Samar -> Ghami – The sun shines in front of the cave

5. August 2026

 

 

You can walk deep down into the gorge from Samar and then up to the Chungsi Cave and back up at Syangboche. That was a bit too much for us, so we decided to enter and exit from Syangboche instead. For that, we drove a short distance by car and were amazed at how green the western side of Mustang is here.

 

 

 

 

Then we came to the Bhena Pass with a funny sign:

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Syangboche, we left the car behind and set off together, including our driver, Shankar. The path had been described as a bit steeper and particularly trickier after rain, but that was probably an outdated description—a jeep track, which was even paved for a good stretch, led down relatively close to the cave. On the way back, we even encountered 2 cars and 1 motorbike.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The gorge grew narrower and more impressive, and you really had to tilt your head all the way back to look up. Then a side path led back upwards toward the cave. By the way, Chungsi Cave is also sometimes called Ranchung Cave. In the local dialect, Chungsi means “natural cave,” while Ranchung is Tibetan and means “self-arisen”.

 

 

 

It is spectacularly set high up in the rocks. It is said that Padmasambhava meditated here and that it is a powerful place of energy, featuring many rock formations that resemble symbolic shapes. The cave has been set up a bit, and rooms have also been built where a monk resides. He offers tea to visitors and, at least when we arrived, Buddhist chants were playing over loudspeakers. But the monk didn’t talk to us.

 

 

 

 

The cave itself is exciting and dark, and you can climb around a bit inside. And there is a large altar with a statue of Padmasambhava.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then you could climb further up to a second cave. This one was impressive as well.

 

 

 

 

I didn’t manage to take very good pictures; you really have to go there yourself to truly marvel at it. Meanwhile, the sun had been shining nicely, but as we hiked back up, it disappeared again. By the way, along the sides there were also these cave-like openings or shelters—inside them, pens had been built for the animals. There wasn’t a crazy amount of trash lying around, but enough that you could pick it up. And Dipsan did just that, with our support.

 

 

 

 

 

The atmosphere was OK, but Shankar proved to be significantly more guest-oriented than our guide. Then we drove further up and down the road and through long, winding curves all the way to our destination, Ghami.

 

 

 

Ghami is a larger village surrounded by many fields and home to a very large number of livestock. Cows and horses return to their stables in the evening.

 

 

 

 

We wstrolled a little through the village.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here you can see that a fourth color has been added to the three usual colors of Sakya Buddhism: yellow. Yellow belongs to Ratnasambhava / Jambhala and symbolizes increase and abundance, especially of spiritual and material prosperity.

 

In addition, we also took a closer look at a field: buckwheat grows here.

 

 

 

The village not only has a lot of cows and horses, but also cats.

 

 

 

We spent the night in an old house and were served meals in another old house. It looked impressive, but somehow not quite as inviting.

 

 

 

Despite the electric blanket, I didn’t sleep well and felt depressed. I didn’t feel quite at ease during the village tour either—I felt like a tolerated visitor who was returned friendly greetings, but nothing more. The people seemed more reserved than what I had experienced elsewhere. There was little eye contact. As Westerners, we had mostly felt quite alone and had seen few others—here, even a whole group was staying. But they barely greeted us either. I don’t know what was off here or if I was just in such a strange mood. At least Beate had felt the same way, though. So far, I haven’t really connected with Mustang. The landscape fills me with immense awe, but the low-hanging, constant clouds weigh on me a bit, the interaction with people is also rather bumpy, and I find the guide situation exhausting. Perhaps we should have asked for a replacement right away after all; by now, it seemed too late.

 

All in all, it was certainly fascinating to observe it all. Was this just a temporary low, and would I manage to bounce back?