TRIP TO KASHMIR. Review on Badrinath

I visited Kashmir during May 2009 with my family after a gap of 20 years. For my wife & children, it was their first trip to Kashmir. We took the Jetite flight on 5th May from Delhi & reached Srinagar at 12.30 PM. It was raining at the Airport & the we were shivering as we were still in summer clothes. We had made advance booking in Hotel Paramount opposite Dal Lake. The vehicle had come for the pick up from our hotel (Off cource they charges extra Rs 500/- for the pick up).

After having our lunch we started for Mughal Gardens & came back to Dal Lake at around 6 PM. The taxi driver kept on insisting to take us to Carpet Manufacturers or Almond Wood Workshops which we refused. They get flat Rs 200 from the owner, At Dal Lake we had a shikara ride for one hour for Rs 350/- even though they were asking for Rs 550/- per hour (On last day we could bargain Shikara Ride for Rs 100/- per hour). After having our dinner at Paramount Hotel we went to Sleep enjoying the lights being reflected in Dal Lake.

Next Day 6th May - We started early moring at 6 AM for Pahalgam as we wanted to avoid Srinagar on 7th May being the election day for Parliament. We hired a Tata Sumo for Rs 1600/- per day which included Night Stay of Driver/ His Food & Fuel (Generally they ask for Rs 2500/- per day. There was no limit on distance covered. We reached Pahalgam at around 11.30 AM. We checked in Hotel called King Palace & again bargained a river lidder view room for Rs 800/-.

We spent early part of the afternoon along with banks of river Lidder. You may find many vendors selling the ladies suits etc along with the banks of river. Bargain a lot. You may get the stuff for around 30-40% of quoted price. We had our lunch at hotel Dana Pani which serves good North Indian food. We came to hotel King Palace for the evening & relaxed as the children were tired after a journey & walking around the Lidder. All around us were mountains with snow covered peaks.

Next day we took a pony ride of 1.30 hours which took us to a mountain trail ending at a beautiful meadow known us mini Swizerland. We stayed there for around 1 hour & enjoyed hot maggi which is the only hot eatable available. My son who is 8 really enjoyed the pony ride where as my daughter who is 19 & my wife were really scared. We started from Pahalgam at around 3 PM for Gulmarg. Again we have to come back to Srinagar to rach Gulmarg. We reached Gulmarg by 6.30 PM. We already had lodging arrangement made with army establishment. They provided us a beautiful cottage which had two bathrooms, two bedrooms & a drawing room. All the rooms were heated with Bukharis & beds had thermal blankets. After a visit to our host, we retired to our cottage for dinner & sleep.

8th May - We started at 8 Am to for Rope Way (Gandola as local people call it). It has phase 1 which takes to the height of around 10, 000/- feet. From Phase 1, you can buy tickets for phase 2 (If operational as some times it is closed due to bad weather. You will see snow all around. We reached phase 2 which is at a height of around 13, 500 feet.. From here you can sea snow ladded mountains all around you. We stayed there for one hour enjoying the nature.

We started for Sonmarg at 1 Pm & reached Sonmarg at 7PM (you have to again come back to Srinagar to go to Sonmarg). Again we had staying arrangement with Army. Our Sumo Driver Shabbir was a really a very good companion. We started for the Sonmarg glacier on ponies as my son had become very fency for these rides. We stayed for more than 3 hours at the glacier & really enjoyed the ice & snow. We started for Srinagar at 1 PM & reached Srinagar at 4 PM. The route from Sonmarg to Srinagar is full of beauty & there you understand why Kashmir is called heaven on earth. We enjoyed a Shikara ride at Dal Lake for one hour (this time for Rs 200/- per hour).

Next day which was our last day in Kashmir, we went for a morning walk around Dal Lak & had shikara ride for two hours for Rs 100/- per hour. This took us to the interior of the lake which is also known as old Srinagar. You will find houses, shops, Gardens in the lake where people travel in Shikara instead of Riksha to visit one place to other. We left Srinagar at 1.30 PM by Kingfisher flight & reached Delhi at 2.30. After reaching Delhi we felt that we didn't go to any place but we all had a dream that we had a visit to heaven & we woke up

ajai