My Srinagar Adventure

My last blog entry was a little rushed and muddled - I was all excited about my immanent adventure. I was also a little apprehensive having found out very little about where I was going and not really knowing where the bus or when the bus was leaving. But it's all part of the fun isn't it?

Quite a few people told me to be really careful where I was going because of civil unrest and weather conditions and what not. A lot of people told me to be careful before I left to go travelling... Do I give the impression of a person who's not generally careful? I can only think of one uncareful incident in my life - and that was alcohol induced. Otherwise, careful is like my middle name. Also, like, what can I even be careful about? I can't help the weather! How can I be careful about it? And it's not like I'm going to go up to army men and pretend to shoot them or have some weapon on me just to cause trouble, or like stand in the way of fire... I'm very careful... (Something's going to go wrong now isn't it.... just because I said that.)

Anyway. I was led to the bus by one of the guys who worked where I booked my trip. Abdul called him 'one of his men'. A bit like the mafia... cool. We went on several metros. I had no idea where in Delhi I was. He did take me to a bus station of sorts - so that was a relief - I was less worried he was taking me away to kill me then. The man who worked at the counter was a quite attractive Kashmiri man. After sending the other guy away to get tea he asked for some photos with me in slightly too familiar poses - I put my foot down at the point where he wanted one of us kissing. He invited me on a tour of  Delhi with him when I returned. I said no.

Some guys I made friends with on the bus. 

The bus Journey to Srinagar was approx. 26 hours. It wasn't so bad. I had a seat at the front with lots of leg room. There were sleeper compartments above the seats - I didn't have a sleeper, but I was happy in my seat. The first part of the journey out of Delhi was a little boring, luckily my phone worked for the first 6/7 hours so it was nice to listen to music. There were a surprising number of English beer and wine shops - I didn't think England was particularly renowned for its beer or wine...? The fog was a little terrifying - I woke up at one point and only saw white out the window which is usually the view I get in planes and what not that freaks me out - it's like what the first bit after dying is like!!!- I looked out the front window of the bus and it was the same - I had to stand up to see the road. Visibility was probably at about 1m... A fair bit after Delhi the weather was like this. Bus drivers in India are pretty crazy, I'm sure they must all be pretty good, I don't know much about driving and don't usually get scared at friends' driving, but when they accelerate into fog where another vehicle has just vanished it doesn't seem to be that safe to me... I've also experienced numerous incidents of acceleration down hills where there are blind corners etc. I don't really like being able to see out of the front - it makes me nervous. I didn't sleep too much in the end. I think the guy behind me was stroking my face when I started to doze, and there was another man in the top adjacent bunk who stared at me for like the whole trip ( He was quite an attractive Kashmiri man). They all turned out to be alright - we chatted when we made food stops and what not and they tried to help me fix my phone.

different landscape from the rest of India

It was interesting seeing the landscape change so dramatically out of the window as we moved further North - it looked like what I imagine Romania to be like...

Dal lake

I was thankfully picked up at the bus station by Ishfaq (An attractive Kashmiri guy). This was a little detail I'd been a bit worried about - I'd asked Abdul "what if no one picks me up?" to which he replied "impossible" and I left it that forgetting to ask the name of the place where I'd be staying. So if no one picked me up, I'd not even be able to get to the boat house, or phone Abdul as my phone was out of action. Ishfaq had been waiting 4 hours or something - my bus was late. It was very cold up here. He took me down the road where I met Gulam - the owner of the houseboat. The man who would become my surrogate father. I was basically adopted by the family. We had to cross the lake to get to the accommodation. That's pretty novel. On arrival I was given a poncho to wear so I looked like a local - it was just as well as I didn't bring a coat with me travelling other than my raincoat. I was always offered a fire pot, a little wicker pot with a clay dish which has hot coals in, they hold it under their ponchos to stay warm. The boat house I was staying in was amazing. Chandeliers and everything. I'll post photos - it'll be easier than describing it. I spent the rest of the day with the family and ate dinner with them. The food was awesome! Probably joint best food with the food I had on the Sundarbans tiger reserve trip. I couldn't stop smiling the whole of the first day. This didn't feel like being in India, cold, misty, strange British looking boats. But such a welcoming environment.

