July 1-3
We awoke on the New Bombay houseboat to a great sunrise over Dal Lake. A good breakfast with lots of fruit (and even home-baked bread in the shape of a fish), followed by a visit from the jeweler accompanied by his moneyman seeking a down payment. He pledged to meet us two days later with the goods up in Sonamarg.
We were given a driver and the owners's son. It took a while to get out of Srinagar as the traffic was snarled and the roads narrow. We drove for a time along the Boulevard that lines Dal Lake and saw some of the over 1000 houseboats that are there. That process got started when a Kashmir Maharaja banned ownership of land by foreigners. In response the British, who liked to come up to Kashmir to escape the summer heat in India, began to build houseboats. Now virtually all are rented out to tourists and their owners live on the adjacent land. Gondala-like boats on the lake are called Shikaras. They ferry people and goods around.
The drive up to Sonamarg took about three hours. We passed many villages, all of whose structures had steeply angled corrogated metal roofs, mostly grey, but a few in red or green. We were climbing in altitude and the air got cooler and cleaner while the trees got greener and taller.
Sonamarg is set in a beautiful alpine valley. There is not much there in the town. It has two big Army bases and a tourist industry based on hiking (particularly for Indians, most of whom have not seen snow), and Hindu pilgrimages to the nearby Amarnath holy ice site.
We arrived about 1:00pm and immediately there was trouble. I had Indoasia (the Indian tourist agency we had been using) make the booking at the Mountview Hotel since that hotel would not accept international credit cards. Initially the desk clerk claimed that we did not have a reservation. When I showed him the confirming email from the travel agent, he claimed that we had only paid for one night and he wanted 4500 rupees in cash. I had paid for two nights and did not have that much Indian currency. Fortunately the houseboat owner's son who had accompanied us on the drive intervened and straigthened things out. I do not know if it was a mistake or extortion.
After depositing our bags in the hotel room, we started our drive to the trailhead for our hike to the Thajiwas Glacier. We were almost immediately blocked by a departing convoy of a seemingly unending procession of army trucks departing for Ladakh. The Indian Army has a very large and visible presence in Kashmir. Some told us it was a protective force placed there in response to three Pakistani invasions in the 20th century. Other Kashmiris said it was an occupying force placed there in response to Kashmiri desires for independence. (We did not encounter even one Kashmiri who said that they wanted Kashmir to join Pakistan, most denouncing it as a bad country, even though 80% of Kashmiris are Muslims, albeit Sufi and Shia, unlike the Pakistanis who are mostly Sunni.)
Not even the Indian drivers felt it advisable to challenge the army trucks, so we waited for about 20 minutes. At the trailhead we picked up a guide. It proved to be unnecessary, but for 900 rupees we got to talk with a 21-year-old Kashmiri. The altitude, 8950 ft, and steep climb caused Karen to switch to a pony (that cost 800 rupees, even though we later found out that the official rate was 500). Even though the weather was mild I was sweating and huffing and puffing during the climb. The guide asked if I smoked and after I replied no, he asked why I was huffing, which was the first in a series of inquires of whether I, too, wanted a pony. He smoked and seemingly like most Indians, had no qualmes about discarding the empty pack on the trail.
We climbed about 1100 ft over 7km (sorry for the mixed measurements). There were a lot of other hikers, many also on ponies and mostly Indian, on the well-marked trail. The air was clear and almost sweet-tasting and the views were beautiful. Sharp and steep mountain peaks in many places covered by tall, very green trees. The open spaces were largely covered by snow. Lots of waterfalls from the melting snow. I wonder why I do not engage in similar activity in the US when I could hike in California.
We reached the glaicer in about 2 hours. Sled rides -- they even pulled you up -- and refreshments were offered. Declined and just drank my water. Many Indians were reveling in the rides and snow in what was obviously their first snow experience.
It began to rain so we commenced our descent. I was pretty tired and staggered down the mountain well behind Karen, who was holding court with a lot of the pony guys in a hut.
Due to Ramahdan, dinner at the hotel did not begin until 8:30. At that time it seemed that all the Indian tourists from the two buses filled the dining room. We waited until the rush receded. It was a mystery dinner. A buffet with lots of dishes, all labeled in Hindi (I assume it was Hindi for the tourists; the locals spoke Kashmiri.). The food and the sauces were too much for me and I paid for it that evening.
The following day, July 2, I met up with the guide, negotiated a price and destination and again rejected his offers of a pony. We left about 9:30 and cut through the pony field. We passed a small village where he lived. His father is a potato farmer and they have a pretty big house, although he said it only had 4 rooms. He has 5 siblings. We crossed the river on an old bridge no longer used by vehicles (there were several large holes in the roadway through which one could see the river), and began our upward climb to the Tracking Station. On this trail we met no other hikers. The only people we met were soldiers and nomad people. I did a little better than the prior day, perhaps because I was not attempting to keep up with a pony. The nomad people speak no English and according to the guide, do not even send their children to school. The guide plans to attend college, but says that most of his peers leave school early to work the ponies.
