The most controversial state in India.
Got a whole load of books related to Kashmir, and gonna write about them in a decade (most probably) under MyViews here. For the money I spent, I could/should have chosen a asian country that I didnt land my foot on. I had my restrictions and ended with Kashmir the best I could do in India.
I recollect one of the wise person from Kashmir said, This place (kashmir) is the wilder version of Swiss. I am happy to retweet(?!) it here. Am tempting to write its wilder where you just wish it to be wild, still not interested to dampen the interests of travellers who wish to there. Guess a backpacker will have better experience than a tourist for sure. 🙂
Well – will try to justify what I said as we move on here.
Kashmir
The big-head shaped state for India which tries to keep its head with it without losing it to Pakistan or to the China over decades. A little reading close to 2 hours made me to understand the real situation of Kashmir. Spent time reading Hari Singh era, India accession, Indo pak wars of first, second and third, sichen conflicts, line of control, Line of actual control, Kargil wars, pakistan controlled Kashmir and many more. My heartfelt support goes to Kashmiri people as they are the ones suffer because of these polictica issues. Anyhow, am for sure, gonna write a lot when I finish my books written for this region.
After paying more than double the fee that I pay for chennai-singapore ticket, I managed to secure tickets in goAir. When landed in the morning hours of April 2nd, I suspected if that airport is active. Airport was totally empty and the wind tried to freeze the lungs by all means. Loved it. Am a big fan of cold weather. 😉
Prepaid taxis that costs 600 INR flat for any places in srinagar from the airport. I was able to identify most of the places by myself. Did good homework or its the limited places of Sringar. 😛
Driver was courteous and made sure that we were picked by the houseboat people at the entrance. We stayed in the Butterfly houseboat for the day in Nigeen Lake. Initially thought that the houseboat was little worn just to realize later that the dal lake houseboats are even worser except the brand new ones which cost anywhere between 8 to 10 thousands per night. Anyhow, got a Innova booked for the rest our stay in Kashmir, thanks to the houseboat owner – he was kind and very helpful. We have thousands of houseboats in Dal lake like Newyork buildings right next to each other, wont promise you a authentic houseboat experience at all. Its crowded, noisy, commercial place but relatively cheaper. Nigeen lake is one forth of the Dalk lake but quite and respect your privacy a lot. Initally we thought its too isolated but, am sure, we had the best experience out there. Though its called Nigeen, its actually part of Dal lake itself. I have seen dal lake pictures with frozen transparent water looks. It looks exactly that way especially in the early morning hours. They are beautiful, calm and serene.
A little about the house boat – Its extremely rich with its art work and we learned it costed One and half crore indian ruppee to build. Its typical non-moving houseboats. It had various rooms and we got peacock room which was huge had many art works. A pretty good one for honeymooners. No other houseboats disturb our privacy and has nice place to sit and enjoy the Nigeen lake and the distance snow capped mountains.
After our lovely breakfast, our driver picked us to show the srinagar. He was polite but tougher for a driver. Its their attitude, they respect people but pride about their religion and beliefs. One of their belief is No fear, and no fear for death. Seen this numerous times with various people out there. He started with a Mosque (or Darga) which was on the Dal lake shore.
Nishant Garden
First stop, which didnt even bloom or something didnt feel right there. May be they were the best Mughal Gardens or even now at certain times. But not during April I guess. Hardly spent 15 mins and I ticked the seen-list.
Heritage Mughal Garden Shalimar
This was much better with the view of Dal lake. However, restoration works were going on and we couldnt really find anything amusing. May be not the right time.
Tulip Garden
Best part of Srinagar and we were lucky to be there in the ‘season’. Its open only for couple of weeks in the April. One of the things not to be missed.
We spent some time to purchase some Kashmiri stuff. I cant really recommend as the price varies place to place and the quality along with that.
Shankaracharya Temple
This looks not like a hill from the distance but in reality it is. Climbing 300+ steps gets you to a spectacular temple. Best part about this place is it offers 360 degree view of Srinagar. Srinagar is huge, one may realize with the view from here. Cool breeze is a nice perk you get for your efforts of winning those steps. Surprisingly, I did it very easy – may be my Hong kong 100 km trek outcome I guess. Place is pretty restricted, not even mobile phones allowed.
Shikara Ride in Dal Lake
Well – I must have to say Kashmir is beautiful but there are somethings will spoil the mood. Misguiding, Cheating-in-a-way, overcharging are quite common everywhere. To certain extend, we need to play along. Dal lake offers Shikara ride (a special boat they built for their lifestyle – used now for tourism as well) from two places. However, none of the drivers would take us to these places. But some other place, where Shikara ride will be offered and straight away they will be taken to a shopping area in the middle of the lake. “Time” is not counted inside the shopping area and you know the math behind that. Especially if you are with a person who cant make their mind but waste a good 30 minutes to open every possible dress they just like to see. Am not saying that I “had” the experience. 😛
Am sure, it would be memorable ride provided, its done just to enjoy the lake and the breeze around that place. But its bit commercialized. Any regulations gonna change these things? I swear NO!!..
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