Ishfaq in the kitchen in his poncho warming his feet on the fire pot

I slept like a baby that night - they put the wood heater on in the room just before bedtime and you're given a hot water bottle. The rooms are so cold that you can see your breath most of the time. I was awoken by the mosque singer early in the morning, but slept until 9am after that. Had sweet tea (thank goodness - Kashmiri tea is usually salty and to be quite frank - it's disgusting.) and paratha for breakfast. Awesome. Ishfaq showed me the town after breakfast. I thought he worked for the family but turned out he was Gulam and Shamima's nephew. I felt bad that they'd sent their nephew to pick me up from the bus station and he'd had to wait for 4 hours for me - but he had said it was his pleasure to pick me up - so sweet! We went through the market and around the main part of the town and then went to a park - where I played on all the children's play equipment. No one else was there. Too cold apparently. Ishfaq spoke good English (funny English at times -"I am at least 21" Hannah and I asked what this meant and in the end worked out he was 19...) and it was really lovely spending the day with him and chatting about everything from politics and religion to love and favourite vegetables. Ishfaq left that afternoon - which I was a little sad about. Gulam then took me out on the boat to go to a carpet shop that was also on the lake. I really didn't think I'd buy a carpet - especially as they're like Rs42000, the man who worked there said he didn't mind if I didn't buy one - it was my decision - but he was going to show me anyway as it gave him something to do. So I drank Kashmiri tea and looked at all these carpets being spread out and ended up liking one that looked magical. The others all looked... non-magical. He said he's sell it to me for Rs40000. Gosh, I liked it... but thats a bit pricey. Gulam asked him to lower his price and in the end he sold it to me for 450quid/ Rs37000. Phew. I still have mini panic attacks whenever I think about spending that much all at once. It was fairly stupid considering my budget - but at the same time - I've spent more than that on rent before and rent sucks... but my carpet rocks. Once I see it again (probably in over a year) and learn how to fly it - it'll all be worth it.  The guy also showed me his paper mache shop - which was also very expensive - there was a very cool life sized rabbit box thing which cost Rs4000 which I would have bought if it had been like a fiver rather than fifty quid. I then ended up breaking this giant crocodile jaw, the shop was so darn crowded with bloody paper mache! He should have thought more about the lay out! Anyway - I felt guilty and bought 3 smaller rabbits and a cat to make up for it. I really didnt want to spend money after the carpet thing. The shop man looked like he was repressing some anger...

My carpet

LIFE SIZE BUNNY!

Some cool Aussies had arrived at the guest house, which was nice. I could just chat to them non stop! I love meeting other travellers.We arranged with Gulam to have a day trip in a couple of days to Gulmarg this snowy mountain place where people go skiing. The next day the Aussies wanted to wander round town, I thought I could show them, as I knew it a bit after Ishfaq had shown me. But I was whisked away by Shamima (Gulams wife - the amazing cook!) to go to Ishfaq's house where we were going to arrange an ear piercing for me. She had some really cool piercing in her ear and after seeing it I thought it would be a nice way to remember my time here - as well as having the carpet. I was a bit nervous about getting my ear pierced it looked painful, but Ishfaq had arranged a man to come and do it - and arranged a good price (Rs300) and it was all fine and now I look really cool. Then I was taken to the house next door where I was fed loads of cake and tea and then they had a big proper celebratory meal, I think Ishfaq said it was because his cousin had passed his exams or something. His cousin is called Zubair... such groovy names here! After this - Ishfaq took me off to show me the old town, lots of mosques and stray dogs and rubbish tip cows, and also Jesus' tomb. I was told off by a small boy for trying to take a photo of just the outside! I took Ishfaq for some coffee at a coffee shop and then we went back to the boat houses.

Ishfaq took me and the Aussies - Chris and Hannah -to Gulmarg the next day. They were quite excited by the snow, Chris had never seen snow before. I still remember when Snowy the rabbit first went in the snow, he sort of stood still for a bit and pushed his nose in it. Chris wasn't cute like that when he saw the snow. After the first jeep ride there was a second slightly scary jeep with chains on its tyres ride up the winding mountain we went on the ski lift thing called the gondola. I started building a snow rabbit when we stopped at the half way point. It got too cold to continue very quickly and I had to go inside for a hot drink to warm my fingers which I'm pretty sure were on the verge of dropping off. In that time a snow cloud came in and engulfed the mountain so we didn't go on the second part up to the top - it was also a little more expensive and I didn't want to pay just to be on the top of the mountain. I was happy at this height. We got a bus back to where the first jeep had dropped us off. The locals do like to squash in on theses bus journeys, I saw the fat man coming and KNEW he would want to sit next to me. You bump around less when you're all squashed in like that though. Our jeep was waiting for us, as was a cute little shivering puppy which I tried to take back to Srinagar with us but the jeep driver wasn't having any of it. Poor little puppy, it wasn't safe in that car park, in the cold snow, with the aggressive monkeys fighting with the dogs over the scraps in the bins... Poor puppy!