When we encountered the soldiers, they requested my visa and passport. They seemed to be impressed that I was from California, but rejected my request to take their picture. However, several took my picture and one put his arm around me over the barbed wire fence.
The nomad people follow the climate up and down the mountains, selling off an occasional goat to get some money. The guide said that I could not get too close to their bunker-like homes due to "wild dogs". I did not see any dogs let alone wild ones, but I kept my distance. Continued hiking past some more nomad communities to the Tracking Station. That place did not appear to have any significance.
On the way down we encountered a couple holding a small child who asked me for stomach medication for the child. All I had was diarrhea pills, so I passed. I got back about 1:00 and my legs were pretty wobbily, so I took a brief nap before walking to the main part of Sonamarg to meet Karen. She had already done some shopping.
The main part of town is a single street that is lined on one side with about a 1/2 mile long row of old ramshackle buildings that look as if they will topple over in the first big storm. In fact, this part of town has been around for hundreds of years. It consists of restaurants, shops and hotels, We were offered rooms for as little as 1400 rupees (about $25). It closes down completely for about 6 months due to large amounts of snow. My guide told me that he and all the other families havewinter homes further down the valley. We purchased some small handmade bags, an army raincoat, an Indian army hat, a shepard's hat and a luggage bag to haul all the purchased stuff back. Dinner again at the hotel, this time in moderation and no resulting side effects.
The next day we found the jeweler and his moneyman waiting for us outside the hotel as he had promised. He gave Karen the jewelry, but there was no signal for the credit card. That was not a surprise since we had no Internet connection throughout our stay. We took an unguided hike after breakfast and then met our driver about noon. He stopped on the way back to Srinagar at the jeweler's town where we made the final payment.
We got back to Srinagar about 3 and checked into a different houseboat, Peacock, on a different lake Nageen. Out of the big mountains.
We awoke on the New Bombay houseboat to a great sunrise over Dal Lake. A good breakfast with lots of fruit (and even home-baked bread in the shape of a fish), followed by a visit from the jeweler accompanied by his moneyman seeking a down payment. He pledged to meet us two days later with the goods up in Sonamarg.
We were given a driver and the owners's son. It took a while to get out of Srinagar as the traffic was snarled and the roads narrow. We drove for a time along the Boulevard that lines Dal Lake and saw some of the over 1000 houseboats that are there. That process got started when a Kashmir Maharaja banned ownership of land by foreigners. In response the British, who liked to come up to Kashmir to escape the summer heat in India, began to build houseboats. Now virtually all are rented out to tourists and their owners live on the adjacent land. Gondala-like boats on the lake are called Shikaras. They ferry people and goods around.
The drive up to Sonamarg took about three hours. We passed many villages, all of whose structures had steeply angled corrogated metal roofs, mostly grey, but a few in red or green. We were climbing in altitude and the air got cooler and cleaner while the trees got greener and taller.
Sonamarg is set in a beautiful alpine valley. There is not much there in the town. It has two big Army bases and a tourist industry based on hiking (particularly for Indians, most of whom have not seen snow), and Hindu pilgrimages to the nearby Amarnath holy ice site.
We arrived about 1:00pm and immediately there was trouble. I had Indoasia (the Indian tourist agency we had been using) make the booking at the Mountview Hotel since that hotel would not accept international credit cards. Initially the desk clerk claimed that we did not have a reservation. When I showed him the confirming email from the travel agent, he claimed that we had only paid for one night and he wanted 4500 rupees in cash. I had paid for two nights and did not have that much Indian currency. Fortunately the houseboat owner's son who had accompanied us on the drive intervened and straigthened things out. I do not know if it was a mistake or extortion.
After depositing our bags in the hotel room, we started our drive to the trailhead for our hike to the Thajiwas Glacier. We were almost immediately blocked by a departing convoy of a seemingly unending procession of army trucks departing for Ladakh. The Indian Army has a very large and visible presence in Kashmir. Some told us it was a protective force placed there in response to three Pakistani invasions in the 20th century. Other Kashmiris said it was an occupying force placed there in response to Kashmiri desires for independence. (We did not encounter even one Kashmiri who said that they wanted Kashmir to join Pakistan, most denouncing it as a bad country, even though 80% of Kashmiris are Muslims, albeit Sufi and Shia, unlike the Pakistanis who are mostly Sunni.)
