Shinta Mani Mustang, created by American hotel designer Bill Bensley, stands in the Lower Mustang Valley at an elevation of 2,800 metres. Photo / Elise Hassey
Shinta Mani Mustang, created by American hotel designer Bill Bensley, stands in the Lower Mustang Valley at an elevation of 2,800 metres. Photo / Elise Hassey
The luxurious Shinta Mani Mustang resort in Nepal comes with an eye-watering price tag, and the luxuries aren’t all that conventional, writes Carolyn Beasley
The Amchi of Jomsom is bathing my feet in a blend of Himalayan herbs. He holds my wrist, assessing my pulse, feeling pressure points behind my ears. An 11th generation Tibetan medicine man, the Amchi blends his knowledge of western science and Tibetan Buddhist healing to treat local residents. And now, he’s massaging stiff muscles in my back, while teaching me how to breathe and let the internal energy flow.
With back muscles released and mind somewhat blown, I realise this is an experience I could never organise myself. The Amchi does not appear in any guidebooks, and it’s immersion like this that typifies the experience at this new hotel in Nepal; Shinta Mani Mustang, a Bensley Collection.
Bill Bensley, a Bangkok-based American hotel designer, has created some of Asia’s most spectacular hotels for five-star brands. But the Shinta Mani label is his own, and for this hotel, Bensley is a co-owner with the Nepalese family owned Sherpa Hospitality Group.
The hotel perches in the Lower Mustang Valley above the Kali Gandaki River at an elevation of 2800m. Just upstream from here is Upper Mustang, formerly the Forbidden Kingdom, and off-limits to outsiders until 1992. This remote region, with its brutal, ice-capped peaks and Tibetan Buddhist traditions, is as beautiful as it is fascinating.
Muktinath is an important pilgrimage site. Photo / Elise Hassey
While guests will enjoy the comforts Shinta Mani Mustang has to offer, they won’t find excessive opulence and chandeliers here in the wilderness. For Bensley, the concept of ‘luxury’ is something else entirely. His ultimate luxury is being able to give back to the communities in which he operates.
“A lot of the young talent that’s born here in Mustang gets to an age of 16 or so and leaves,” Bensley says. “Nobody wants to be part of these fragile communities that have this 1000-year-old history. So our goal is to be able to re-energise Mustang and bring back some of the people, the talents, their customs.”
Nepal's Shinta Mani Mustang Suite; part of a Bensley Collection of hotels. Photo / Elise Hassey
“I want to build Shinta Mani Hotels in only the places that need us, not the places where we need them to make us money,” Bensley says. “I know that’s completely contradictory in any sort of business sense, but at this point in my life, I don’t need to have any more money, but I want to continue to continue to live this life of ‘luxury’. "
Beyond the resort’s direct employment of Mustang locals (like my butler Abishek, and my private adventure guide, Krishna), the hotel sources locally for almost everything. It will also be supporting the charity established by the co-owner, Namgyal Sherpa. His mother was the first Nepalese woman to climb Everest, but tragically lost her life on that descent. Today, the Pasang Lhamu Foundation, named in her honour, supports Nepalese women through education, health, and training.
The price of staying here genuinely includes everything, and the warm service means I feel like I’m staying with friends. But the best part is not the hotel itself. It’s the deep and personal connection to wilderness and culture. And all guests need to do is show up.
Wilderness immersion
Until now, Mustang’s visitors have been mostly the extended-trekking-type, who relish rustic accommodation. Now, for the well-heeled traveller, Bensley has made Mustang accessible to other fitness levels, through individually tailored activities.
Take my hike to ChhymaLake. Although hiking uphill for two hours at this altitude is testing me physically, with Krishna’s support, I’m getting there. A horse has hauled the picnic gear, and two staff from the restaurant wait to serve me lunch beside an almost iridescent blue alpine lake, with the backdrop of conifer forest and staggering, icy summits.
The exclusive Shinta Mani Mustang resort in Nepal. Photo / Elise Hassey
Another day the team has arranged a taste of Himalayan mountain biking. At the finish of a village excursion, the bikes are waiting, and we roll downhill through the treeless mountains on a deserted track, immersed in barren wilderness.
Personal connections
While this dramatic landscape is the star of the show, it’s the connections to local people that I’ll treasure the most. In the village of Lubra, I meet a teahouse owner who prepares a traditional lunch for me on the rooftop of her old house. At a hilltop monastery, I meet the lama, a holy man, who explains the almost extinct Bon religion, as practised in this village. In Muktinath, I chat with Hindu pilgrims as they cleanse their sins in the holy water that pours from the mountain.
Perhaps my favourite connection is with Ms Kamala in the white-washed village of Marpha. As Kamala cooks lunch for me in her home’s internal courtyard, we chat about cultural differences. I ask to take her photo, and amid much laughter, she takes mine right back.
Meeting a teahouse owner in Lubra and learning about the almost extinct Bon religion from a lama. Photo / Elise Hassey
On my final day at breakfast, I’m poring over a coffee table book depicting quirky, historic clay sculptures in a nearby village. Later that day, Krishna leads me into Kagbeni. We duck through an entranceway to the ancient village, through a labyrinth of stone and mud walls. We stand aside as a couple of cows run past. In a shop window, we see slightly scary masks and decorated daggers used in ritual ceremonies; traditions from the pre-Buddhism, shamanistic days.
Ms Kamala, a resident of Marpha, a village in Nepal. Photo / Elise Hassey
Suddenly my book photos come to life, as we behold the ‘grandfather’, a village guardian and fertility figure, apparently in a constant state of arousal. We laugh about his anatomical peculiarities, but humour gives way to awe. I’m pinching myself that I’m standing in this village unchanged by time, privy to these deeply cultural experiences.
I take my hat off to Bensley; simply being here is an indescribable luxury.
CHECKLIST
Getting there:
Fly from Auckland to Kathmandu via Kuala Lumpur (Malaysian Airlines) or via Singapore with Air New Zealand and Singapore Airlines. Take two domestic flights, each 25 minutes, to reach Jomsom. The hotel can arrange the domestic transfers, or a direct helicopter from Kathmandu (additional charges).
Details:
Shinta Mani Mustang, a Bensley Collection is US$1800 ($2,901) per couple per night, minimum five-night stay. Rates are all-inclusive of meals, beverages (including alcohol), private guided excursions, spa treatments, laundry service, plus the two government permits required.
