The idea of a trip to Kashmir was born in
2012. My aunt suggested a trip to Kashmir and we were completely sold. I
instantly agreed and so did my mother. Soon, more people joined the group of
enthusiasts and by the time we booked the trip in Early December 2012, we were
8 family members – aunts, cousins, uncle, my Mother and I. The trip was booked
for May 2013 – It was a 9 days and 8 nights group tour organized by Kesari
travels. The itinerary included Srinagar, Sonamarg, Gulmarg, Pahalgam, Katra and
Vaishno Devi. As the day got closer, preparations began. With all airlines
reducing the weight of checked-in baggage to 15 kg, we were careful to pack
less to allow for some shopping in Kashmir. Finally, after a long wait of 6
months, the day arrived and Kashmir beckoned. Here is a day-by-day account of
our tour, experiences, adventures and misadventures.
15th
May – Day 1
We had a very early morning start from
Bangalore. Being a late riser, this was the first time in more than a year when
I got to see the sunrise. The taxis we had booked the previous day were waiting
for us by the time we got ready and we left for BIAL at 4 AM. We checked in to
the Air India flight. The first leg of the flight was from Bangalore to Delhi. We
were served an in-flight breakfast of pongal, vada and fruits. My memories of
Air India have always been that of very good food but the breakfast served was slightly
disappointing. After 2 ½ hours of journey, we were in Terminal 3 of the Indira
Gandhi International Airport in Delhi. After 2 hours of transit time in Delhi,
we boarded the next flight to Srinagar via Jammu. On the way to Jammu, we
spotted beautiful snow peaked mountains from the flight and poor Geographic
sense led us to believe these were the Himalayas. We later learnt that these
were the Pir Panjal mountain ranges.
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| View of snow covered mountains from the plane |
We
were served more food, this time, a vegetable & paneer roll and fruitcake. There
was a half an hour stop at Jammu where some passengers disembarked, some
boarded and we were on our way to Srinagar. We got more spectacular views of
mountain ranges, this time of the Ladakh mountain ranges. We arrived in
Srinagar at 1:45 PM in the afternoon and collected our checked-in baggage. To
our dismay, one of the heavier and larger suitcases was damaged – the left
wheel of the suitcase was broken. After some discussions and negotiations, Air
India compensated a menial Rs. 500/- for the damage. Meanwhile, our tour guide had already called
to find out whether we had reached safely and informed us that he was waiting
outside the airport. We met the tour guide, Sameer, who took us by cab from the
airport to the houseboat. From the car, we got a view of the Jhelum River,
which is in the form of a “Sri”, thus giving Srinagar its name. Srinagar is at
an altitude of 5000 feet above sea level. We finally spotted the famous Dal Lake.
We took a Shikara boat to the other side of the Lake and got a glimpse of the floating
market selling vegetables, medicines, clothes and other basic necessities. We
had a late lunch – it was a simple fare of phulkas and dal. We were then taken to our houseboat –
Gulistan, where we would stay for the next 2 nights. We rested a while,
freshened up and headed for tea. We met the rest of the tour group for the
first time at tea. The group had 27 members – 10 from Bangalore and 17 from
Mumbai & Solapur in Maharashtra. We also met our tour manager, Swapnil
Deshpande. Sameer and Swapnil gave us a brief of our tour itinerary. After introductions,
we returned to the houseboat where there was a bunch of vendors selling
Kashmiri jewelry, dry fruits, shawls and dress materials. We bought some earrings.
After a quick dinner of phulkas and dal, we returned to the houseboat to rest
for the evening.
16th
May – Day 2
After breakfast at 7:30 AM, we went by a
Toyota Qualis arranged by our tour guide to the Adi Shankaracharya temple. The
temple is situated at the top of a hill and can be reached by climbing 265
steps. Shankaracharya is believed to have visited the Shiva temple here to
spread the Advaita philosophy. We learnt an interesting piece of information that
the traditional Pradakshina should not to be made around the lingam. One is
supposed to go only three-fourth of the way around the lingam and return. Next
to the temple is the Thapasya Sthal of Shankaracharya. From the top of the
hill, we got a beautiful view of Srinagar city, Dal Lake and Jhelum River. We
came back down by car and took a Shikara boat ride on the Dal Lake. It was a
very nice ride, often interrupted by vendors selling Kashmiri arts and crafts. The
Lake has beautiful water lilies in pink and white. We also spotted some lotus
leaves.
