(Around April 18th)
Throughout my journeys I kept hearing about Kashmir, "Heaven on Earth" as people from there would say. They are so proud of where they're from. So given all this fantastic publicity, we decided to check it out for ourselves to see what all the hype was about, I was interested to see what Heaven on Earth looks like. As we were on our way into Kashmir, Anthony and I had to get out of the bus and fill out some paperwork because we were foreigners going into Kashmir. You would expect the boarder guard of Kashmir to be rather ridged and intimidating, but this man was different. He chatted us up, asked all about our countries, and then scolded Anthony when Anthony had said he was thinking about leaving Kashmir before I was going to. "You cannot leave your friend alone, how will she travel alone just as a single female. No no no you cannot do that, you must stay with her." It is common for Indians to be surprised and concerned when they hear I am travelling alone, because that is something that Indian women would just never do. But it seemed an even greater shock to residents of Kashmir. Anthony did stay with me the entire time, but NOT because I needed it, it just worked out that way. On our way back out of Kashmir once again we had to stop to fill out paperwork and were greeted by the same guy, asking us all about our adventures of Kashmir with a big grin on his face as we told him how much we loved his home.
We arrived in Srinagar, famous for Dal Lake and the houseboating it offered. It was our plan to stay on a house boat but after looking at the prices we opted for the cheaper room just off the lake. Kashmir was of course, full of Kashmir... Everywhere I walked, the only time a local would talk to me was when he was offering me " ma'am, scarf, shawl, carpet, come loooooooooooook. Ma'am come into my shooooooop, come looooooooook what I haaaaaave." On principle, because I was getting so annoyed with all the shop owners I only went into the shops where they didn't ask me to come in. Other than that, I mostly got ignored, especially when I walked around with Anthony, all I heard was "Sir where are you from, sir this, sir that." HELLO! I'm here too! But that's often the way it has been when I travel around this country with men. It's just not in their culture to address a woman first, or at all if a man is present a lot of the time.
Early on our second morning we left the hotel at 5 am and boarded a shakara, a canoe like boat with a comfy bed and cushions and little canopy cover. Our shakara driver took us to the floating vegetable market where smaller, less fancy shakaras were filled with piles of vegetables. In an area of the lake, every morning you can hear the clunking and bumping of the boats as these men meet to exchange goods. Anthony and I bought some fresh Saffron and then started on our way back while sipping chai and enjoying the absolutely breathtaking sunrise over the lake. It was at this moment that I really understood what the locals meant by "Heaven on Earth". The quiet of the lake, combined with the stunning view of mountains and fluffy clouds reflected in the calm glass like surface of the water put me entirely at peace.
We also opted on one of the days to be tourists! We hired a autorickshaw to take us around for the day, and take us around did he ever! We visited something like 5 or 6 gardens, my favourite being the tulip garden which had hundreds of tulips (go figure) in an area surrounded by the most beautiful mountains (next to the rockies of course). I think if the driver said we were going to one more garden Anthony would have exploded, so luckily after that we took off the visit some mosques. The first we saw was the Hazratbal, where a piece of hair from the prophet Muhammad is housed. I stayed outside the main walls with the other women as Anthony went inside with the men. It was interesting being on the outside with the women. Some came up to me, tucked in the bits of my hair that were peaking out the bottom of my head scarf, held my hand, all while smiling and nodding to me. Then they left me alone so that they could go pray themselves. I sat, prayed and observed, at times confused. Some women sat swaying, others sat weeping, and there were some who were at the wall leading into the Mosque wailing and pounding on the walls surface. Anthony said it was a similar experience inside. The next mosque we saw was they Jama Masjid of Srinagar. Its an old and beautiful mosque, the first in Srinigar, with it's front and inside decorated with hand painted paper mache. We weren't allowed in, but were able to look in from an outside window while a nice old man explained different things to us and answered any questions we had. They also spotted my large turquoise ring which they loved, and after finding out what sort of great deal I had gotten on it they didn't believe it was real. So I had to take it off for the men to examine my ring closely with their eyes, fingers and tongue... yes one of the men licked the gem stone... but they concluded that it was real and we were off again.
Another one of the days we took a day trip a couple hours away to Gulmarg, which is a ski resort.... in India. Upon our arrival we were greeted by MANY workers asking us if we wanted to ride one of the hundreds of malnourished horses... no thanks. We got into the massive line to the gondola, and to say there is a line in India.... well it's a bit of and overstatement. But I did rather enjoy watching all the Indian tourists in their rented winter coats and boots (all circa 1980) all slipping and sliding in the snow! Likely the first times they've seen snow. Up top it was the same story. It was cold, windy and raining, but everyone there seemed so excited! I was excited to see snow too as I had missed it this year. I had many offers to try sledding, skiing and snowboarding. I politely refused and when one instructor said "what? you don't know how? I can show you." I responded with, "I know how, I'm Canadian, but would you snowboard in this slush?" he smiled, did a little Indian head wag and agreed that these were no conditions to be snowboarding in!
Srinagar was enjoyable and beautiful but it was time for us to head on a zig zagging bus ride back to Jammu for us both to catch planes to our next destinations. It was a tearful good bye for Anthony and I at the Jammu airport, well Anthony cried, not infront of me, but I'm sure he shed tears once boarding the plane realizing he was leaving without his trusted flute playing travel companion.
I was off to Jaipur, Rajesthan where I would meet up with my good friend Ryan who is from Vancouver, but we met in Kenya. We're still yet to be together on our home continent. Soon to come, the adventures of touring in 43 degree weather!
