DHARAPANI - Tap Water town

Dharapani is the first village in the circuit with an ACAP and police check post, so get ready with your permits. Besides having a check post, the cliffs to the west serve as vulture roosting sites. But more importantly, just after crossing Dharapani there is long suspension bridge that will lead you to the village of Thoche/Thonje. From Thoche you can go to Bimthang which is part of the Manaslu circuit trek (it is the exit point of Manaslu circuit). Bimthang (meaning 'plain of sand') can be reached in about 3 days from Dharapani. Thoche, at the confluence of Marshyangdi and Dudh Khola, used to be the junction point for Nepal-Tibet salt trade many years back and it used to have an importance of its own. But with the rival trade route nearby (through the Kali Gandaki valley) and the closure of the Tibetan border by the Chinese in 1959, off-farm activities in the field of trade received a major blow. Now that the trail is not used anymore for the salt trade Thoche's importance has vanished and Dharapani has emerged as an important village to cater to the needs of travellers.