Here is a story- a story of a beautiful princess, a princess who is a creation of the almighty himself, a princess who adorns the crown of 'Nature's very own daughter' on her crest, a princess whom we proudly call Kashmir, Jannat - e- Kashmir.
As if the tag of the 'Nature's very own daughter' was not enough, she proudly sits on the Tibetian Plateau of the Himalayas in her full grandeur.
She has her share of pain - pain where she has been torn between war driven countries and yet she smiles like a baby in the hands of a mother. Learning day and night to keep her people and culture safe, she is indeed a Princess rightful to her name.
Kashmir as a princess, took us - the common people under her wing and showed her hospitality and In turn I feel responsible to let the world know -- Kashmir is safe.
I am referring to Kashmir as 'her' because 'It' is mostly used for immortal things and 'Her' is giving respect for such wilderness creation which will be forever immortal.
So, we will talk about 4 places of Kashmir in this blog:
1. Srinagar- The rightful throne
2. Gulmarg- The snow throne
3. Sonmarg- The meadow of Gold
4. Pahalgam- The untouched throne
And so we shall go together on this biblical journey to our beautiful princess - her Highness Kashmir.
So the story starts taking shape in the home town called Bangalore/ Bengaluru. It is that time of the year again, where we forget our work tensions and other things that tend to bother us on our daily routine. It is that time where we go travelling- Travelling not by a tourist avatar, but by being a genuine Traveler.
What is the Itinerary like?
So the Itinerary starts by leaving our beloved home in Bangalore and reaching Srinagar, from there to Gulmarg, Sonmarg, Pahalgam, Jammu, Amritsar, Manali, Kasol, Solang, Chandigarh and then back home
No of days - 15
Average Temperature :
Srinagar - Minus 7 to 8 degrees
Gulmarg - Minus 13 degrees
Sonamarg- Minus 6 degrees
Pahalgam - Minus 11 degrees
JAN 31 AND FEB 1
So the flight was in the night at 8 PM from Bangalore to Srinagar with a nerve wrecking 6 hour layover at Delhi. It took about 3 hours from Bangalore to Delhi, which is by 11 30 PM touchdownnn in Delhi and then started the all boring and all feared 6 hour layover and the wreck did not stop there, snow fall had just started at Srinagar, because of which the layover went over 8 hours and finally!!!! by 9-10 AM on Feb 1 we departed Delhi and reached Srinagar by 11 AM and from there - directly to Gulmarg, which is about an hour and a half drive to Tangmarg and half an hour drive from Tangmarg. Please note the stop at Tangmarg can only be taken in Winters as from Tangmarg, the roadway will be filled with snow and one will have to hire a Gypsy or a 4WD vehicle as the normal vehicles would not plough through the blanket of snow.
Not sure of what to expect of Kashmir and its people on the first day, once we landed - we hired a prepaid taxi to Tangmarg which is about 1800 INR and from Tangmarg to Gulmarg another 800 INR for a 4 wheel chained vehicle.
Enroute to Tangmarg, our driver was generous enough to understand that we were hungry and then stopped at a restaurant and god bless him for the place. The food there we tried was Roganjosh with rice and some kebabs (Kashmir style) and lord O lord O lord!!!! that food, that flavor, that hospitality. We were already scripting our love story with Kashmir.
Finally by 3 PM we reached Gulmarg and stayed at this hotel called Fluorescence which is inside the Ski resort. To our bad luck the Gondola was already closed because of a maintenance drive and the whole place closes down its shutters by 4 PM or 5 PM max. Understandably, we had very little time on that day to explore, so I decided to stay at hotel after the brutal layover at Delhi and the rest decided to get their feet to the frost bite monster by playing in the snow.
You should try the Kashmiri pulav when you are here!!., I am not gonna describe it - Lets just say it is different and EPICCCC!!!!
FEB 2 AND MY FREAKING BIRTHDAYY AT MINUS 12 DEGREES CELSIUS!!
