The largest and merriest of them – perhaps because it’s easily accessible by road and most receptive to outsiders – is Marpha, just south of Jomsom, along the river. Protected from the meddling wind by the flank of a mountain, surrounded by orchards bearing apples of the highest quality, the flagstoned streets of this model village – practically a metropolis of 1,600 residents – buzz with life: teahouses and shops, signboards and posters, locals and foreigners.
Here, the entrepreneurial spirit of the Thakalis is greatly in evidence, as is a hyperlocal social order of delicious intricacy and dramatic potential. “We are Thakalis but, just as importantly, we are Marpha Thakalis,” says Kamala Lalchan, the apple-cheeked and voluble proprietor of the Apple Paradise teahouse, head of a local women’s cooperative, owner of a farm and now a local politician of note – not that this stops her from opening shop at 6am every day.
The seating area in in Shinta Mani Mustang’s barJack Johns
Bustling around her open kitchen, Kamala serves me a traditional Thakali meal of rice, dal, curried chicken, stir-fried cabbage and pureed pumpkin (second and third helpings are mandatory). Almost as large as a drum in a gompa, the plate is steeped with colourful condiments: tomato chutney spiked with the local pepper called timur, strips of carrot and radish doused with chilli, tart pickled apricot. She also turns over brown hillocks of apple jam, slowly cooking on a stove, and makes small talk with Mimi, her assertive Pomeranian.
Trail from Thaktul Monastery to PhakdingJack Johns
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