A Winter in Kashmir: My first trip of 2020

I wanted to witness the Autumn of Kashmir and watch the valley turn into the colour of Chinar, orange. But I couldn't because of the situation in Kashmir, removal of article 370.

In December 2019, I saw a couple of bloggers posting their pictures from Gulmarg and Srinagar, so I decided to visit Kashmir as well in December only. However, air ticket prices were really high for the whole month, so I booked for January. It was done, my first trip of 2020 is going to be Kashmir, I was pretty excited about this thought.

I didn't have any itinerary in my mind, because I wasn't sure about how things are in Kashmir. My flights landed at 8:30 am in Srinagar, there was still some snow at the airport. All the people on the flights were locals, no tourists. All of them had cars waiting for them outside the terminal and few took taxis and within 30 minutes the whole place was empty except for the security personnel. A few taxi drivers approached me, but I ignored them and decided to walk out of the airport.

After walking for more than a kilometer, I reached a market and everything seemed pretty normal there. I went into a shop to have breakfast, which was full of people lined up for breakfast early in the morning. I inquired about getting a shared taxi/bus to reach Gulmarg. So In order to reach Gulmarg, you have to take a bus to Baatmal(rs.30), from there another shared taxi till Tangmarg(rs.150) and from there you will find jeeps with chained tires to Gulmarg(rs.50). During summer months you can directly get a shared taxi to Gulmarg from Baatmal.

Everything turns white from Tangmarg, you will love the 14 km jeep ride till your final destination. Once you are in Gulmarg, you will only see one colour, white. I went for the Gondola tickets, there weren't many tourists here but more than what I expected. The ride up the top was so much beautiful than I expected, I have been in the Auli one as well but this was these a level above it. Once at the top I could see a lot of people there, professional skiers, amateurs, and tourists. I also tried my hand at skiing and snowboarding, got a really cheap deal as well.

By 6 in the evening, I decided to head to Tangmarg as all the hotels in Gulmarg were way too expensive, got a really nice deal for a cozy homestay in Tangmarg.

The next morning I took a shared taxi to Baatmal and from there to Laal chowk. I couldn't look for any good accommodation options as there was no internet on my phone but I had taken down the address for Zostel before coming there, so I went directly to Nishad bagh. By the time I reached Zostel, it started raining. I spent the whole day sitting inside listening to the stories caretaker of the place had to tell, warming myself up on a gas heater. I was the only guest there, also the first one since November.

The next morning head out to explore nearby villages on foot, Nishad Bagh, took a shared cab to Shalimar bagh, explored the nearby villages of the Shalimar area, also went on a Shikara ride till Hazrat Bal. I was so tired by the whole day was so tiring, when the hostel caretaker offered me to take out for some Kashmiri food I had to say no. I regret it till today.

The next destination was Pahlagam, I took a shared cab till Laal Chowk and from there one can find plenty of cabs going to Anantnag(or Islamabad) charging you rs.200. From there you can get direct cabs to Pehlagam for rs.50. But to my misfortune, everything was closed in Pahalgam, roads were layered with 3 feet high snow. I decided to spend the day there anyway, got myself a decent budget hotel, and spent the day exploring the nearby settlements.

Since I had one more day I decided to head back by road to Delhi, from Anantnag I took a train to Benihal. This tourney journey was probably was one of the best things about this whole trip. The ticket was for rs.10 only but the worth of the ride was so much more. I have only dreamt of taking a train ride in a white land with snow everywhere but this was so real. The 1-hour journey was nothing but surreal.

Once I was at Benihal, I took a shared jeep to Jammu which took around 5 hours and from there you can get many buses going to Delhi.

This blog was originally published on Travelbeings