The celebrations started at midnight, where I was busy drowning in my own sleep and my besties arranged for a cake, I don't know from where and after a small bite of the cake, we went for a small walk outside in the snow, under the stars and wohooooo!!! what views!!!!. Unfortunately, we were relying on our phone cameras so we were not able to get the amazing shot of the countless stars wishing me on my birthday. It was one special moment which I will remember it for a long long time to come.
In the morning, we decided we will hire a guide from Logontrips at 800 INR per day, you can check these guys on Instagram. And as we stepped out of the hotel, my gang had another surprise, where I celebrated my birthday with the crew from the hotel, other guides and random people outside. Felt, really good!
So we started our small snow walk to the Gondola resort which by the way is the second highest Gondola ride in the world aaaand it took about 10 mins walk from the hotel we stayed. Slipping all the way on the snow filled road, we almost reached the gondola resort in no time- removing the sarcasm, it took us about 10 mins to walk from the hotel to the resort :D. 735 INR including taxes was the cost to the phase 1 of the ride and a long., ahem actually looooong queue which lasted for about 40 mins for us to reach the front of the boarding point of the Gondola and dammmmn! the views were just ecstatic on the way to the top.
There are two phases of Gondola ., phase 1 which is the Kungdoor station where all the beginner classes for skiing, beginner snow turf for the Skiing and a few view points are available and phase 2 of Gondola, also called the Apharwat peak, is mostly for insanely pro level Skiers. Also, there is a small trek which is called the frozen lake trek from Phase 2 which will be visible only during Summers and because the whole of Gulmarg is covered in snow during winters, the frozen lake too would be covered it its blanket of snow, because of which we had to ditch phase 2 of the Gondola.
So we reached phase 1 and took up skiing lessons and lord! this is so different from the waveboard or the skateboard scene which I am used to. We stuck to learning and applying ourselves to ski for over 2 hours., Although we fell too many times, the point was to get back on our feet and we just did that. We got back on our feet, and after some million tries, we finally got the hang of the brakes. Phewwww!! such an experience.
After the skiing lessons, we decided to look at some incredible views which the Kungdoor had to offer. There are many ATVs or the snow shark as they call it- are available right there at the top., we hired a few vehicles to our name and to check out the view points and we were not disappointed. Driving the snow shark was an experience in itself and the stop for the views indeed made a mark.
Call it luck, the snow fall slowly started to kick in from the skies. Here, we had an option- Either go back on the Gondola to the base on the same ticket or take a sleigh to the base which was about 7 Kms far from our station to the base.
Jeeeesus! we decided to have our "darr ke aage jeet he" moment and this was a wild ride- the snowy uncertain downhill terrain, the wooden sleigh makes it all the more interesting as you never know which stone or which fatal turn will falter the sleigh. Although there is an experienced lad sitting in the front and guiding the sleigh to the base., this experience was super fun and extremely scary at times.
We reached the base and it was already 6 30 ish PM., which was wayyy past our check out time at the hotel and thank fully, the hotel guys were courteous enough to store all the luggage in one room and our guide was pretty fast in picking the luggage up from the hotel and picking us up to drop us back to Tangmarg where our driver was waiting to drive us to Srinagar.
I would highly suggest this guide from Logon trips as there was discount on almost all the activities done. Be it the skiing lessons with the gear or the ATVs or the sleigh ride to the base - He saved us a ton of money.
We reached Tangmarg at around 7 45 PM and as our driver was already waiting there, we boarded our cab and drove away into the night to our hotel. Oh! we had not booked any hotels here, our driver helped us in getting the hotel for 3 nights.
FEB 3 – SRINAGAR- THE RIGHTFUL THRONE
Srinagar!., what a rightful city to be in winters. Today we got ready by around 11 Am and left the hotel to our first destination., the all Instagram famous - The Hazrat bal. It is a place of religious gathering., but we mostly went there for the view where at the back of the mosque is a lake which is frozen and the mosque it self - made of marble stone which blends right into the snow blanket spread across its property. Also, did I not mention the pigeons, oh! our crew were set in getting some "pigeon friendly" pictures to their camera roll.
