was at the end of its chain and the donkey was hopping backward toward the dog while half-kicking his legs at the dog's head. It was quite silly to watch and only lasted a minute or so, until maybe they realized that it was silly too.

I am too sleepy to add more about Matho tonight and Luke is busy with work, so tomorrow we'll try to add a little more. Until then, I hope you enjoy the new photos!

Love to you all,
Nichole

Shelbey, you have to show your mom this saddle and see what she thinks

This sweet old man sang the whole time we saw him

sweet local boy - a bit of a rascal though

chai ladies in Stok who cared for returning trekkers

aquaduct systems - the new and the old - near Stok

beautiful Matho village with the fall leaves changing

beautiful ladies hauling bags of dirt up ladders and onto the roof at Matho Monastery

Bhutanese inspired Buddha in the new ghokang at Matho