Day 10 : August 24th : Pahalgam - Srinagar - xBhp.com : The Global Indian Biking Community

ken cool · 10-15-2008, 11:46 PM

On this particular day, there was a lot of speculation on how to proceed and
what would be our destination. The Z TV crew managed to convince the guys of the GIR that it is better to leave early from Pahalgam, reach Srinagar early, visit and leave straightaway for Sonamarg. I was not much in favour of this arrangement. Srinagar might be a city. But it is definitely one of the most beautiful cities of this planet with the magnificent Dal Lake, the houseboats on the Lake, the Mughal Gardens, good restaurants with Kashmiri food. I did not voice my opinion hard enough though.

We got up relatively early. Around 7 in the morning. The previous day was not too hard on us. But by the time we got ready, packed the truck and were about to leave, it was well past 9. And it was then that we realized that the front tire of the backup bike had a flat. And by the time we got going it was past 10. So no way were we going to miss staying the night in Srinagar. I was not complaining. I really like this city.

We started our ride to Srinagar. 96 kilometers. Halfway through we joined
NH1A at Anantnag. And we were back with the congested traffic. The road was beautiful, all along lined with birch trees that were over thirty meters tall and beyond these wonderful trees lay the paddy fields. Between Anantnag and Srinagar we crossed hundreds of places manufacturing cricket bats from the Kashmir willow. I stopped to have a look. Took a few pictures. There was even a training center for the manufacture of cricket bats.

We continued along to Srinagar. The road is not too broad and there seemed to be more traffic than on the Delhi-Gurgaon road. And road being narrow overtaking was not a cakewalk. Especially for the backup vehicle.

Right from Jammu we had noticed that there is a soldier patrolling the roads every couple of hundred meters. But as we approached Srinagar we noticed that their number and frequency increased too.

Srinagar is not a very big city. But once we were there, we were pretty lost. Sumit, our reporter from Z was trying to get his media contacts into service and thus managed to procure a houseboat for a fairly reasonable deal. We went to the Z TV bureau. The reporters took bytes from us for Z Kashmir and we had another few seconds of fame. This was later confirmed by people who called us up saying that they saw us on TV.

And then we were taken by one of the reporters to the Dal Lake where our houseboat was waiting for us. We loaded the transporting shikara to access our rooms across a strip of water about fifty meters wide. And when we reached the steps and climbed into the houseboat, another bit of fairy tale unfolded out in front of us.

As I walked into the houseboat and parted the lace curtains I got into a lavish living room with typical Kashmiri carpets, plush sofas and upholstered settees. The next space was a dining hall with a richly carved table and chairs made of walnut wood. And from there on we were led into a corridor which gave access to a fully furnished kitchen and rooms lined up one after the other. The rooms were another exercise in luxurious interiors with a king size and a queen size bed, both made of walnut wood and intricately carved headrests. An equally delightful dressing table awaited us with a full size mirror, but then it was a pity that we did not have any women amongst us to make full use of this particular luxury item.

We took our rooms, looked around a bit, took a few photographs and went out to have lunch. Once again we split. Skyscraper, Gasoline, Gajju, the cameraman and I went to look for some good Kashmiri meat and Sunny and Sumit the reporter went to look for Veg food. Yes, it is to be noted here that I and even Gasoline, both of us are interested and finicky about food and I would like to go out of the way to look for good food.

We had been recommended Shahenshah hotel and restaurant, a relatively posh-looking place set in landscaped gardens, and I feared the worst when I saw the menu card. But it turned out to be bordering on the expensive. And we ordered two plates of Gushtaba and Rishta, in white and red sauce respectively. Each came in with big spheres of carved meat in the sauce, the taste of which remains etched in my brain. It was by far the best meal not only since ten days of the GIR but arguably some of the best tastes I have had in a very long time. Shahenshah hotel is recommended by me, as well as the Maqbool road preparations on the roadside in Amritsar.

Going out joining the others we rode to the Nishad and Mughal Gardens. The first landscaped gardens started by the Mughals five centuries ago. We had a nice time walking around flowers taking photographs and marveling at the beautiful Kashmiri girls. This place is really beautiful. Not only is the place beautiful, the people living here are attractive too. Every second man that you see in the streets looks like Tom Cruise and every girl looks like Uma Thurman.

On the way back we had a wonderful ride along Dal Lake with the setting sun in the mountains as the backdrop. We went back to our paradisiacal houseboat to spend the rest of the evening watching the fading dusk. I connected my laptop and started to write. Sunny went out looking for a place from where we could upload what I was writing. Gasoline went out yet again scouting for good kebabs.

[IMG]

[/IMG]

As the evening grew to interesting heights, we were done uploading, munching down kebabs, there was a marriage two houseboats away. Gasoline knows how to navigate a boat, this guy does not cease to amaze me, somewhere down the road he even showed me how to drive a bulldozer, he took the others out on a boat ride on a shikara while I stayed within the plush interiors of the luxurious living room and kept firing away at the keyboard.

Ananth · 10-16-2008, 06:30 PM

^^^
WOW! Amazing Pics! Thoroughly enjoyed it

archistar · 10-17-2008, 12:22 PM

a treat again Ken da....

Denzil · 12-18-2009, 01:33 AM

KEN DA U r amazing!

