Yatra Start to Damodar Kund

As we wished and prepared our self for this pilgrimage for more then 8 years, we finally got all the money and informations together. As Nepal had a very bad time in the last 7 years, it was not advised to do trekking up to Damodar Kund. In general Nepal was under the sway of civil war, and no place was safe. After the King stepped down from his dictatorship last year, the country became peaceful again. Of course it is not everything "smiling face", but the main thing is, peace is in most parts of nepal settled.
Also the trek to upper Mustang (forbidden Kingdom of Lo* called for many centuries) for western foreigners are very expensive (a minimum of 10 day visa permit for 700$!), then only a group is allowed to go inside (no individual trekking!) and one has to book it over a agency in Nepal. Previous one had to take a political officer who checks that one is not doing any trade with the tibetans, going only one the permitted trail or other illegal activities (like support of the tibetan resistance who where operating from Mustang against the chinese occupants of Tibet).
But that officer was cancelled from the goverment for Mustang permits, and we saved some money for that. But still we had 6 porters with us to complete the restrictions made by the goverment to go to Damodar kund on our own. I wanted to keep it simple, but Nepali officials didnt care about our request. So our tour was quite packed with our own kitchen stuff, 2 tents and 2 horses.
We decided to start our trek from lower region of Himalayas in the village called Beni (altitude of 970 meters) near Pokhara. The whole trip from Kathmandu by Bus to Beni takes more then 9 hours. The last 2 hours goes over sand and rock tracks, what makes a brainshake* of yours.
The village lies direct on the Gandaki River, the water is strong and currents are dangerous. For Sila Collectors not a very good place to search.
Inside the main Bazaar is a ancient Devi Temple overgrown with a mangotree. Here you still have electricity, and running hot(!) water. But the normal road for cars ends inside the village and only walking is now our carrier (as Lord Vishnu finally carries everyone).
From far away, if weather allows, one has allready darshan of the Annapurna mountain range, the holy abode of Parvati and Sage Marici.