Up next, we went to the Mughal gardens- So the Mughal gardens are spread across Srinagar and we happen to visit one of them - The all famous Shalimar Bagh., why only one?- well gardens only bloom out in the spring season and during winters the while place looks like it is built on clouds with snow covering the whole garden up. We took a stroll through the majestic garden and took notice of the Chinar trees which were like 500 years and still counting mind you.
Then it was time for the all famous Dal Lake- Dal lake, this winter most part of it was frozen solid and although we did cover most of everything which the Dal lake had to offer., but, we missed out on the Char Chinar which is a small island on Dal lake., apparently this part of the lake was closed because of the lake being frozen.
The much Hyped Shikara? was it worthwhile?
Oh you bet it is., Shikaras are the heritage of Kashmir - with all the houseboats lined up on the commercial front of the lake., the beauty comes out as you go deeper into the lake., with the mystic mountain views solidifying the view from the Shikara to the shopping experience without even stepping out of the Shikara was indeed one of a kind. Oh and we did get to know a little about the floating land where the veggies are grown in summers - As the name suggests., floating land are literally a piece of land floating on Dal lake., or as the locals call it "Chori ki zameen" which means., if the land is not protected properly., the thieves may rob just by moving the floating land to their side of the property and it officially becomes theirs.
Then it time for all famous Traditional Mandi for dinner.
Kashmiris have a LOT of food and when I say LOT., it is a LOTTTT!., We decided to try the authentic Kashmiri cuisines for dinner today and our beloved friend AKA driver took us to this famous restaurant in Srinagar where Mandi was being served. Mandi is basically traditional dish cooked in meat, rice and everything nice (spices). The people there are so friendly, they sat with us, just to explain how things go about in the making of this Mandi and a little here and there about their practices which are surely different form what we are used to back in the cities.
NO I am not criticizing them., what I am saying is- Ok let me explain it with an example., Imagine you fall in the middle of the road in a metropolitan city- people are busy laughing taking videos as if some miracle occurred. In Kashmir, if they get to know you are a tourist, you are valued as their own family. Sure, some negative ailments here and there will be there., but on the majority, you will be valued as a far away guest who came to Kashmir after very long. I guess that is the most special connection with Kashmir as a whole - in my opinion.
FEB 4- TO THE MEADOW OF GOLD! SONMARG
It is hardly about 2 hours drive from Srinagar to Sonmarg, so we decided to leave early from the h0tel at around 9 AM and by 11 AM ish we reached Sonmarg.
Sonmarg by actual translation in Urdu "sona= gold" and "marg=way/path". During sunrise and sunset when the the rays of the sun hit the mountains, there is literally a gleam of gold light seen on the peaks of the snow clad mountains which be the whole reason on how this place got its name as Sonmarg!. Super legitimate isn't it?
Also during spring, there is a meadow of golden flowers all around the mountains, which again adds to the naming of Sonmarg.
So what's so special about Sonamarg?
This place is like the 80s, 90s era where there were hardly any vehicles and the means of transport were horses. No, not because they are not technologically updated - but it is because of the location, being surrounded by the mountains the best way of moving around them were horses. As you may have rightly guess by now, we obviously hired horses to explore Sonmarg - this is where I realized that I was a great horseman!. Ahem!!! showoff.
Haha jokes apart, we moved for a few kilometers into the mountains, and halted beside a river stream to get some surreal views which mother nature had to offer. Well because there is snow everywhere, there is a super tiny Skiing station here too, if you feel like exploring your skiing skills again. So, we were just taking in views, clicking pictures and within no time, it was already 2 o clock. There was another point where we can see where the villagers stay during Summers., this had to be done because, this was on the other side of the mountains - where we had to cross the gushing stream over a bridge which was patched up with iron sheets, on our horses-- this was not daring enough? the river stream was probably at a temperature which was cold enough to kill a human if stayed for long., how am I saying this? the temperature in Sonmarg was about minus 9 degrees Celsius., so ya it was daring enough.
