Jannat-e-Kashmir (Heaven on Earth)

Not sure of what to expect of Kashmir and its people on the first day, once we landed - we hired a prepaid taxi to Tangmarg which is about 1800 INR and from Tangmarg to Gulmarg another 800 INR for a 4 wheel chained vehicle.

Enroute to Tangmarg, our driver was generous enough to understand that we were hungry and then stopped at a restaurant and god bless him for the place. The food there we tried was Roganjosh with rice and some kebabs (Kashmir style) and lord O lord O lord!!!! that food, that flavor, that hospitality. We were already scripting our love story with Kashmir.

Finally by 3 PM we reached Gulmarg and stayed at this hotel called Fluorescence which is inside the Ski resort. To our bad luck the Gondola was already closed because of a maintenance drive and the whole place closes down its shutters by 4 PM or 5 PM max. Understandably, we had very little time on that day to explore, so I decided to stay at hotel after the brutal layover at Delhi and the rest decided to get their feet to the frost bite monster by playing in the snow.

You should try the Kashmiri pulav when you are here!!., I am not gonna describe it - Lets just say it is different and EPICCCC!!!!

FEB 2 AND MY FREAKING BIRTHDAYY AT MINUS 12 DEGREES CELSIUS!!

The celebrations started at midnight, where I was busy drowning in my own sleep and my besties arranged for a cake, I don't know from where and after a small bite of the cake, we went for a small walk outside in the snow, under the stars and wohooooo!!! what views!!!!. Unfortunately, we were relying on our phone cameras so we were not able to get the amazing shot of the countless stars wishing me on my birthday. It was one special moment which I will remember it for a long long time to come.

In the morning, we decided we will hire a guide from Logontrips at 800 INR per day, you can check these guys on Instagram. And as we stepped out of the hotel, my gang had another surprise, where I celebrated my birthday with the crew from the hotel, other guides and random people outside. Felt, really good!

So we started our small snow walk to the Gondola resort which by the way is the second highest Gondola ride in the world aaaand it took about 10 mins walk from the hotel we stayed. Slipping all the way on the snow filled road, we almost reached the gondola resort in no time- removing the sarcasm, it took us about 10 mins to walk from the hotel to the resort :D. 735 INR including taxes was the cost to the phase 1 of the ride and a long., ahem actually looooong queue which lasted for about 40 mins for us to reach the front of the boarding point of the Gondola and dammmmn! the views were just ecstatic on the way to the top.

There are two phases of Gondola ., phase 1 which is the Kungdoor station where all the beginner classes for skiing, beginner snow turf for the Skiing and a few view points are available and phase 2 of Gondola, also called the Apharwat peak, is mostly for insanely pro level Skiers. Also, there is a small trek which is called the frozen lake trek from Phase 2 which will be visible only during Summers and because the whole of Gulmarg is covered in snow during winters, the frozen lake too would be covered it its blanket of snow, because of which we had to ditch phase 2 of the Gondola.

So we reached phase 1 and took up skiing lessons and lord! this is so different from the waveboard or the skateboard scene which I am used to. We stuck to learning and applying ourselves to ski for over 2 hours., Although we fell too many times, the point was to get back on our feet and we just did that. We got back on our feet, and after some million tries, we finally got the hang of the brakes. Phewwww!! such an experience.

After the skiing lessons, we decided to look at some incredible views which the Kungdoor had to offer. There are many ATVs or the snow shark as they call it- are available right there at the top., we hired a few vehicles to our name and to check out the view points and we were not disappointed. Driving the snow shark was an experience in itself and the stop for the views indeed made a mark.

Call it luck, the snow fall slowly started to kick in from the skies. Here, we had an option- Either go back on the Gondola to the base on the same ticket or take a sleigh to the base which was about 7 Kms far from our station to the base.

Jeeeesus! we decided to have our "darr ke aage jeet he" moment and this was a wild ride- the snowy uncertain downhill terrain, the wooden sleigh makes it all the more interesting as you never know which stone or which fatal turn will falter the sleigh. Although there is an experienced lad sitting in the front and guiding the sleigh to the base., this experience was super fun and extremely scary at times.

We reached the base and it was already 6 30 ish PM., which was wayyy past our check out time at the hotel and thank fully, the hotel guys were courteous enough to store all the luggage in one room and our guide was pretty fast in picking the luggage up from the hotel and picking us up to drop us back to Tangmarg where our driver was waiting to drive us to Srinagar.