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| Dal Lake |
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| Water Lilies |
Since Lotus flowers bloom in July-August, we could not see any Lotus
flowers at this time of the year. As is popular among the tourists, I took a
photo in traditional Kashmiri dress. The photo turned out to be bad – may have
something to do with the model J. The Shikara boat dropped us at a
floating boat where some people went for water sports while we took some
photos. Another boat ride took us to the Char Chinar Island or Silver Island.
This island has 4 Chinar trees at 4 corners that Aurangzeb was supposed to have
got from Iran for his wife. The Chinar trees are characteristic of Kashmir and
are seen in almost all villages and towns.
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| Chinar Tree |
We took a group photo of our entire
group on this island and headed back to the houseboat by the same Shikara boat that
was waiting for us. We passed by the floating market again and after lunch at
the houseboat, went to the famous Moghul gardens - Shalimar bagh and Nishat
bagh. Moghul Emperor Jahangir built the Shalimar garden for his wife, Nur
Jahan.
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| Shalimar Bagh |
Nishat garden is a terraced garden, with 12 terraces, built during Shah
Jahan’s reign in 1629 AD by one of his court ministers, Asif Khan, who was also
his father-in-law. Since my photo on the Shikara boat was spoilt, I made
another attempt at getting myself photographed in traditional Kashmiri dress.
This was a slightly better photo. The gardens were good but not out of the
world. We returned to the houseboat at around 7 PM for a dinner of rotis, malai
kofta and aloo gobi and ended the day with more jewelry shopping.
17th May – Day 3
After a light
breakfast of cornflakes and toast at 6:30 AM, we headed to Sonamarg (Meadow of
Gold) by bus. We passed by the towns of Ganderbal, which is chief minister Omar
Abdullah’s hometown and of Kangan. The bus ride gave us a good opportunity to
see the towns in Kashmir. The houses in Kashmir are mostly wooden houses with sloping
sheet roofs, built for snow. We didn’t see any modern buildings or industries
on the way. Tourism is the primary source of income and agriculture is the
secondary source. The Sindh/Indus River, the River on the banks of which the
earliest urban civilization, the Indus valley civilization, was established,
flows through this area. It was a proud moment for all of us.
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| Indus River |
We stopped for
tea on the way where we shopped for woolen caps, mufflers and shawls. We
reached Sonamarg at around 11:30 AM in the morning. Sonamarg is at an altitude
of 8950 feet and gives spectacular views of the snow covered Himalayas and the
Ladakh ranges. We trekked to a view-point to see the snow from closer quarters.
People were also traveling by ponies to this point.
We saw the general
direction of the Kargil area and the Pakistan border from the view-point. A
guide took us by jeep to the Thajiwas glacier and River at a cost of Rs. 600. With
the majestic and tall mountains forming the backdrop, and the soothing sounds
of the river flowing with vigor, it made for a picture-perfect place. It’s no
wonder that famous movie scenes & songs for Ram Teri Ganga Maili and Satte
Pe Satta were shot here. Amarnath yatra starts from this point. The jeep driver
dropped us back to the restaurant where lunch was already arranged for us. We
were then on our way to Gulmarg (Meadow of Flowers). The route from Sonamarg to
Gulmarg is via Srinagar. Our bus developed a small snag on the way and it took
around 45 minutes to set that right. We were not allowed to get down from the
bus for security reasons. The sensitive area of Baramulla is around 40-50 km
from here. We sat in the bus and watched the town people going about their
daily chores. We were on our way again after the minor snag was rectified. We
got our first glimpses of the famous Kashmiri Apple orchards on our way. We stopped
at an Arts and Crafts shop where the shopkeeper, in true salesman fashion,
demonstrated the art of carpet making and gave us useful information on how to
identify the grade (quality) of carpet.
We also got free Kahwah, a popular
Kashmiri green tea made with Saffron strands, almonds, walnuts, cinnamon and
cardamom. We reached Gulmarg to a slightly chilly night and huffed and puffed
our way to the Heevan resort, a 4 star resort with very ordinary amenities. After
a North Indian dinner of rotis, bhindi sabzi and paneer butter masala, we
returned to our rooms for the night.
