Mystic Beautiful Kashmir With Family

Beautiful April holidays and packed luggage for north with family. Though had a rough idea but was confused was it right to go to Kashmir with several negative news going on for the paradise of earth. Morning flight from hyderabad to Jammu took spice jet flight and reached Jammu by 11:30 after taking luggage from airport headed out where lot of taxis were available to go for katra...yes first destination vaishnav devi shrine.reached katra by 1:30 took a room to stay had lunch rest and left with a back pack with my family towards bhavan the main temple....as soon as we reached main entrance to start our journey we found there are lot of person called pittu in local language which can be hired to carry luggage and small kids. As my kid was just 5 i hired and started after 2 hours of walk we reach adhawari where we took some rest as there was drizzle started and by 6 again we started towards shrine after reaching near shrine we had a guest house gauri bhavan which was booked before hand.the lights and illumination was a thing which one should not miss... Had a good sleep

next morning by 8 we woke up and got ready for darshan. Had darshan by 11:30 and then had breakfast...Checked out from guest house and left towards bhairavnath temple by hiring horses.by 12:30 we started towards katra all the hill down by 2 hours we were down and to the hotel...we were all damn tired and slept

woke up next day when received a call from taxi driver which we already booked to go for srinagar area.by 10 we were ready and left for srinagar seems hot area till we reached patnitop area bit warmness decreased. Got a good traffic congestion as it was complete hilly areas . By 3 we reached srinagar and was taken by pass towards pahalgam..Had lunch at anantnag good north Indian food and by 5 reached pahalgam as we reached I saw water sports going on like river rafting...reached hotel dumped luggage and off to water sports had good rides with freezing water then left to local market.the market was very small had some dry fruits and reached hotel. My kid slept before reaching hotel. Had dinner and slept with heaters on and with heavy blankets.    Yes freezing area later we came to know we are very near to one hill top which is completely having snow. As I have not read about it I wished I should have but when saw my kid having temperature dropped the idea to visit there and continued local tour by 1 pm we were at place where I visualized some secenic beauty where we reached by hiring horses....Though there is no much activities to be done it's just a beautiful place to visualize,by 3 we were back to hotel and ready for our next desitination gulmarg...saw lot of beautiful sceneric area on way saw kesar farm, cricket bats manufacturers good pieces bought few dozen to gift my cousins kids......by 8 we reached gulmarg terrible cold...Had a good warm soup and a warm local biryani not soo food as compared to hyderabad but it's ok...off to bed warm blankets awaiting after the tour in cold climate

Got up around 8 am still the day light was trying to come. Asked my family to get ready and I went 5o book gondol cable ride for us I wa told that there would be rush after 11 so planned to book early but what I saw was already a queue. The booking starts at 9 am after 30 minutes wait the booking started . After booking headed straight to hotel everyone were having breakfast and me too joined them good aloo parathas with spicy green raw chillies...had a design kashmiri kawaha had tasted first time and liked it as I had heavy breakfast could not go for more else would have gone for it. Then left for a place where we could take warm clothes on rent took required sizes and  left  By 10:30 reached gondola cable there also was queue to go for ride after 15 minutes our turn came we were informed there are two stops one is at High altitude where professions would go for skii so decided to go for first stop which is at lower altitude reach in about 15 minutes and all we could see complete snow and snow activity....my kid was at first was feeling chilly but after some exercsion he felt warmth and started enjoying around 2 pm we were informed to leave place as there is showing strom expected so started back by gondola. By 3 pm we started for srinagar. By around 5:30 pm reached srinagar where our houseboat was waiting. By taking shikara we reached houseboat and had few kashmiri dress pics nice experience. After 7 pm we were in houseboat due to inadequate light outside had a kashmiri black tea followed by dinner. Slept.

Morning around 7 am boat market was being seen around our houseboat selling local food and shawls. By 9:30 we checked out houseboat and  left for sonmarg. Around 1:30 minutes drive we reached a rough hill top from there we hired horses and left. All the way was uneven and Rocky after about 20 minutes ride reached a place with snow. Had spent some couple of hours and reached the place where we left our vehicle. A nice Jain restaurant had a good warm lunch and left back for srinagar. Had visited Jammu government emporium purchased a couple of souvenir not much to choose. As soon as we left we saw a store selling blankets. Felt good quality and bought about 10 blankets with an average price of 350 each. Could not get that quality even after spending few thousands. Now for delivery part had booked through some transportation Which costed 5000 more than material but was worth. Rest of the day we had a booking at some hotel checked in , there was a group booking which were friendly and had rest of time for that day with them.

Next day we checked out left for Delhi by flight. After reaching Delhi around 6 pm checked into hotel near to market place some and headed straight to chandni chowk where we had some local style food delicacies like various sort of parathas and lassi. By night while reaching to hotel we completely exhausted .

Early morning we had plans for some local sight seeing . Left for some half day tour arranged by hotel tour operator visited few historical place and by 4 were in local market purchasing stuff to gift and by 10 reached hotel after dinner and got ready to pack to leave Hyderabad next day.

Bye for now.....

Next destination Manali