I would highly suggest this guide from Logon trips as there was discount on almost all the activities done. Be it the skiing lessons with the gear or the ATVs or the sleigh ride to the base - He saved us a ton of money.

We reached Tangmarg at around 7 45 PM and as our driver was already waiting there, we boarded our cab and drove away into the night to our hotel. Oh! we had not booked any hotels here, our driver helped us in getting the hotel for 3 nights.

Up next, we went to the Mughal gardens- So the Mughal gardens are spread across Srinagar and we happen to visit one of them - The all famous Shalimar Bagh., why only one?- well gardens only bloom out in the spring season and during winters the while place looks like it is built on clouds with snow covering the whole garden up. We took a stroll through the majestic garden and took notice of the Chinar trees which were like 500 years and still counting mind you.

Then it was time for the all famous Dal Lake- Dal lake, this winter most part of it was frozen solid and although we did cover most of everything which the Dal lake had to offer., but, we missed out on the Char Chinar which is a small island on Dal lake., apparently this part of the lake was closed because of the lake being frozen.

The much Hyped Shikara? was it worthwhile?

Oh you bet it is., Shikaras are the heritage of Kashmir - with all the houseboats lined up on the commercial front of the lake., the beauty comes out as you go deeper into the lake., with the mystic mountain views solidifying the view from the Shikara to the shopping experience without even stepping out of the Shikara was indeed one of a kind. Oh and we did get to know a little about the floating land where the veggies are grown in summers - As the name suggests., floating land are literally a piece of land floating on Dal lake., or as the locals call it "Chori ki zameen" which means., if the land is not protected properly., the thieves may rob just by moving the floating land to their side of the property and it officially becomes theirs.

Then it time for all famous Traditional Mandi for dinner.

Kashmiris have a LOT of food and when I say LOT., it is a LOTTTT!., We decided to try the authentic Kashmiri cuisines for dinner today and our beloved friend AKA driver took us to this famous restaurant in Srinagar where Mandi was being served. Mandi is basically traditional dish cooked in meat, rice and everything nice (spices). The people there are so friendly, they sat with us, just to explain how things go about in the making of this Mandi and a little here and there about their practices which are surely different form what we are used to back in the cities.

NO I am not criticizing them., what I am saying is- Ok let me explain it with an example., Imagine you fall in the middle of the road in a metropolitan city- people are busy laughing taking videos as if some miracle occurred. In Kashmir, if they get to know you are a tourist, you are valued as their own family. Sure, some negative ailments here and there will be there., but on the majority, you will be valued as a far away guest who came to Kashmir after very long. I guess that is the most special connection with Kashmir as a whole - in my opinion.

We crossed the bridge on our horses and there were pathways on the snow which lead to the villages in the mountains. These villages will be empty at this point in time as the snow entirely consumes the village and these houses are made of stone which makes it entirely difficult for the people here to stay. So during winters the villagers migrate to another location within Sonmarg itself where it is much more feasible for them to survive.

We reached back to the starting point where our driver was waiting for us and from there we went back to Srinagar.

I highly suggest this driver of ours named Javed who helped us through thick and thin which made our Kashmir experience so much more worthwhile. As you all know tourists are usually charged a bomb, but with Javed being a local, he used to literally fight for us to get us the actual or even less price.

For eg this Horse ride to viewpoint and the village usually are charged at 2500 to 3000 INR per person as I asked a few of the other tourists and the same was charged to us at first, but Javed had to intervene and got us the horse ride for 1000 INR per head., which is so much cheaper that what was quoted.

I will give you another example on how the people consider you as family here - We go to a place, we see the places, we use their services, we have a ball of a time and we head back home with a light heart. Well, here along with everything from the above., the person who lent us horses, took us all to his home., introduced us to his family and vice versa, gave us Khawa (a traditional Kashmiri Tea), made us fill our stomachs with Walnuts and then we left with a sense of joy, learnt a chapter about humbleness - I guess this is what makes it Jannet-e-Kashmir.

We took a good 2 hours or so to reach the top braving all the slippery pathway and there it was., Mini Switzerland - Oh yes! it does look as picturesque as Switzerland., in this location!., those big old pine trees taking the center stage over a snow dominated area is where the views come in. What dont believe me? Well have a look for yourselves then!.