10-15-2008, 11:46 PM	#1 (permalink)
ken cool Been Around Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: New Delhi Posts: 4,249	Day 10 : August 24th : Pahalgam - Srinagar On this particular day, there was a lot of speculation on how to proceed and what would be our destination. The Z TV crew managed to convince the guys of the GIR that it is better to leave early from Pahalgam, reach Srinagar early, visit and leave straightaway for Sonamarg. I was not much in favour of this arrangement. Srinagar might be a city. But it is definitely one of the most beautiful cities of this planet with the magnificent Dal Lake, the houseboats on the Lake, the Mughal Gardens, good restaurants with Kashmiri food. I did not voice my opinion hard enough though. We got up relatively early. Around 7 in the morning. The previous day was not too hard on us. But by the time we got ready, packed the truck and were about to leave, it was well past 9. And it was then that we realized that the front tire of the backup bike had a flat. And by the time we got going it was past 10. So no way were we going to miss staying the night in Srinagar. I was not complaining. I really like this city. We started our ride to Srinagar. 96 kilometers. Halfway through we joined NH1A at Anantnag. And we were back with the congested traffic. The road was beautiful, all along lined with birch trees that were over thirty meters tall and beyond these wonderful trees lay the paddy fields. Between Anantnag and Srinagar we crossed hundreds of places manufacturing cricket bats from the Kashmir willow. I stopped to have a look. Took a few pictures. There was even a training center for the manufacture of cricket bats. We continued along to Srinagar. The road is not too broad and there seemed to be more traffic than on the Delhi-Gurgaon road. And road being narrow overtaking was not a cakewalk. Especially for the backup vehicle. Right from Jammu we had noticed that there is a soldier patrolling the roads every couple of hundred meters. But as we approached Srinagar we noticed that their number and frequency increased too. Srinagar is not a very big city. But once we were there, we were pretty lost. Sumit, our reporter from Z was trying to get his media contacts into service and thus managed to procure a houseboat for a fairly reasonable deal. We went to the Z TV bureau. The reporters took bytes from us for Z Kashmir and we had another few seconds of fame. This was later confirmed by people who called us up saying that they saw us on TV. And then we were taken by one of the reporters to the Dal Lake where our houseboat was waiting for us. We loaded the transporting shikara to access our rooms across a strip of water about fifty meters wide. And when we reached the steps and climbed into the houseboat, another bit of fairy tale unfolded out in front of us. As I walked into the houseboat and parted the lace curtains I got into a lavish living room with typical Kashmiri carpets, plush sofas and upholstered settees. The next space was a dining hall with a richly carved table and chairs made of walnut wood. And from there on we were led into a corridor which gave access to a fully furnished kitchen and rooms lined up one after the other. The rooms were another exercise in luxurious interiors with a king size and a queen size bed, both made of walnut wood and intricately carved headrests. An equally delightful dressing table awaited us with a full size mirror, but then it was a pity that we did not have any women amongst us to make full use of this particular luxury item. We took our rooms, looked around a bit, took a few photographs and went out to have lunch. Once again we split. Skyscraper, Gasoline, Gajju, the cameraman and I went to look for some good Kashmiri meat and Sunny and Sumit the reporter went to look for Veg food. Yes, it is to be noted here that I and even Gasoline, both of us are interested and finicky about food and I would like to go out of the way to look for good food. We had been recommended Shahenshah hotel and restaurant, a relatively posh-looking place set in landscaped gardens, and I feared the worst when I saw the menu card. But it turned out to be bordering on the expensive. And we ordered two plates of Gushtaba and Rishta, in white and red sauce respectively. Each came in with big spheres of carved meat in the sauce, the taste of which remains etched in my brain. It was by far the best meal not only since ten days of the GIR but arguably some of the best tastes I have had in a very long time. Shahenshah hotel is recommended by me, as well as the Maqbool road preparations on the roadside in Amritsar. Going out joining the others we rode to the Nishad and Mughal Gardens. The first landscaped gardens started by the Mughals five centuries ago. We had a nice time walking around flowers taking photographs and marveling at the beautiful Kashmiri girls. This place is really beautiful. Not only is the place beautiful, the people living here are attractive too. Every second man that you see in the streets looks like Tom Cruise and every girl looks like Uma Thurman. On the way back we had a wonderful ride along Dal Lake with the setting sun in the mountains as the backdrop. We went back to our paradisiacal houseboat to spend the rest of the evening watching the fading dusk. I connected my laptop and started to write. Sunny went out looking for a place from where we could upload what I was writing. Gasoline went out yet again scouting for good kebabs. [IMG][/IMG] As the evening grew to interesting heights, we were done uploading, munching down kebabs, there was a marriage two houseboats away. Gasoline knows how to navigate a boat, this guy does not cease to amaze me, somewhere down the road he even showed me how to drive a bulldozer, he took the others out on a boat ride on a shikara while I stayed within the plush interiors of the luxurious living room and kept firing away at the keyboard. __________________ The Wheel was a great invention; Two Wheels with a Motor in between was even better! My Humble Photo Gallery Xbhp's Indo-French Kashmir-Ladakh Tour

10-16-2008, 06:30 PM	#2 (permalink)
Ananth Senior Member Join Date: May 2008 Location: Chennai Posts: 1,047	^^^ WOW! Amazing Pics! Thoroughly enjoyed it __________________ Travel is the greatest gift you can give to yourself. It enriches like nothing else, and can never be lost. The Great Escape - Ladakh: A Journey beyond Reasons!

10-17-2008, 12:22 PM	#3 (permalink)
archistar ..... Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: bhubaneswar-delhi Posts: 714	a treat again Ken da.... __________________ http://archi-star.blogspot.com http://www.flickr.com/photos/archistar

12-18-2009, 01:33 AM	#4 (permalink)
Denzil Speed Thrills Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Chennai Posts: 55	KEN DA U r amazing! __________________ PHP Code: `Denzil`

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