The Kashmir valley is a huge fertile plain with the churning Jhelum river at its centre bounded on one side by the mighty Himalaya range and on the other side the equally impressive Pir Panjal range. Like a starburst all roads out of the valley lead to evermore enticing rivers and valleys.
Jussef organized for us to stay in a local village in the Pahalgam valley. A dead end road unless you want to walk for a month to Ladakh over the mountains. We were greeted by our hosts with Kashmir tea - a delicious green tea scented with cardamon, cinnamon and a hint of saffron. The gentle grandfather, but obvious head of the house,lead us on a brisk romp past roaring rivers, through gypsy camps and towering pines to the snowline. A misty rain made for an ethereal landscape with precarious river crossings on slippery logs. Damp and slightly chilled we were warmed up at the house with another special kashmiri tea this time pink salted tea. We were introduced to the communal kashmiri way of living. There was no furniture in the house because eating and sleeping is all done on the floor. I lost track of the number of babies,children, aunts, sons,neighbours and friends, in and out, drinking tea, talking, eating. All very welcoming. A delicious dinner and I slept very well in a bundle of blankets on the floor.
We had a pony ride organized for the morning. Pahalgam is inundated with ponies of all colour, piebald,palamino, speckled greys, dun and chesnut but one thing is the same for all of them, they are mountain ponies that grow no taller than about 14 hands high. So they had to find the biggest pony they could for Bryan, the lovely Raja. At dawn the road out of the village was full of hundreds of ponies and horsemen streaming in to town to await the incoming Indian tourist buses. As we were already staying in the village we got to ride our ponies in to town as well which seemed like a bonus until an early morning downpour had us, ponies and horsemen cantering full tilt for some shelter. The ponies are so small that the unmounted horsemen could easily run as fast as me at a full canter. Cold and wet I almost gave up on horseriding at that point but was glad I didn't. As we climbed up the valley the clouds broke up into wisps of smoke and disappeared completely to reveal a 360 degree panorama of staggering high peaks and passes. Huge pines marched through the snow right up to the ridgeline and our unlikely highest vantage point was a table of vivid green pasture. The most beautiful pony trek in the world! I'm not sure Brian would agree. Raja tripped on the way down and landed Brian in the mud. He didn't really have far to fall so thankfully wasn't hurt (except maybe his pride).
A quick look at a beautiful spotted leopard and some bears at the wildlife sanctuary and then the cruise back to our houseboat after a wonderful couple of days around Pahalgam. A real privilege to be so welcomed in to a local home and a stunning trek and pony ride.
The pashmina man came to deliver some goods tonight and I could see the dollar signs flashing in his eyes when I told him it was my mother's birthday today. So happy birthday mum and maybe I'll look at his pashminas tomorrow.
Namaste Sandy
awesome photos
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