I was thoroughly disappointed

The next morning I woke up early, dressed up and was ready to go downstairs. We were told to have breakfast and go to the bus which was parked on the main road. We went to the same restaurant where we went for dinner. To be on the safer side, we had toast for breakfast. The tea was excellent. I don’t like tea, but since I was in Kashmir I decided to have tea. Different flavours of tea were available. I decided to drink tea till I left Srinagar. I liked the tea that was served in Kashmir.

We had to walk through a lane to reach the bus that was parked on the side of the Dal Lake. The lane leading to the Dal Lake was filthy. There was a big dustbin, like the ones we have in Kerala, and we had to cover our nose while passing that way. There was waste strewn all over the road. For the first time I saw the houseboats on the Dal Lake. There were a number of house boats on the lake. Though according to the itinerary we were to go to Gulmarg it was rescheduled. Our guide told us that the army men took their families to Gulmarg on Sunday and so the place would be crowded.
Our guide, Mr.Jain told us that we could visit the Shalimar and Nishath Gardens and in the afternoon we could go for a shikara ride at the Dal Lake.

Our guide told us that there was a temple called Sankaracharya Temple and it was a place where he mediated. The Guide told us that we had to pay an extra amount to see that place. As it was a Sunday, my friend Jenny did not want to go to a temple, instead she wanted to go to a church. Our group members went to the temple. Our guide hired an autorikshaw for us to go to a near by church. The auto driver was a handsome young guy who happily spoke to us in Hindi. He kept telling us it was a beautiful place and he would take us around Srinagar. Since we were to reach with an hour to join our group, we politely refused his offer.

The church a small one and there were people scattered here and there. I prayed for some time and got out. It had a lovely garden in front and flowers were really big and nice. We came out of the church and took some photographs. Our rickshaw driver happily posed for us for a photograph. He told us that his engagement was over. He wanted to take us to his house for a cup of tea. We politely told him that we had to get back in time and we were happy that he offered us the cup of tea. He then took us to J&K Handloom shop. He told us that clothes were cheaper here. We bought a few Kashmir Silk saris and embroidered churidhars.

We reached near Dal Lake and our group was waiting for us. There were armed soliders and we asked them if they could pose for us and they did. We soon left for Nishat Gardens.
Nishat and Shalimar Gardens are also known as the Mughal Gardens. The Mughal rulers developed Kashmir as their summer resort to enjoy the salubrious climate. One can see the Himalyan range just behind the garden. The gardens were in full bloom and the roses were really big. I have never seen such big roses. There were flowers of various hues and varieties.

After visiting the gardens we went out shopping. There were almonds and walnuts in plenty. I bought a few kilos of each to gift relatives. Saffron was also available but it was very expensive. I bought a few grams of saffron too. We had lunch and then we went for the shikar ride. This is a part of the shikars on the Dal Lake.

The trip to the Dal Lake was a memorable one. There were four of us in a shikar. The family from Pondicherry joined us. The shikar wallah was a friendly person. He kept explaining to us about each thing on the lake. He showed us the floating garden on the lake. The most interesting thing was that there were floating shops. The shops were in boats and we could buy things from these boats. They followed the shikars to sell their wares. They had the unique Kashmiri trinkets. I bought a few trinkets for my daughter.
There was also a floating restaurant at the Dal Lake in Char Chinar It was a houseboat and here is the picture of it.

There was a big silver kettle at the restaurant

This restaurant is parked next to the Char Chinar. Char Chinar is an island in the Dal Lake. There are four chinar tree here and people relax under these chinar trees. I took a leaf from the chinar tree to keep it as a memoir of our trip to Kashmir.

The shikarwallah also showed us the Hazratbal Shrine on the western shore of The Dal Lake. After our shikar ride we thanked our shikarwallah and came out. Our day’s sight seeing was over. We did a bit of shopping.

The next morning we set off to Gulmarg. Though we had enough woolen clothing, the Guide said it was not enough and we could get woolen clothing and shoes on rent. It was a 55 kms ride by bus. We could see snow clad mountains. I cannot tell you how happy I felt. Never in my life have I experienced snow.

The very feeling of going to the snow was like a dream come true. The roads were curvy with wonderful scenery.

We reached a small little village were there was a array of shops. It was here that we had to borrow jackets and gum boots. Very truthfully saying I was against the idea of borrowing coats and shoes. I felt it was an unhygienic thing to do. The guide told me that the climate in Gulmarg was unpredictable. It would sometimes be too cold that we may not be able to withstand the low temperature. Finally I gave in and borrowed the woolen jacket and gum boots with socks. I was feeling very uncomfortable.

When we reached Gulmarg, a whole lot of people (Khodawallah according to our guide) crowded our bus asking if we wanted a pony ride. Before alighting he told us that we had to be very careful about our handbags and our belongings as there were chances of pick pocketing. It was a very long walk from the bus stop to the cable car. The cable car was called the Gulmarg Gondola. Gulmarg is in Kongdoor Mountain.

There was a long queue to enter the cable car. It was more than half an hour wait. Finally we got into the cable car and started our way on top of the Kongdoor Mountain. We passed through a small settlement. The houses (huts) were quite different here. All huts had flat roof and it was plastered with clay

I guess it was constructed this way to protect them from the extreme cold. Probably it acted as insulation for the people.

When we got out of the cable car and went closer to the snow, it was a terrible disappointment. It was not the white snow that I had expected. The snow was a muddy colour, polluted by the people. Moss could be seen in the snow. We had to bargain with the sledge walah. The condition was that he could pull one person up the mountain and bring him/her back. We agreed for a ride for Rs.200 each. We had to sit with folded legs on the sledge and the man pulled us up. It was really a big strain for them to pull us up. I told him that I would walk up the mountain and he just had to bring me down. Coming down the sledge was even for funny. The sledge walah sat in front and I had to sit behind him with my legs over his thighs. We came down the mountain. It was indeed a real disappointment visiting Gulmarg. Over that it was too hot that we pulled out our jackets to find that we were drenched in sweat.

We went to a restaurant to have our lunch. The menu is as follows:

Maybe because we were teachers we noticed mistakes in the menu.

In the evening we went to our bus. Before getting into the bus, Jenny and myself went to a restaurant and had tea. When the owner knew that we had come from Kerala, he told us that we had to taste their special tea called Quaha (I’m not sure about the spelling). It was the yummiest beverage that I have had so far. It had a special flavour. It could have been a loss if I hadn’t heard about it or tasted it. In the evening we came back to our bus and reached our hotel at around 7pm after a hectic day. (To be contd...)