Nepal Journal — Sunday, 12/1/96

Day 10: From Tukuche (2590m) to Jomsom (2713m)

After walking a while, we come across two people sitting by the side of the trail, with some trinkets spread out on a blanket before them. These people are traders from Tibet, and they're not only interested in selling stuff, they're willing to barter. Chris trades away a pair of old socks and some other junk for a small rock containing a fossil. Mom haggles away an old flashlight and a sample-sized bottle of shampoo for a necklace. Even Skye gets into the act: she haggles intensively in one necklace deal, managing to use some recently learned Nepali words for good effect. The deal ultimately falls through, but it's worth it to me just to witness the multi-cultural bargaining.

How about these socks for that necklace?

We have lunch in a fascinating village called Marpha, where twisty walled alleys shelter the inhabitants from the fierce winds. The hike after lunch seems to take forever, but eventually we reach our final destination of the trek: the town of Jomsom. There's not much interesting there, really, just an airstrip, a bunch of lodges and shops for trekkers, and some government buildings. In fact, Jomsom turns out to be the least interesting city any of us have ever visited.

Merchant pitting fruit in Marpha

In the evening, we do some shopping, and I end up haggling with one trader over an expensive little bowl that he claims is antique. I have no way of verifying this, although the price for the bowl is far above anything else in his store: either he thinks it really is worth something, or the whole thing is an elaborate scam. I can't decide whether to buy the bowl or not, and leave the store telling the trader that his final price and my offer are just too far apart.

Eating dinner back at the lodge, we're surprised to see the same trader come into the restaurant. He walks over to our table, and stuns us further by offering me another final price on the bowl. I consider whether I'd be able to find a similar item back in Kathmandu, but fear I'll won't come across one quite like it again. To avoid being forever haunted by the ghost of the trinket-I-should-have-bought, I buy the bowl.