Ladakh : Part 3 (Srinagar and Pahalgam)

"Confusion is the welcome mat at the door of creativity ".
- Michael Gelb 


Yeah!! It is!! We were confused..didn't know where we would be heading on the day 3..As said earlier in second part, we were not sure neither about staying a day at Srinagar nor wending directly to Leh (Ladakh)..We had a reservation of a day in our earlier planning for Srinagar..So spending a day there was not a time issue..The issue was where to spend that extra day..An argument was "Now we have come here so far, lets give a try to Kashmir, its a question of one day only"..Well not a problem..So finally I agreed to have a day in Kashmir :)


Then another problem was ready..What to see?? Srinagar has various beautiful gardens, some temples, a marvelous Dal lake (though personally I wasn't that much pretty impressed by it) and Nagin lake..You know what houseboats had been introduced accidentally..Officers of Indian Civil services in British era were used to come for vacations at Srinagar..They were not allowed to have permanent houses in Srinagar as Maharaja of that time was against the British..So those officers built boathouses in the lakes for temporarily stay.. Around the city is also full of natural beauty..A famous hill station Gulmarg is situated from Srinagar at around 60kms..Sonmarg is a well famous spot on the way to Kargil..Pahalgam is about 100 kms from Srinagar via Anantnag..We had multiple options and so the confusion..We had a chat in the market, tried to gather information on all these options..We heard that at Gulmarg, one has to take the rope way to access the top which was quite costly..Every one of us was really interested to have the first feel of snow..We came to know Sonamarg which is in the way to Kargil and so Leh, has a famous glacier..So we cut the option of Gulmarg as to just have skiing there, was an expensive option..Pahalgam was an another option..We got positive feedbacks over it so finally we converged on Pahalgam..We haggled with the driver heavily this time and managed the same vehicle (Sumo) for a day for Rs. 2000..So the plan for day 3 was ready..Leave Srinagar early in the morning, have a whole day at Pahalgam and come back to Srinagar by evening and leave for Leh on the next day..


So we got started early morning at 6AM for Pahalgam..Previous night was fantastic..We 6 guys in a room were restless..Everybody was relaxed..Only one of us (Neeraj) was in Kashmir before..We were having incredible feeling of being there..So the stories begin, imaginations got boundless and zero gravity zones were created..Most of the things were about terrorism..What if we would face a terrorist?? So everybody started blah blah..I will do this, I will do that..Funny and childish things were some..Guffaws were unstoppable..Every time you need not be sensible and stay within manners..Sometimes out of the world things need to be done and talked..Just for a change!! To refresh!! But I guess our hotel manager was not of that category..Listening to our non-stop loud chit-chatting and boisterous laugh, he smashed the door angrily and scared us of military saying "Don't think you are in your peaceful area. A man was killed yesterday by military and everything out is highly tensed. If you don't want to risk your life, go to sleep immediately and quietly" :-o For a moment, we remembered the famous story of mother scaring child to sleep by showing Gabbar's fear!! Another sudden loud laugh, instantly followed by another heavy "thak thak" on the door..Actually the issue was serious really out there..If you remember recent riots in Kasmir in which many people were shot by military, had the start the day before we arrived in Srinagar..The first day of this riot on which the first civilian was shot by military..Finally we tired ourselves after epic laughter session and went in dreams to see whether what we imagined could be seen in there :p


Morning was awesome..A morning where sun was rising behind Dal lake..Colorful houseboats in golden sun rays..Chirping of birds..Other public was yet to be up..But the military could be seen patrolling..We set off immediately for Pahalgam..Actually if I would have planned  more carefully, we could have saved more time and money..We came to Srinagar from Jammu via Anantnag which is almost 60 kms from Srinagar..And now we are again going back to Anantnag for Pahalgam..We could have directly gone to Pahalgam instead Srinagar, have a stay there and come to Srinagar next day..But as I said earlier we had no specific plan for Kashmir, we were ok with extra time and money required..Anyways it was far cheaper than that of Gulmarg..Being student, budget is always a critical point :) We had a break for breakfast after Anantnag..The best parathas were waiting for us..Many vehicles seemed moving towards Pahalgam.. Pahalgam is in Anantnag district situated at around 2740m from sea level..It is one of the starting points for holy Amarnath Yatra and at that time it was going to start on 1st July..Also, it is again highly sensitive area..Famous for rafting (we came to know it late after reaching the actual rafting point and no one was prepared for that :p)..We had next stop as soon as we saw some people doing rafting.. We guys got excited and suddenly demanded it :D But delayed it as none of us had extra clothes as we were unaware of rafting..So we decided to have it while returning..


As we started approaching Pahalgam, excellent scenery began..Fast and furious Lidder river was accompanying us..Mountains were all around us with sparkling peaks..

Lidder River on the way to Pahalgam..To reach Amarnath,
you have to cross the mountain range seen in the photo :o

We soon reached Pahalgam and the old game of tourist spot began immediately.. Local guides with pony started following us asking to take pony ride..There is a wonderful spot situated at the top of Pahalgam..One either can take pony to climb or on foot is another awesome and adventurous option..We preferred later as we had burning fire within us for trekking though none of us knew the path to the top and rules of trekking :p Pony rides generally take around Rs. 300-400 per pony carrying one person..When asked, pony carrier said Rs.500 :o..Irritated Dhruva asked directly for Rs.100 :D..One of the  guides said it is impossible to go on foot..You would not be able to do it..We then asked them to leave us alone and told we would mange our things.. Finally, guides gave up and we started on our own..