Not even the Indian drivers felt it advisable to challenge the army trucks, so we waited for about 20 minutes. At the trailhead we picked up a guide. It proved to be unnecessary, but for 900 rupees we got to talk with a 21-year-old Kashmiri. The altitude, 8950 ft, and steep climb caused Karen to switch to a pony (that cost 800 rupees, even though we later found out that the official rate was 500). Even though the weather was mild I was sweating and huffing and puffing during the climb. The guide asked if I smoked and after I replied no, he asked why I was huffing, which was the first in a series of inquires of whether I, too, wanted a pony. He smoked and seemingly like most Indians, had no qualmes about discarding the empty pack on the trail.
We climbed about 1100 ft over 7km (sorry for the mixed measurements). There were a lot of other hikers, many also on ponies and mostly Indian, on the well-marked trail. The air was clear and almost sweet-tasting and the views were beautiful. Sharp and steep mountain peaks in many places covered by tall, very green trees. The open spaces were largely covered by snow. Lots of waterfalls from the melting snow. I wonder why I do not engage in similar activity in the US when I could hike in California.
We reached the glaicer in about 2 hours. Sled rides -- they even pulled you up -- and refreshments were offered. Declined and just drank my water. Many Indians were reveling in the rides and snow in what was obviously their first snow experience.
It began to rain so we commenced our descent. I was pretty tired and staggered down the mountain well behind Karen, who was holding court with a lot of the pony guys in a hut.
Due to Ramahdan, dinner at the hotel did not begin until 8:30. At that time it seemed that all the Indian tourists from the two buses filled the dining room. We waited until the rush receded. It was a mystery dinner. A buffet with lots of dishes, all labeled in Hindi (I assume it was Hindi for the tourists; the locals spoke Kashmiri.). The food and the sauces were too much for me and I paid for it that evening.
The following day, July 2, I met up with the guide, negotiated a price and destination and again rejected his offers of a pony. We left about 9:30 and cut through the pony field. We passed a small village where he lived. His father is a potato farmer and they have a pretty big house, although he said it only had 4 rooms. He has 5 siblings. We crossed the river on an old bridge no longer used by vehicles (there were several large holes in the roadway through which one could see the river), and began our upward climb to the Tracking Station. On this trail we met no other hikers. The only people we met were soldiers and nomad people. I did a little better than the prior day, perhaps because I was not attempting to keep up with a pony. The nomad people speak no English and according to the guide, do not even send their children to school. The guide plans to attend college, but says that most of his peers leave school early to work the ponies.
When we encountered the soldiers, they requested my visa and passport. They seemed to be impressed that I was from California, but rejected my request to take their picture. However, several took my picture and one put his arm around me over the barbed wire fence.
The nomad people follow the climate up and down the mountains, selling off an occasional goat to get some money. The guide said that I could not get too close to their bunker-like homes due to "wild dogs". I did not see any dogs let alone wild ones, but I kept my distance. Continued hiking past some more nomad communities to the Tracking Station. That place did not appear to have any significance.
On the way down we encountered a couple holding a small child who asked me for stomach medication for the child. All I had was diarrhea pills, so I passed. I got back about 1:00 and my legs were pretty wobbily, so I took a brief nap before walking to the main part of Sonamarg to meet Karen. She had already done some shopping.
The main part of town is a single street that is lined on one side with about a 1/2 mile long row of old ramshackle buildings that look as if they will topple over in the first big storm. In fact, this part of town has been around for hundreds of years. It consists of restaurants, shops and hotels, We were offered rooms for as little as 1400 rupees (about $25). It closes down completely for about 6 months due to large amounts of snow. My guide told me that he and all the other families havewinter homes further down the valley. We purchased some small handmade bags, an army raincoat, an Indian army hat, a shepard's hat and a luggage bag to haul all the purchased stuff back. Dinner again at the hotel, this time in moderation and no resulting side effects.
The next day we found the jeweler and his moneyman waiting for us outside the hotel as he had promised. He gave Karen the jewelry, but there was no signal for the credit card. That was not a surprise since we had no Internet connection throughout our stay. We took an unguided hike after breakfast and then met our driver about noon. He stopped on the way back to Srinagar at the jeweler's town where we made the final payment.
We got back to Srinagar about 3 and checked into a different houseboat, Peacock, on a different lake Nageen. Out of the big mountains.
Hiking in the Kashmiri mountains sounds like a lot of fun, even if it was a lot of work. We have debated taking a hiking trip to Ladakh, which apparently has magnificent hiking at fairly high elevation. Good for you for doing it.
ReplyDeleteWe're going to Mammoth Lakes over Labor Day to hike. Three 5-7 mile hikes at 10,000' elevation so we can start getting in shape for Bhutan. Wish you would be here so you could come with us. Look forward to hiking with you when you get home.