We crossed the bridge on our horses and there were pathways on the snow which lead to the villages in the mountains. These villages will be empty at this point in time as the snow entirely consumes the village and these houses are made of stone which makes it entirely difficult for the people here to stay. So during winters the villagers migrate to another location within Sonmarg itself where it is much more feasible for them to survive.
We reached back to the starting point where our driver was waiting for us and from there we went back to Srinagar.
I highly suggest this driver of ours named Javed who helped us through thick and thin which made our Kashmir experience so much more worthwhile. As you all know tourists are usually charged a bomb, but with Javed being a local, he used to literally fight for us to get us the actual or even less price.
For eg this Horse ride to viewpoint and the village usually are charged at 2500 to 3000 INR per person as I asked a few of the other tourists and the same was charged to us at first, but Javed had to intervene and got us the horse ride for 1000 INR per head., which is so much cheaper that what was quoted.
I will give you another example on how the people consider you as family here - We go to a place, we see the places, we use their services, we have a ball of a time and we head back home with a light heart. Well, here along with everything from the above., the person who lent us horses, took us all to his home., introduced us to his family and vice versa, gave us Khawa (a traditional Kashmiri Tea), made us fill our stomachs with Walnuts and then we left with a sense of joy, learnt a chapter about humbleness - I guess this is what makes it Jannet-e-Kashmir.
FEB 5 PAHALGAM- THE UNTOUCHED THRONE
We did not believe our friend AKA driver, when he mentioned that Pahalgam was the most beautiful of them all. We are well kinda held back as we always thought and read that the Gulmarg was the most beautiful of them all.....Until!!!!
Well, there is no comparison on most lines, but who else would know better? the locals or the one time visitors for Kashmir?... you decide
So on Feb 5 we checked out of our hotel at around 10 AM and then we left to Pahalgam. To be frank we did not expect much out of this place., so it was about a 3 hour cab ride from Srinagar to Pahalgam and we reached at around 1 PM - we checked onto our hotel and we decided to not waste our day but rather explore Mini Switzerland.
So horses are the major transport here too like other places covered so far except for Srinagar., Srinagar is a proper city!. Here we had two options - either take the horses for an easy way on the snow flushed mountains or brave a walk to a top!., being the dare devils we are, we chose the option to brave a walk on the steep, slippery, snowy, ultra cold trail.
We took a good 2 hours or so to reach the top braving all the slippery pathway and there it was., Mini Switzerland - Oh yes! it does look as picturesque as Switzerland., in this location!., those big old pine trees taking the center stage over a snow dominated area is where the views come in. What dont believe me? Well have a look for yourselves then!.
After we filled our eyes with the glam which Mini Switzerland had to offer, we took another way from the back of the mountain which took another 2 and a half hours downhill- this part was literally untouched., the views from this part of the trail was to another dimension.
It was already dark by the time we reached to the base and the Pahalgam was populated with Snow leopards at night, so we were advised to reach the hotel as soon as we can. So without much delay, we were on our way back to the hotel. We hoped we'd see a Snow leopard that night but as the locals say, it may be watching you., but you will never see it UNLESS it wants to be noticed.
I will still recommend you to perform a trek to Mini Switzerland, rather than taking the Horses. Trust me! you will not be disappointed. Also, please do not fall for false claims from the Horse owners there that it is not allowed or you WILL NOT BE ABLE TO MAKE IT!!., show them our photo. We did it!! braving it all.
AAAAnd we reached the Hotel and took nice rest for we were all getting set for the next day!
FEB 6
We got up by 10 AM and checked out of the hotel, but we were not done at Pahalgam - so we left our luggage with our original cab Driver and he kindly obliged to wait until we returned from our small stint.
So are we going? Betaab Valley it is., yes!! you guessed it right - the same old movie location-beeeep a fun fact, apparently, this place was called Hagan Valley and once upon a time, there was this Bollywood Movie named 'Betaab' which was shot in that location which became a huge hit and people started identifying this place as Betaab valley and so the name comes.
