Srinagar in December

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We started on 22nd Morning from Delhi domestic airport. We got a good deal from yatra.com of return tickets for Srinagar at Rs12500 for 2 persons. We were going in GoAir flight (it was Airbus 320). This was budget airlines, so one would not get free food inside. I had given my seat preference on the phone earlier for left side seat in the fron side of plane. I assumed that this was the best place to see mountains from air. I was right: you do not get sun in eyes (morning flights) and get to see north side of Srinagar near landing. Just before reaching Srinagar you could see ranges of snow clad mountains all around srinagar. There was a layer of white clouds over it. It was beautiful (check photos). Plane descended on to Strinagar thru these clouds, it was awesome.

We reached Srinagar around 11:45am. We put on our jackets as plane crew announced that temperature outside was 3 deg centigrades. As we got out of plane door, we felt the freezing winds. Airport look ed brown, no greenary, as it was winter season in Srinagar. At airport, we paid for pre-paid taxi (Rs380) upto Dalgate in Srinagar city while we were waiting for our luggage. There are lot of houseboat agents that will come to you and offer deals. We agreed to have a look on one of the houseboats. The person accompanied us to dalgate.
On the way to dalgate you get first glimpse of Srinagar. You see first houseboats in Jhelum river. These wore desrted looks ads it was offseason. Jhelum river too looked dirty. At Dalgate you get your first view of Dal Lake and houseboats on it.
At Dalgate, you see row of houseboats on one side and a lond winding road on other side of Dal Lake. We had a look at a houseboat but found that one would need to take shikaara (small boat) to go to main land and also the view was not scenic enough. I wanted to take a houseboat room on the houseboats that were far away from DalGate towards the middle of Dal Lake beyond Nehru Park. But main land was very far away from there and going up down from houseboat to mainland will consume lot of time. Also houseboats are very very costly compared to hotels on mainland. So we opted for hotels on mainland. It costed only Rs500 per night (it was offseason) with 24hours hot water and electricity backup.

We took some rest and then rushed to have a ride in shikaara on Dal Lake. It costed about Rs350 for seeing floating gardens, farms, market and Nehru Park. Boat ride was very good, you go slowly, only sound you here is of "chappu" (sail, see photos). We saw floating gardens, market on lake. Only mode of transport in this area is shikaara. Scenary was only brown and barren at this time of year. Floating gardens were emtpy and desserted. Floating gardens are really flowting mud+plants which float on water and are not fixed to earth.

We had our dinner at local restaurant name laxmi. Food was typical punjabi style and we liked it. At night, We booked a taxi for Gulmarg(Rs1250) for next morning.

We started at 9am for Gulmarg. It was very very cold. We could see frozen dew on plants. We went through local bus depot, villages. It was all brown, black and grey. Trees were naked without leaves. Farmlands were being prepared for next season. We reached tanmarg in an hour. Here we stopped to rent winter coats and snow shoes. From here we could see snow (4 days old) on the roads which gradually increases as we reached Gulmarg.
Gulmarg was covered with snow. Here lot of local people (tourist helpers etc) crowded us but we went straight to tourism office. Person there handed us some leaflets with dos and donts list. We were unaware of distance from this point to Cable car so we took wooden sledge for Rs 900. It was not much fun. It was a wooden sledge pulled by a man. We found out that cable car area was only a kilometer away. There are two cable cars (called Gondola) here. One goes to the mid of the mountain while other goes to the top of it.
Ticket was Rs200 for first round of cable car. It tool 9 minutes. Gondola windows were not clean and thus one cannot enjoy the scenary to fullest. View was beautiful at the end of cable car (check photos). Here you can have something to eat. We waited for next cable car to start. It was taking some time as fast wind waw reported at the top. TIcket was Rs500 per person. IT was awesome uphill for about 9 minutes. As one reaches top, view is just like one sees from plane. Weather was not so good here. There was fast winds that were blowing away soft snow and thus it was difficult to stand upright. tempertaure was -25 deg centigrades. We could see the water bottles kept there frozen. We spent only 10 minutes there as it was freezing weather there. We then started back down to Gulmarg, then on sledges back to where our taxi was standing. There is not much to see in Gulmarg. One can do skiing there. We saw a man skiing from apharwat (4000mtr) down to Gulmarg. We reached back Srinagar at around 5:30PM and were exhausted completly. Just took a stroll along the Dal Lake in the evening.

Next day we planned to do local sight-seeing. We hired the same taxi for Rs800. We started around 9AM, it was very hazy due to fog and was very cold. We could see dew frozen on car windows. Our iternary was PariMahal -> ChashmeShahi -> Nishaat Bagh -> Shaalimaar bagh -> local mkt. First we visited PariMahal garden. It was at hilltop and the way up was beautiful with bright brown autumn trees, dried up leaves covering the way. One passes through green buildings on the way which are government resthouses and can be hired by local tourists for short stay. Then we drove back and on the way visited ChashmeShahi garden. It is similar to pari mahal but smaller than that. A small water stream flows through the garden which is name chashme-shahi. A structure has been built over the point from where the water stream comes out of garden. We could see ice formed on water in the small pits in the garden. It was very cold early in the morning. Then we got back down to Dal Lake side and visited Nishaat Bagh (garden).

Nishaat Bagh is very beautiful. It has a water stream flowing through it. Various shapes of water ponds with fountains are there through which water flows. water fountains dont use electricity, they are powered by only the water pressure due to height gradient of the garden. There are lot of Chinaar trees in this garden. As it was late autumn season, trees were without leaves and ground was filled with golden brown chinaar leaves (check photos). Then we went to Shaaalimaar Bagh(garden). It is similar to Nishaat bagh but smaller in size.

After visiting various gardens we decided to get down at local market and do some shopping. On the way back we saw Naagin Lake, hazratbal mosque and old Srinagar city. It is a very busy place. We got down from taxi just before lal chowk market and decided to walk down through the bridge to the market. It was fun. Its a very crowded place just like "chandni chowk" of delhi. We enjoyed shopping there.

Next day we started back for home. Started for airport at 9:30AM for the filght at around 12PM. Our driver has suggested us to reach airport early as there are lot of security checks there. And he was right, there is lot of security checks at airport and one should be ready for that. But things are smooth and one dont have to wait long as it was off-season and tourist rush was not there. We heard that during season time it takes 3 hours to clear security check queue due to heavy rush of tourists. Our flight was late as it started late from Delhi due to fog. Food at airport is very costly, better take your snacks with you (choclates, biscuits etc).

On the way back flight had a stop at Jammu. The climd up and down at Jammu airport is very interesting. As there are mountains around the city, plane has to make loop to descend and ascend. One can seen 360 degree view of region.

We were back in Delhi at around 6PM.

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