After we filled our eyes with the glam which Mini Switzerland had to offer, we took another way from the back of the mountain which took another 2 and a half hours downhill- this part was literally untouched., the views from this part of the trail was to another dimension.

It was already dark by the time we reached to the base and the Pahalgam was populated with Snow leopards at night, so we were advised to reach the hotel as soon as we can. So without much delay, we were on our way back to the hotel. We hoped we'd see a Snow leopard that night but as the locals say, it may be watching you., but you will never see it UNLESS it wants to be noticed.

I will still recommend you to perform a trek to Mini Switzerland, rather than taking the Horses. Trust me! you will not be disappointed. Also, please do not fall for false claims from the Horse owners there that it is not allowed or you WILL NOT BE ABLE TO MAKE IT!!., show them our photo. We did it!! braving it all.

AAAAnd we reached the Hotel and took nice rest for we were all getting set for the next day!

FEB 6

We got up by 10 AM and checked out of the hotel, but we were not done at Pahalgam - so we left our luggage with our original cab Driver and he kindly obliged to wait until we returned from our small stint.

So are we going? Betaab Valley it is., yes!! you guessed it right - the same old movie location-beeeep a fun fact, apparently, this place was called Hagan Valley and once upon a time, there was this Bollywood Movie named 'Betaab' which was shot in that location which became a huge hit and people started identifying this place as Betaab valley and so the name comes.

It was around 11:15 AM by the time we came out of the Betaab valley. After this, we reached the base of Aru Valley at around 11:45 AM and did try going to Aru valley which takes about an hour to reach the top and an hour to come back down. Annnnnnnd such a bummer we did not have time on that day, as on the next day we had to catch our flight to Jammu. So we did not risk it, but we were busy hogging on our Spicy Maggi, with lil sips of Kahwa here and there and of course snow fights with the views which were enthralling!

So by 1 PM we left the base and were on our way to Pahalgam where our Javeed bhai was waiting with his taxi aaaaand with our luggage tied to his chariot.

By 1: 45 PM we reached Pahalgam and left to Srinagar by 2 PM- With the lunch break in between around the apple farms with the freshest, most juiciest and the most tastiest Apples ever EVER tasted and then Everybody decided to go all bonkers on shopping for the all rare Kesar and dry fruits - jeeez that smell is still of the Kesar is still fresh on the memory of my nose :D.

By evening around 5 PM we reached Srinagar, after which we were busy spending our wallets on the all famous Pashmina. I would highly suggest you go ahead and shop for Pashmina in the reputed shops in Srinagar rather than on the boat houses., some may be fake - the fake ones are extremely close to the original ones, just a heads up.

So we did not have a hotel booked, buttttttttt we decided to brave the cold weather on a houseboat for one of a kind experience. Although, it was one of the coldest places I have evvver slept in, even with the magic electric blanket which heats up on electricity was on - ONNN!!!., I must say, it was quite the experience.

After which we decided to go on a food hunting spree which Jammu had to offer- Jammu had more of the Punjabi and Kashmiri influence and so speak their dishes. Mmmm mm mmmm., Oy Hoy! what foood!!!., the names seem the usual- but the taste!! Lordd!!.

Once the lunch was done, we bid adieu to Jammu and boarded a bus to Amritsar!! Wohooooo!!!! talk about food paradise!!! - ok ahem! lets move further.

It takes about 6-7 hours to reach Amritsar and on our way there, we booked our hotel in Fairfield by Mariott- which by the way we got it a steal price!!! :D.

I believe we reached Amritsar by 8 PM ish, it was hardly any distance from the bus stand- so we took a small walk and walla!! there is was - welcome to Luxury!!!. Oh wait, before we reach the hotel - we were superrr hungry and so had dinner on our way there and OHHHH!!! LORRRDDD!!!! the butter!!!- not sure, if the Rotis were dipped in butter or the butter was made from the Rotis- Either ways, it was DARRRRRRRRRNNNN!!! GOOOOOD!!!!.. blurrrpppp!!!!. Sorraeee., but that's how you know - you are in Punjab!!! 😀

This blog is already too big, so let me try and not bore you to big blogs!!., So, if you want to read about what happened next??., Click on the below links!!

Amritsar - The Land of the Golden throne and greatttt food!, A brief love note to Himachal!.