Kagbeni
A fortress-like medieval village at the gateway to Upper Mustang, with a red monastery and a sacred river confluence.
Kagbeni sits where the Jhong Khola meets the Kali Gandaki, a maze of mud-brick houses, tunnels and alleys around the ruins of a castle and the 15th-century Kag Chode Thupten Samphel Ling monastery. Clay guardian figures protect the village gates.
Hindu pilgrims perform shraddha rites for their ancestors at the confluence and search the riverbed for shaligram fossils. North of the village a sign marks the limit beyond which only Upper Mustang permit holders may go.
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