Srinagar

Have your ever dated someone with awesome looks and mind blowing wit, but with a terrible temper? On one hand, you want to marry the person and spend rest of the life drowning in happiness and on another hand you just feel like, "Arrghh God!! Make this end now." If you did meet someone like that and survived, it would be cake walk visiting Srinagar.

Very little folk might be disinterested in Himalayas. We are never definitely not one and wanted more of it after the trip to Gangtok-Darjeeling in just six months. Favorably, the April-May supposed to be best season to visit Srinagar and holiday was booked for 4 days. Expected temperature was 21C and the first jolt was listening to flight crew announcing the outside temperature to be 10C. So, we set foot in the cold Srinagar without any woollen. The ride to our houseboat revealed the town like infrastructure of the city. The driver mentioned how the last year flood effected the region, which is to be heard in every single conversation with a local from there on. I got a feeling that it has become kind of a linchpin for the Kashmir crowd.

Srinagar is like a bowl formed by the mighty snow mountains around. In summer, the land is completely green with the background of white Himalayas. The city is around Dal lake. The trees completely different from the green you find in other parts of India. They include Chinar (Persian brought by Mughals), Willow, Pine, Fir and Devdar.

Our houseboat is in Nigeen lake, outskirts of the city and everything in Srinagar was serene. The treatment received by the houseboat keeper was very warm and as soon as we freshened up, we set out visit my sole reason to be in Srinagar, the Tulip Garden. It was not disappointing to watch only 10% of flowers as it was already mentioned outside the entrance that it was the last day. Followed was shopping for Kashmir sarees. 

The next day we went on touring Sonamarg, couple of hours from Srinagar, the first encounter with snow for me. The journey is through plains and peaceful. Here is where you will come across dozen of guides surrounding you. You could be out of sorts for a while, but you will eventually get a hold of the situation. There are many things suggested by them and priced dearly. Please take time in digesting the information before taking the decision. From my experience, first thing you will definitely need and cannot disagree with them is the attire, jackets and boots. I would suggest to also carry gloves. This will make you completely enjoy the snow. The next decision to make is on the tour, we hired the vehicle for 3 points, suiting our time constraint. One was the glacier, another view point and River Sindhu bank. I cannot recommend on sledging, best would be strolling in the snow and enjoying yourselves. Food stalls are everywhere, you need not worry about it, maggi takes care of it. You cannot allocate more than Sonamarg for a day.

Next day the tour is towards Gulmarg and here you find the highest cable car ride. On the way, we stopped for tea, where we tasted the famous Kashmiri Kahwa, tea prepared with spices and dry fruits. Crossing a point, vehicle climbs the mountain for 11 kms. Gulmarg has many hotels and best would be to spend a night there during the tour. 

The vehicles are not allowed beyond certain point and ponies are available for taking you the cable ride counter. It will be a walk of 2 kms with regular plain terrain, and so need not worry if you do not feel like riding a pony. However, pony would be fun and it is completely safe. 

During season, getting ticket would be painful, hence employing local guide would be best option. You can also book the tickets online. The ride is not scary at all, we enjoyed the wonderful view of mountains from decent height and it dropped us off in the best spot. Many options are available, sledging, motor, skiing. As I said, we found strolling was best. On the way back we stopped a view point restaurant and had a wonderful sight of mountains around. Sindhu was heard through out this experience, melting from the May Sun. There is a certain glow of snow on the mountain peaks with the glazing sun which takes your mind to poetry. On the way we came across apple orchards. Nevertheless it was not the season. Here you could get the best dry fruits souvenirs.

It was already 6 as we reached houseboat, when shikara ride was waiting for us. We sailed through the agriculture fields, residence areas reaching Dal lake. It was a delightful experience. Dal lake, you would find houseboats used as shops and here is the floating commerce. As it was already dark, post-dinner we took an auto back to houseboat.

The following day was our journey, very little time to accommodate the numerous gardens. We decided on exploring Shalimar and Chashm-e-shahi. Shalimar was the bigger one, with variety of flowers and springs soothing your soul. Chashm-e-shahi has a holy spring, believed to be healing ailments. Being Sunday, locals were also found in the gardens, partying on the gr

ass. Drive back to airport, ended the sudden vacation.

You could be wondering the temper part of it, but the painful part of it is the people you encounter in the tourist spots. Taking you for a ride, you would be left with little time to enjoy and majorly concerned over finding what you want to do. Best would be follow a package designed and read thoroughly about the places you want to explore. There are 3 major locations from Srinagar, Sonamarg, Gulmarg and Pehelgam. But three are in 3 different directions. Expand your holiday to accommodate all three. Priority can be given to Gulmarg. As I already said, there are numerous gardens in the city. Tulip garden is open only during the month of April, hosting amazing tulips. Next best is the Nishat garden. Mughal fort was in renovation during our holiday. It lures you from the distance, standing grandly on a hill. Another is the Shankaracharya temple on a different hill. You need to climb around 250 steps for this. Be patient in dealing with local guides and vendors, keep in mind your preferences.

My recommended itinery would be to plan for a week. Rest in the hotel or houseboat the day you reach. The second day explore couple of gardens and set out on shikara post 2 PM. The following day plan a day trip to Sonamarg, returning to Srinagar. Spend the next day and night in Gulmarg. On returning to Srinagar, you can accommodate Shankaracharya temple and Mughal fort. Take the next day morning off and set out to Pehelgam to spend the remaining time there.

Careful with planning the return flight as you would come across 4 layers of checking for your luggage and yourselves. This might drain you of energy, but preparing your mind might help.