18th
May – Day 4
We were looking forward to the Gondola
ride – Asia’s highest and world’s second highest operating Gondola ride. It’s a
2-phase cable car ride – the first phase transfers to the Kongdoori station at
around 10000 feet and the second phase transfers to the Kongdoori Mountain at
13000 feet.
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| Gondola |
We had a 7:30 AM start to the day with breakfast of omelets and
poha. We headed to the rental place for coats and shoes at around 8:30 AM. Our
guides had warned us that the weather in Kashmir is unpredictable. Although the
weather was quite pleasant, we were worried that it may get very cold on the
mountain. We rented a coat and bought gloves and walked to the Gondola station.
These were of no use to us at all as the day was bright and sunny – the only
use was that we used the coats as mats to sit on. Our guide had earlier
informed us that the cable cars occasionally close down for maintenance or only
operate till Phase 1. On reaching the station, we were informed that only the
first phase of the Gondola ride was operational that day. We went in groups of
5 by Gondolas to the Kongdoori station. Most of our group stayed back at the
station and satisfied themselves with viewing the snow from distance. A few of
us trekked (a 40 min trek) to the snow area while some took ponies. We played
in the snow, which was more dirty brown than white, took some photos and headed
back for tea. We returned by Gondolas and started walking back to our resort. Resort
was a km away but we lost our way. We could hear the stream that was very close
to our resort and knew we were not too far.
We followed the sounds of the stream and with some reluctant help from
the locals, we crossed the stream and finally found our way back. We were
ravenous after all the trekking and walking and went straight for lunch. The
afternoon was free for us to spend however we liked. We hired a cab for Rs.
1200 to do some sightseeing – A darga at Babaresi and Drung valley & River.
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| Drung River |
The route to Drung valley is very rocky and uneven and the drive was slow. We
spent some time near the River. On the way back to Gulmarg, we got a beautiful
view of the valley. We returned to the resort at 5:30 PM for tea and aloo
bondas. The guide had arranged some fun group games. I won one of the games J and got a book as a prize. It started getting cold outside.
So, we all went inside to the warmth of the reception area of the resort for sometime.
We ended the day with dinner of noodles, fried rice, rotis and baingan masala.
19th
May – Day 5
After a breakfast of omelets and upma, we
checked out of the hotel in Gulmarg and were on our way to the next destination
– Pahalgam. We passed Tangmarg at the base and took the route via Srinagar and
Anantnag on the Jammu highway. The town of Avantipur, famous for the ruins of
the Vishnu temple, is on the way.
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| Vishnu (Avantiswami) Temple |
King Avantivarman constructed the temple in
the 9th century AD. An earthquake is supposed to have buried the
temple in the 14th Century. Another theory says that a Muslim
invader destroyed the temple. The ruins were excavated in the 18th
Century by Sahni. The Vishnu idol found during excavation is now installed in
the Vishnu temple in Lal Chowk. We saw saffron fields near the town of Pampore
and stopped at one of them to buy saffron and dry fruits.
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| Saffron fields |
Saffron flowers
usually grow in October-November and the flowers are purple in color with
orange stigmas. The dried stigma is used as the Saffron spice. About 150
flowers are needed to make 1 gram of Saffron. We then visited a bat factory.
Cricket bats are made of willow tree wood and Kashmir and Meerut are the only 2
places in India where bats are manufactured. Bat making is a part manual and
part automated process. After seasoning the wood for 6-9 months, the bats are
shaped and handles fixed.
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| People at work in the bat factory |
We passed by Lidder River and valley and the town
center of Pahalgam and reached our resort, Pine and Peak, in time for lunch. Our room had bay windows with a beautiful view
of the lawns and River in the distance. Pahalgam is at an altitude of 7000 feet
above sea level.
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| Pahalgam |
We went to the town center in the evening for shopping and
bought suede Kashmiri bags. We also bought a full wool shawl in the shop at the
resort. With lighter pockets, we went to a dinner of rotis, veg manchurian and
pasta sauce rice and returned to our rooms.
