In pictures: Nepal village life

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Trading village

Manang lies north of the Himalayas in central Nepal and was virtually closed to outsiders until the 1970s. It is one of only two districts untouched by Nepal's Maoist insurgency.

Special trading rights mean Manangis have long travelled through Asia. The Manang Culture Museum has just opened.

Pictures and text by Charles Haviland.

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Lodge pioneer

Michung Gurung, 47, was the first person to open a lodge here, in 1977. As a teenager, he travelled to Malaysia, Thailand and Hong Kong. He says many want to continue the "easy life" overseas. But some educated people have now returned. "Farming only feeds Manang for six months, so we need tourism, otherwise the young will go again."

Michung's wife Tsering Dolma welcomes tourists but feels local people are more selfish towards each other than before.

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Buddhist prayers

Manangi people are predominantly Buddhist and the religion was strengthened here 1,000 years ago by the life and teachings of Tibetan saint, Milarepa. The cave where he retreated is a popular place of pilgrimage. Built in rocky crags some distance below is a monastery.

These villagers have come up to sing praise songs and offer prayers at the newly renovated statue of the saint. Monasteries abound in Manang. In remote places, elements of the pre-Buddhist Bon religion survive.

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Yak farmer

Chhimi Dorje, 31, is just back from tending his 50 yaks in a summer home 5,000 metres up. He has been milking and making butter and cheese. He spends 12 days each summer month with the animals. About once a year some are killed for meat and he gets some cash.

He also keeps cattle, sheep, goats and horses. Chhimi Dorje applauds the arrival of schools, doctors and shops. But he thinks a planned new road to Manang is an unnecessary extravagance.

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Egalitarian

Lharki Chhimi Gurung, Chhimi Dorje's wife, looks after their small hotel. They grow grains, potatoes and peas. The family's dinner is stiff buckwheat porridge, hollowed out to contain a soup made of lumps of yak fat mixed with chillies, masala and water.

Manang is more egalitarian than lowland Nepal, but Lharki says boys and men still get the best education and tend to do better in terms of inheritance.

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Berry picking

Mitri Ghale, 15, centre, and her friends are not local. They spent 10 days walking here from their native Gorkha, to the east, to do six months' labouring. Mitri is very poor, has no parents, and lives with her uncles. She would love to complete the schooling she never finished.

Here she is earning cash carrying stones, collecting sand and picking berries of the seabuckthorn. These berries are some of the world's richest in vitamins and their juice is popular in Manang.

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Funeral rites

There has been a death in the village. In accordance with tradition, here at the monastery the family of the deceased man distributes rice to everyone in this and two neighbouring villages. It is supposed to make his soul happy, and must be done within 49 days of the death.

Each person, young and old, gets about two bowls of rice. They will also be served butter tea, buckwheat bread and local alcohol, and the day becomes a festival.

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Raxi brewing

In a typical courtyard, Chhimi Lama Gurung brews raxi, a wheat-based spirit prepared in most households. It tends to be made from surplus grain and served to honoured guests. There is a complicated system of pots and filters and a brewing process involving water, steam and yeast.

In a few weeks this courtyard will become night-time home to animals brought down from higher altitudes for the winter. Their warmth rises, heating the house.

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Snow Monkey

Mukiya BK, nicknamed Snow Monkey, leads his horse - a Mustang pony Mrs Grey - away from Manang village to graze in open land. Any animals that stray into the village in these warmer months will probably damage people's crops and owners are fined.

Mrs Grey came second in a major horse-race this year - horsemanship and archery are hugely popular in Manang. Mukiya's family have lived in Manang for seven generations but are originally Hindus from a blacksmith caste.

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Culture museum

Women in traditional dress greet guests on the opening of the Manang Culture Museum, built to resemble a traditional house and introduce visitors to the essentials of local culture. Guides take tourists on walking trips.

An ancient drama known as Badhe, which tells the story of two warring brothers, was revived in 2004 and is to be staged every three years - all part of plans to reinvigorate the culture of this distinctive region.