Throughout my journeys I kept hearing about Kashmir, "Heaven on Earth" as people from there would say. They are so proud of where they're from. So given all this fantastic publicity, we decided to check it out for ourselves to see what all the hype was about, I was interested to see what Heaven on Earth looks like. As we were on our way into Kashmir, Anthony and I had to get out of the bus and fill out some paperwork because we were foreigners going into Kashmir. You would expect the boarder guard of Kashmir to be rather ridged and intimidating, but this man was different. He chatted us up, asked all about our countries, and then scolded Anthony when Anthony had said he was thinking about leaving Kashmir before I was going to. "You cannot leave your friend alone, how will she travel alone just as a single female. No no no you cannot do that, you must stay with her." It is common for Indians to be surprised and concerned when they hear I am travelling alone, because that is something that Indian women would just never do. But it seemed an even greater shock to residents of Kashmir. Anthony did stay with me the entire time, but NOT because I needed it, it just worked out that way. On our way back out of Kashmir once again we had to stop to fill out paperwork and were greeted by the same guy, asking us all about our adventures of Kashmir with a big grin on his face as we told him how much we loved his home.
We arrived in Srinagar, famous for Dal Lake and the houseboating it offered. It was our plan to stay on a house boat but after looking at the prices we opted for the cheaper room just off the lake. Kashmir was of course, full of Kashmir... Everywhere I walked, the only time a local would talk to me was when he was offering me " ma'am, scarf, shawl, carpet, come loooooooooooook. Ma'am come into my shooooooop, come looooooooook what I haaaaaave." On principle, because I was getting so annoyed with all the shop owners I only went into the shops where they didn't ask me to come in. Other than that, I mostly got ignored, especially when I walked around with Anthony, all I heard was "Sir where are you from, sir this, sir that." HELLO! I'm here too! But that's often the way it has been when I travel around this country with men. It's just not in their culture to address a woman first, or at all if a man is present a lot of the time.
Early on our second morning we left the hotel at 5 am and boarded a shakara, a canoe like boat with a comfy bed and cushions and little canopy cover. Our shakara driver took us to the floating vegetable market where smaller, less fancy shakaras were filled with piles of vegetables. In an area of the lake, every morning you can hear the clunking and bumping of the boats as these men meet to exchange goods. Anthony and I bought some fresh Saffron and then started on our way back while sipping chai and enjoying the absolutely breathtaking sunrise over the lake. It was at this moment that I really understood what the locals meant by "Heaven on Earth". The quiet of the lake, combined with the stunning view of mountains and fluffy clouds reflected in the calm glass like surface of the water put me entirely at peace.
We also opted on one of the days to be tourists! We hired a autorickshaw to take us around for the day, and take us around did he ever! We visited something like 5 or 6 gardens, my favourite being the tulip garden which had hundreds of tulips (go figure) in an area surrounded by the most beautiful mountains (next to the rockies of course). I think if the driver said we were going to one more garden Anthony would have exploded, so luckily after that we took off the visit some mosques. The first we saw was the Hazratbal, where a piece of hair from the prophet Muhammad is housed. I stayed outside the main walls with the other women as Anthony went inside with the men. It was interesting being on the outside with the women. Some came up to me, tucked in the bits of my hair that were peaking out the bottom of my head scarf, held my hand, all while smiling and nodding to me. Then they left me alone so that they could go pray themselves. I sat, prayed and observed, at times confused. Some women sat swaying, others sat weeping, and there were some who were at the wall leading into the Mosque wailing and pounding on the walls surface. Anthony said it was a similar experience inside. The next mosque we saw was they Jama Masjid of Srinagar. Its an old and beautiful mosque, the first in Srinigar, with it's front and inside decorated with hand painted paper mache. We weren't allowed in, but were able to look in from an outside window while a nice old man explained different things to us and answered any questions we had. They also spotted my large turquoise ring which they loved, and after finding out what sort of great deal I had gotten on it they didn't believe it was real. So I had to take it off for the men to examine my ring closely with their eyes, fingers and tongue... yes one of the men licked the gem stone... but they concluded that it was real and we were off again.
Another one of the days we took a day trip a couple hours away to Gulmarg, which is a ski resort.... in India. Upon our arrival we were greeted by MANY workers asking us if we wanted to ride one of the hundreds of malnourished horses... no thanks. We got into the massive line to the gondola, and to say there is a line in India.... well it's a bit of and overstatement. But I did rather enjoy watching all the Indian tourists in their rented winter coats and boots (all circa 1980) all slipping and sliding in the snow! Likely the first times they've seen snow. Up top it was the same story. It was cold, windy and raining, but everyone there seemed so excited! I was excited to see snow too as I had missed it this year. I had many offers to try sledding, skiing and snowboarding. I politely refused and when one instructor said "what? you don't know how? I can show you." I responded with, "I know how, I'm Canadian, but would you snowboard in this slush?" he smiled, did a little Indian head wag and agreed that these were no conditions to be snowboarding in!
Srinagar was enjoyable and beautiful but it was time for us to head on a zig zagging bus ride back to Jammu for us both to catch planes to our next destinations. It was a tearful good bye for Anthony and I at the Jammu airport, well Anthony cried, not infront of me, but I'm sure he shed tears once boarding the plane realizing he was leaving without his trusted flute playing travel companion.
I was off to Jaipur, Rajesthan where I would meet up with my good friend Ryan who is from Vancouver, but we met in Kenya. We're still yet to be together on our home continent. Soon to come, the adventures of touring in 43 degree weather!
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