We reached Pahalgam..Needed to cross this green forest
to reach the destination..

At the beginning we started following many people riding on pony, soon  we found our own way along a brook :) We were already inspired by famous Man vs. Wild series on Discovery channel, so we followed the famous rule of it "Always follow the flow of water in the jungle if you don't know the accurate path" :) We did the same!! We left typical route and resume our trek along a creek flowing through dense forest of pine trees..It was a wonderful time, certainly it was!! We were six alone climbing the rocks after rocks..Finding more difficult path to follow :p Trying to get as away as possible from crowd and their common route..Sweetness of sound of flowing water, soughing of tall pine trees, chirps of unknown birds and an unexpected sudden shout by us because of excitement filled the surroundings..As we reached sufficient height, breadth taking view of Pahalgam valley was visible..It was an inexpressible incredible feeling..

The way we followed..

The way others followed..

Enthusiasm with no limit, though we ran out of drinking water soon :P 

A view to Pahalgam valley and beyond..

After an awesome trek of almost two hours we reached the destination we planned for..Huge crowd was there already, persons and ponies both :( The destination was a colossal and beautiful meadow surrounded by very very dense forest similar to a horror movie :D, which again covered from all sides by elegant Himalaya..Sadly it was so crowded, that its feel had been suppressed.. We had a break, it was little hot out there..But a die-hard tea fan Rahul, searched for tea instead of water the first :p Then we began to roam here and there, trying to capture the whole beauty in a single shot..

Pony crowd..

Meadow!!

The beauty!!

Soon after we reached there, sky was too crowded..by clouds :) And immediately it started raining heavily..The field became empty..Those who were still out, could be seen dealing with funny slippery game..Weather became suddenly very cool..Clear sky could not be seen..Peaks of mountain were lost in the clouds..Now we all too needed minimum a cup of hot tea :p

Now I am loving it :)

The rain effect..

Rain went away, taking away people from the field soon :) Now we entered the field..It was already afternoon..We heard that there was an another beautiful spot of waterfall deep inside the forest..We started planning for it, but soon we figured out it is almost 10 kms round way, back to field..And due to rain, everything was quite slippery and we did not have 'nuff time for that adventure..So we backed off with a heavy heart..Having spent some more time, we kicked off return journey..Everybody was hungry till then..We wanted to reach down as soon as possible, but the road we came up seemed quite difficult and slippery..So after a long debate, some decided to take normal route while others decided to carry along main route but not main route..We started crossing sinusoidal main route direct vertically down, cutting through in between thick forest..That was more adventurous than that of path along creek..Getting down was quite difficult..Mutual help was required..If any of us slipped, all chain following him would slip :o But this was extreme fun..One could see tall green pine trees spread over very large area densely..We were in the clouds..We could see Lidder river flowing through green forests and mountains with great force..Somewhere far in the mountain, it was snowing..

Clouds came down..

In fact they were everywhere :)

Everything was just perfect, till the midway of return journey, till Dhruva tried a shortcut to get down fast, till he ran down over highly sloped field, till a pit came in between, till he tried to avoid when he was in great speed and till he slipped speedily down :o This was not enough I guess..Seeing Dhruva running down, Nitish too started :o As soon as Dhruva slipped, Nitish too followed him in efforts to control speed..And this happened in almost 10-15 seconds..We reached down quickly checking whether anybody of them was hurt..Thank god!! None of both was hurt..But they got themselves painted with mud ;) After that too, some minor slippery moments came, but we managed them :)

Difficult fun time..

Dhruva must be saying, "What the hell happened just now??"

Finally, we reached the base after eventful down trip..We directly set off back to Srinagar, deciding to have lunch in between..We came to river rafting point..We jumped out of the vehicle..Long trek didn't seem to have any effect.. Still I was reluctant to have river rafting, maybe I feared of getting cold afterwards..It was really cold out there..Others fives went ahead after failing to convince me..I waited on the bank to capture them..They did it!! They did successfully in extreme cold water!! They were quite excited and shivering with the cold..It was a real adventure that I missed..Never mind!! 

The real adventure..Rafting in Lidder river for almost 2 kms..

Now they are tired, shivering with extreme cold, after extreme fun!!

So water rafting was enough to sap our remaining energy..We had multiple cups of tea and coffee..We resumed towards Srinagar, soon had lunch at 430PM..Crossed Anantnag, came to cricket bat factories..I couldn't resist myself buying a cricket bat..Got duped on the quality :( Of course, I came to know it later..Happens!! 

We reached Srinagar back at around 6PM..Had some rest in hotel..Had dinner and decided to take a long walk around Dal lake..Market was still open..We tried some cuisines..Some did little shopping..

Dal lake and its quintessential ingredient Houseboats..

We had a break at some point relatively calm place along Dal lake, looking at beautifully adorned houseboats..We were continuously discussing the day we spent at Pahalgam..The fun we had, we created..It was an amazing and unforgettable day which added enormous energy and enthusiasm into us for further journey to Ladakh!!