We were supposed to all be getting a bus the next day, but it snowed. I didn't care too much, I'm not on such a tight schedule but Chris and Hannah worried a bit. I built snow rabbits in the morning - it was awesome. (Gerrard and his 3 babies, they all had long twiggy whiskers.) I was fed excessively, maybe because it was cold...? Ishfaq  and I went off to try and sort out my phone and to run some errands for Shamima. Ishfaq doesn't have much luck with shopping for things at chemists. But thanks to his perseverance we managed to fix my phone. It needed a new battery - even though the old one still should have worked...? There's a lot of hanging out in the kitchen at Gulam's house and sitting watching cricket with fire pots under your ponchos.

I was snowed in the next day too.  Ishfaq - my new surrogate best friend- came with me to the mainland, after letting me row across the lake - I got half way and then burst into hysterics unable to row further as I was completely incapable of going in any sort of straight line. I went to the internet cafe alone to fb, and make an e mail and fb account for him. We met up later to go to the Sunday market where I was very good and didnt buy anything... even though there were many delightful wooly numbers... We had a light lunch together. Sweet falafel. We chatted more about religion on the way home.

Me and Gerrard the snow rabbit

I spent 2 more days in Srinagar, not doing a lot. Just chilling out with Ishfaq, going on the internet, chatting to Chris and Hannah. Chris and Hannah booked flights to leave Srinagar and luckily the road opened the same day so I hopped on a Jeep to got to Jammu. Saying bye to my surrogate family was a little sad. They'd been so lovely, and looked after me so well. I'd miss Ishfaq the most probably, but it's ok, he uses fb probably as much as me at the moment. Shamima was saying "family member, leaving" in the morning as she cooked me breakfast. We bonded over a shared love of chocolate. After I bought her a big bar the next day she was taking some medication and after I asked what it was for she said diabetes so I told her she must ration her sugar intake...

The journey to Jammu should have taken 8 hours. It took 18. The roads were insane. I was worried about avalanches as they cause problems round these parts when there's this much snow. We sped out of the city and I was a little concerned that maybe I didn't have acareful driver if he thought these speeds in these conditions were safe. But we soon hit traffic jam after traffic jam in immense proportions, and completely stopped for like an hour or so in places. In the largest tunnel in India (?) 2500m or so, we moved once every 20 mins by about 100m. Slow. Outside the tunnel was also very slow moving as the ice was a lot worse. It was a cold journey and I was glad Gulam made me take the poncho with me. No one really spoke much to me in the jeep - they were 7 men, one guy spoke quite good English and was called Rameez (another awesome name...Another attractive Kashmiri guy!)He spoke to me a bit after the tunnel (probably about 12 hours into the journey). He was also very kind when we got to Jammu and took me to where the hotels were after I had walked off in the opposite direction. I tried finding him on fb but failed, I can't believe I've never heard that name before and there are so many of them! It was an effort finding a hotel, I was hassled by a drunk man for a bit, but it all worked out fine. I just stayed for that night and the next morning took 3 buses and a jeep to Macleod Ganj... but that's an adventure for my next story/blog update.

the journey to Jammu-if you look carefully you can see the cars curving round the  mountain in the distance. 

Things I've noticed/found out :

• Parts of India are VERY cold.
• Kashmiri ponchos significantly reduce the amount of hassle you get from locals.
• Everyone uses the phone excessively here - turns out you're not allowed to text in Kashmir... bizarre.
• there's lots of men with guns not doing a lot.
• Muslims can't marry people of another religion, get tattoos or stand on the floor-cloth they put down to eat on.
• Kashmiri carpets are expensive. 
• Kashmiri people I reckon are experts in reverse psychology... you don't have to buy that - I don't want you to buy that... blah blah blah and then you buy it cos they're so the opposite of pushy! 
• Kashmiri men are VERY attractive. Apparently the women are renowned for this too - but I wasn't looking at them so much and theres not so many around... always men in India... everywhere men...

I've forgotten my camera cable so will probably upload pictures another day.