Someone told me a few weeks ago that every time you travel 200km in India it changes. The food, the dress, the scenery, the language, the art. It's very true. Uttar Pradesh home of vibrant Varanasi and the majestic Taj was flat and featureless dotted only with thatch huts and conical smokestacks puffing wreaths of black smoke. Rajasthan had the harsh desert, mighty forts, thorny shrubs and mind numbing heat. Punjab was home of the sikhs with their stiff turbans and slightly imposing air. Hamachal Pradesh was softer with green clad hills, scented wildflowers and flapping prayer flags. Last but by no means least is the state of Jammu and Kashmir.
We travelled to Jammu by taxi. An overnight stay and then a shared taxi to Srinagar. The scenery was dramatic. Coming out of Jammu endless hills unfolded on the way to Kashmir. Initially chunky and rock strewn, then covered in huge pines the road zigzagged for hours before finally reaching looming peaks clothed in the tattered remains of winters snow. The road was frequently clogged with gypsies herding ponies, sheep and silky goats to their summer grazing grounds. Just when I didn't think our taxi could go any higher we plunged through the mountain via a black hole, the Jahawer tunnel, and like a portal to another land out in to the verdant Kashmir valley. Kashmir is beautiful. Huge maples, walnuts, willows and poplar trees, terraced rice paddies, saffron fields and water poring from the melting snow laden peaks that ring the valley. Saffron and cricket bat shops lined the road in to Srinagar. They make the best cricket bats in the world here from special willow. We ran the gauntlet of desperate touts to find our way to a houseboat fit for a maharaja on the Dal Lake. The term houseboat doesn't really do justice to what is really quite palatial accommodation with carved walnut ceilings, fine kashmiri rugs, bone china and our own cook.
Living it up on Lake Dal, Srinagar,Kashmir.
Namaste Sandy
Ps photo for Lisa. Herds of ponies on the road. Piebalds and palaminos. Spot the foal.
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