To the North

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Kashmir

We flew to Srinagar from Delhi with a domestic airline- Jet Airways- and we had curry on the plane, yum! A man told Pete he looked like Freddy Flintoff and said we'd need a few more jumpers where we're going! When we landed it wasn't too cold at all and we thought they were just exaggerating- it never really gets cold in India- Whinge pots. At the airport there were loads of army guys with big guns. So straight away wer were on edge. But our man picked us up promptly and we drove through the fresh mountain villages. It was a real change from polluted Delhi, and everyone tried to make us feel as comfortable and safe as possible. Nevertheless, we were still shitting ourselves! This worrying peaked when we found a stranger sitting in our boat house late at night. While we aited to be kidnapped, Mr Bashir from the tourist company came and introduced him as the pilot of the plane we flew in on. Aren't we a couple of worry warts.

The boat house was like a little tacky palace inside. From the roof we watched the sunset over the lake while eating yummy biscuits and drinking Kashmiri tea. When night fell, so did the temperature- out came the hot water bottles, 5 thick blankets, sleeping bags and all the bed-bugs. The next day we went on a Shikara around the lovely swamp and bought some Lotus seeds from Bilbo- a man on another SHikara filled with pretty flowers. The lake was beautiful; totally serene, with kingfishers fishing and eagles circling. We floated to a little village with a big mosque with thousands of pidgeons on it and more armed guards outside. The lake was really cold and we had to sit in the wind and rain when our captain fell asleep after lunch!

Next day we started our trek with a Spanish couple. They were scared too, and a lot older than us, but we made them feel a lot happier and safer. It helps to be English speaking here! We had o drive to a gypsey house in the mountains where we would sleep- it was too cold to camp. The gypsies were really friendly and had a lovely toilet (see pic below). We went trekking on ponies everday for three days but never reached the mountain top because the snow came up to our knees! The moutains were beautiful. We saw cold monkies, cold mice and cold chickens. Pete's snow feet weren't so great- using a stick for support, he still manages to slip and hit poor Nessy in the face with it!

Finally we left for Agra in a jeep which would take us to the train station at Jammu.

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Photos

Himalaya
This is the view from our plane as we fly into the great Himalaya. Its like a sea of mountains!

Shikara
This is a little boat that they use as transport between all the boat houses and floating villages.

The boat house
This isn't actually our boat house- its the one next door that looks just like ours. This one is called 'Buckingham Palace'.

Lord of the manor
This is our humble accomodation (Inside the boathouse). We only had one chandelier!

Nice cuppa tea.
How terribly civilized we are, here amongst the savages. (we all like a nice cup of tea dont we mum, Casey)

Pete at sunset
Pete chills out on the roof looking at the beautiful sunset. How lovely.

Breakfast on the lake
Nessy enjoys the view of the mountains from the roof of our boat house with her breakfast.

A romantic boat ride on the swamp
This boat is cool, and in the summer there are lotus flowers everywhere, it is nice and warm and there is lots of wildlife to look at. In winter, however, its a swamp. A cold, windy swamp! Ace.

Floating gypsies!
This is where the gypsies on the lake live. They make things and grow things.

Spices
This is a market stall where the locals buy spices to make their favourite curries and what-not.

Yes we used it.
This is a where the gypsies do their dirts. Lottie, what do you rate this out of 10?

trekking in the snow.
Great views and fresh air! No more smog. The trekking was brilliant.

Heat!
This where we defrost our feet in a gypsey hovel on the mountainside.

Gypsies!
This is our bedroom in the mountains. These nice gypsies let us stay with them cos it was too cold to camp. Later, we will dance with them.

Kashmiri rugs
Here, Nessy is teasing the shop owner by pretending to want a Kashmiri rug. at only 300 pounds they are a real bargain. Sadly she didn't buy even though he liked her and offered a special price.

Comments

[lottie]

love your pics
hi missing you so much looking like you are having grate fun th toilets look gross i would not like to look round those ones hehe missing you loads wish you were hear for X-mas bye byexoxoxoxooxoxox