In 2009, my fascination with Mustang Valley's culture was ignited by a PBS Nova program that featured a team restoring a monastery in the ancient Mustang kingdom. Around the same time, the discovery of the "sky caves of Mustang," brimming with a treasure trove of artifacts from the pre-Buddhist era to the Bon religion, further captivated my interest. These caves, adorned with murals depicting Hindu deities like Ganesh and Shiva, hinted at the valley's historical significance as a pilgrimage route for devotees from the Ganges plains journeying to the revered Kailash Mountain and Mansarovar Lake—prominently featured in Hindu scriptures and Puranas. The enigmatic valley might even have been a lost Shangri-La, a notion both intriguing, mysterious, and tantalizing.