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Published: June 21st 2008
Dal lake
A floating shop in front of our houseboatHello from India!! So far Helen and I are having a fantastic time. India is such a huge country, we are only touching the tip of the Iceberg in 4 weeks. I can't believe it has only been 2 weeks since we left the UK, it feels more like 2 months!
So we arrived in Delhi 2 weeks ago and spent 1 night there. This isn't because we desperately wanted to leave but we were kind of sucked in to doing a flight/5 night package by a Delhi tour operator. Appearantly not the thing to do as, with the benefit of hindsight, we could have done it much cheaper ourselves - but you live and learn!!
The 1 day we spent in Delhi was pretty crazy and tiring as we were jetlagged - it is smelly, hectic, hot and everything else that people say about it but we did really like it and glad we are going back in a few days. It's has a certain buzz about it and it is, apart from anything, a very interesting city just to experience - even if it is only for 24 hours.
More about Delhi another time. So we
military
Helen and I looking rather intimidated... took a flight up to Srinagar and as soon as we got off the plane the difference in temperature was noticeable as it's alot cooler up North. The Indians who experience monsoon season down south flock to the North for their holidays and tourists also like to escape the oppressive heat of the plains and escape to the North. The region we went to right up north is called Jammu and Kashmir and has experienced a painfully low number of tourists (both national and international) since the 1980's. This is due to political conflict - both Pakistan and India believe the whole of Kashmir should belong to them whilst a substantial number of Kashmiri's would prefer total independance. Militant activity has increased subtantially since 1989 and it is estimated that 30,000 people have died in combat. This has obviously affected tourism to a large degree evident in numbers alone. Before the 1980's there were 80,000 foreign tourists compared to a measly 2500 in 2002.
Srinagar is J&K's summer capital (whilst Jammu is the Winter capital due to the inaccessible roads to Srinagar in the winter) and is abound with military presence. Walking down the street you cannot miss the
soldiers with guns and the large number of military forts on the hills in the distance. Women in the full Muslim headress is not an uncommon sight and it is very evident that this part of India borders Pakistan.
Helen and I stayed on one of the infamous houseboats on Dal lake for 5 nights. These boats were built by the British when they were in India as Kashmir's ruler would not allow the British to build on the land during the Raj period. Therefore it is described by the lonely planet to be 'a little bit of England floating on Dal lake.' We had a lovely relaxing time and took a shikara around the lake and got some great pics. One morning we woke up at 5am to see the floating market where the hustle and bustle of vegetable bartering was evident. To us it just looked like a barrage of boats - no order whatsoever in true Indian style. We also did a big climb to Shankaracharya Hill to a beautiful Hindu temple dating back to the 1600's. We ate 2 curry's a day for 5 days and ate with other traveller's so we made our first
traveller friends!
After Srinagar we tool a jeep 18 hours to Leh - more in the next blog!
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Jo
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IM SO JEALOUS!!!!! it looks so cool, im so glad you're already having an amazing time, I'm a bit upset I didn't get to say goodbye to you though :(. Loving the pictures too, please make sure you keep writing this cos my travel blog got nglected! take care emma! Love Jo x x x x x x x x x x x