20th
May – Day 6
We had a late start to the day at 9 AM. We
took a Chevrolet Tavera for sight seeing. The plan was to visit Chandanwari and
Aru valley. The driver told us that he would take us to the Betaab valley at an
extra cost of Rs. 300 and we all agreed. We first went to Chandanwari, which is
at an altitude of 9500 feet. On the way, we saw the Seshnag River. The Seshnag
and Lidder Rivers meet at Pahalgam. We hired boots at Rs. 30 in Chandanwari and
climbed up to see the snow. We saw some breathtaking views of the snow peaked mountains
and the Amarnath yatra route. Next stop was the Betaab valley.
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| Betaab Valley |
Before
descending, we got a beautiful view of the lush green valley. The driver
stopped at the entrance to the valley and after paying an entrance fee of Rs.
20 per person, we jostled our way among the crowd of mainly school children on
vacation. This is the spot where the famous house from the movie Betaab was
built. It is a now replaced by a newer house. Our last stop was the Aru valley,
which has lush green meadows and mountains on all sides.
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| Aru Valley |
We walked to the
Lavender Park and got a closer view of the Aru River. We headed back to the
resort. After all the shopping over the last few days, we were running short of
cash. We requested the driver to stop at an ATM on the way. In spite of
repeated reminders, he took us straight back to the resort. We had to pay him
an extra Rs. 100 for him to take us to an ATM and drop us back at the resort. We
had lunch and relaxed in the afternoon. In the evening, the entire group of 27
played Housie. Two of my aunts won all the prizes – Jaldi 5, Top row, top 2
rows and full house.
21st
May – Day 7
We had an early start to the day at 7:30
AM and most of the day was spent traveling from Pahalgam to Katra, which was
our next stop. We had tea on the way and an early lunch at Banihal at around 12
noon. The rivers Tavi and Chenab flow here. We also passed by the 2.5 km long
Jawahar (Banihal) tunnel that separates Kashmir valley from nearby Jammu.
Photography and videography are prohibited inside the tunnel. The tunnel is
well lit and also has emergency telephones. We entered the Jammu region, which predominantly
comprises of plains and mountains. The mountains are not as thickly forested as
those in Kashmir valley. We stopped for tea in the afternoon and finally
reached Katra at 7:30 PM. After dinner in our hotel, KC Residency, we left for
Vaishno Devi temple at 9:30 PM. At the entrance, most of the group took
Phalki/Dholi to the temple. My cousin and I decided to walk to the Bhavan. It
was a very tiring 14 km trek, up the Trikuta Mountain. We took the route via
Himakut to the Bhavan and after 4 long hours, we reached Gate 3 at 2:30 AM in
the morning. We left our bags with Sameer and went for Darshan. On the way to
the cave with chants of “Jaya Mata Di” from the devotees, it took 20 min for
the darshan of the holy Pindian and then we were back to Gate 3 to collect our
bags and head back down to Katra. We were exhausted due to lack of sleep and
over-exercise. We hired ponies at the Bhavan. It cost us Rs. 750 and bruised
bottoms to reach the foothills. Mid way through the descent, we saw the sunrise
and got a good view of the Bann Ganga river that flows here. We took autos from
the foothills to the hotel and finally reached the hotel at 9 AM.
22nd
May – Day 8
After a quick shower and a breakfast of
idlis and upma, we went straight to bed and got up only in the afternoon for
lunch followed by some more sleep. We went shopping in the evening and bought a
couple of shawls and cloth bags. We came back to the hotel, had dinner and
headed to our rooms to let sleep help our bodies to recover from the aches and
pains.
23rd
May – Day 9
This was the last day of our trip. After
breakfast, we left by car to Jammu airport. This was 45 km from Katra. We
reached the airport at 10:30 AM and were let inside the departure terminal at
11 AM after multiple security checks. We had to check in all our bags and were
allowed to carry only a small purse as a cabin bag. We took a SpiceJet flight
from Jammu to Delhi. We left Jammu at 1:15 PM and reached Delhi at 2:30 PM at
Terminal 1D. At terminal 1D, after security check, we had lunch in the airport.
The prices were exorbitant and the food was very mediocre. Our flight to
Bangalore was at 8:40 PM. We did some window-shopping and sat down to wait for
our flight. The flight left on time and we reached Bangalore at 11:15 PM. We
collected our bags. Bags of 2 from the group hadn’t reached. We talked to the
SpiceJet ground staff who logged a lost baggage report and we hired cabs to
reach “home sweet home” at 2 AM.
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