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Published: September 22nd 2012
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We have found another paradise. Every Indian we met said Kashmir was paradise and, now we are in Srinagar, we think they are right.
We write this on the verandah of our houseboat, looking out over Lake Dal. Kites sore above, kingfishers perch on the mooring lines and young men bring us Kashmiri tea whenever asked. The boat has four en suite double bedrooms, a lounge, a dining room and a shady verandah. The boat is wooden with lots of carved paneling and heavy, carved furniture. There are Iranian and Kashmiri carpets and old fashioned chandeliers and, best of all, we are the only guests.
It is like stepping back to the time of the Raj, which is when these houseboats date back to. Brits were not allowed to buy land in Kashmir so they had houseboats built and lived on the lake. Each houseboat has a shikara – a small boat with two comfy lounging seats and a man paddling at the rear – to ferry guests to and from land.
It took us three days to get here from Leh, initially following the Indus river valley west . The scenery was breathtaking. Mountains formed high walls
on both sides - rock of all shapes and size, colours and types. Many mountains were topped with fresh snow. In the valley bottom, poplar and willow trees ringed green fields and very poor farmsteads.
We quickly moved out of mainly Buddhist villages into mainly Muslim ones. The women's clothes and the mosques were the only real clue. There are still wonderful old Buddhist monasteries to visit, as they were established before the Muslims arrived.
The road was occasionally good, usually bad, sometimes still being re-built – repeatedly we had to wait for the bulldozer to finish before we could proceed. Usually the road was a single lane dusty track with passing places. With heavy lorries, old buses, military vehicles, cows, sheep and horses all trying to pass one another, progress was slow – we averaged 16 mph over the three days. There was always a huge sheer drop on one side or the other and we spotted a few wrecks that had ended up a long way down – this is no place for speeding.
Our first night on the road was in a small village – all apricot orchards, irrigation channels and wandering cows. The
place was blissfully quiet until 60 film crew arrived to spend the night. They were shooting the 2013 TV adverts for Mahruti, a large Indian car company. They sang until late but were up at four, ready to start shooting again at dawn.
The second night was in Kargil – a small dusty town of dusty shops and dusty people. We stood out amongst the locals as we wandered around the market.
Often,the mountains we could see to our north were in Pakistan, or what India calls “occupied Kashmir”. Because of this, all along the road there are military camps and every day we passed through checkpoints. Luckily, Tundup not only drove carefully but also dealt with all the complex Indian army bureaucracy.
Repeatedly we met military convoys, usually lorries - as many as 100 in a single convoy. Occasionally we met tank transporters. They add one final madness to the normal chaos.
Descending from the final pass we hit a complete traffic jam. A broken down lorry was being towed out by a large army recovery vehicle … and a bus was stuck in some mud. Drivers stood around and offered advice while the passengers
pushed their bus. We took a walk ahead, leaving the vehicles to carefully shuffle passed one another. Tundup and our jeep eventually caught us up some way down the road.
While we drove though the mountains, the weather was often cool but usually clear, with a few clouds around the mountain tops. As we dropped into Kashmir , it turned warmer . Coming down, passing pine trees, bubbling streams and grassy meadows, it was hard not to compare it to an Alpine valley.
And so to Srinagar. Yesterday we have wandered around the Mughal gardens which are stunning. Water runs in large rills down through the gardens; fountains are everywhere, cooling the air; flowers bloom beneath trees planted more than 300 years ago.
There is a heavy police and army presence here. We are not sure if this is normal or because there were some demonstrations on Friday over “ that film “. Luckily these have not caused us any problems and it all seems quiet today.
And it is another sunny day, with a clear blue sky and a slight cool breeze off the lake. In the late afternoon we took a ride out on
our shikara. We were taken across the lake and then around a village hidden on the northern edge – a village with no roads and all the shops and houses accessible only by water. Then we are gently paddled back across the lake as the sun starts to set in the west. It was idyllic.
Tomorrow will be our last day in Kashmir and we hope to travel to Gulmag, India's premier ski resort, which should be interesting. Then a very short flight will take us south to Jammu . From there we will be travelling on Indian trains.
More soon,
Gill and Alistair
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