It was around 11:15 AM by the time we came out of the Betaab valley. After this, we reached the base of Aru Valley at around 11:45 AM and did try going to Aru valley which takes about an hour to reach the top and an hour to come back down. Annnnnnnd such a bummer we did not have time on that day, as on the next day we had to catch our flight to Jammu. So we did not risk it, but we were busy hogging on our Spicy Maggi, with lil sips of Kahwa here and there and of course snow fights with the views which were enthralling!
So by 1 PM we left the base and were on our way to Pahalgam where our Javeed bhai was waiting with his taxi aaaaand with our luggage tied to his chariot.
By 1: 45 PM we reached Pahalgam and left to Srinagar by 2 PM- With the lunch break in between around the apple farms with the freshest, most juiciest and the most tastiest Apples ever EVER tasted and then Everybody decided to go all bonkers on shopping for the all rare Kesar and dry fruits - jeeez that smell is still of the Kesar is still fresh on the memory of my nose :D.
By evening around 5 PM we reached Srinagar, after which we were busy spending our wallets on the all famous Pashmina. I would highly suggest you go ahead and shop for Pashmina in the reputed shops in Srinagar rather than on the boat houses., some may be fake - the fake ones are extremely close to the original ones, just a heads up.
So we did not have a hotel booked, buttttttttt we decided to brave the cold weather on a houseboat for one of a kind experience. Although, it was one of the coldest places I have evvver slept in, even with the magic electric blanket which heats up on electricity was on - ONNN!!!., I must say, it was quite the experience.
FEB 7
We had to leave as early by 6 AM as the flight was at 9 AM from Srinagar to Jammu- Why so early you ask??
Wellllll, the checking at Srinagar happens at multiple places and because it takes time, I would suggest you to please leave as early as you can to reach the gates.
And so we bid good bye to our beloved Javeed bhai- hmmm, he had become more like an externded family now. Oh! and if at all you need our Javeed bhai's contact information, you can slide a DM on Instagram over the_indian_banjara profile and I will be happy to help. 🙂
It was hardly any distance and flight took about 45 mins to reach Jammu airport - daaaaaaammn!!! that's the time which I take to reach Bangalore airport from the city! :D.
And so we reached - The City Of Temples!!!- woooahh!! the name serves right!!., temples, temples everywhere. To be frank, we hardly had any plans in Jammu and what a contrast, I must say - Kashmir was filled with snow and even with the orthodox thinking glooming, people were still ultra friendly to us. Jammu, ehhh not so much - probably because I did not stay there for long- anywayyyyysss., we hired a 4 hour sight seeing cab - It was anyways just 10 AM., so we decided to go to Bahu fort which had an aquarium beside. I know, I know aquarium!!???? - But, you see, not many places are there to visit in Jammu and its more on the religious end. After this, we went to a Temple of Shiva - which was pretty famous.
After which we decided to go on a food hunting spree which Jammu had to offer- Jammu had more of the Punjabi and Kashmiri influence and so speak their dishes. Mmmm mm mmmm., Oy Hoy! what foood!!!., the names seem the usual- but the taste!! Lordd!!.
Once the lunch was done, we bid adieu to Jammu and boarded a bus to Amritsar!! Wohooooo!!!! talk about food paradise!!! - ok ahem! lets move further.
It takes about 6-7 hours to reach Amritsar and on our way there, we booked our hotel in Fairfield by Mariott- which by the way we got it a steal price!!! :D.
I believe we reached Amritsar by 8 PM ish, it was hardly any distance from the bus stand- so we took a small walk and walla!! there is was - welcome to Luxury!!!. Oh wait, before we reach the hotel - we were superrr hungry and so had dinner on our way there and OHHHH!!! LORRRDDD!!!! the butter!!!- not sure, if the Rotis were dipped in butter or the butter was made from the Rotis- Either ways, it was DARRRRRRRRRNNNN!!! GOOOOOD!!!!.. blurrrpppp!!!!. Sorraeee., but that's how you know - you are in Punjab!!! 😀
This blog is already too big, so let me try and not bore you to big blogs!!., So, if you want to read about what happened next??., Click on the below links!!
Amritsar - The Land of the Golden throne and greatttt food!, A brief love note to Himachal!.