[megazoid]

We always wanted to do a Kashmir drive and thought this Apr-May would be a good time to realize the dream. We hoped to get a good drive and get some car snaps clicked against snow clad peaks. But there were difficulties. First and foremost were the roads especially in J&K. The infamous stretch from Jammu to Srinagar gave us sleepless nights. I used to check the J&K traffic police updates on twitter daily for the road status as landslides, tunnel work, accidents or an all too often occurring jam were common. Getting into the valley was only half the battle. The roads to other beautiful parts of the valley were also a challenge and required carefulhances of manouvering at many places. To make matters worse, the forecast was for rain during our Kashmir leg and that compounded issues due to chances of unexpected landslides and road closures. It was a risk taking a lowered car to these unfamiliar roads but the captivating beauty of the valley and the grossglockner like road shots were a big draw.

[megazoid]

As the day of departure neared, I chickened out and quickly got the Fortuner serviced and cleaned. It was lying idle after the Spiti drive during the early part of the year. The moment I was seated in the fortuner, everything was sorted and I knew I could make the trip without hassles. But the thought of a lovely bimmer on a mountain road with snow clad peaks in the background made me switch loyalties again. I unloaded luggage from the Fortuner the night before the journey and started loading up the car. It immediately dawned on me that one is called a seven seater SUV for a reason. We had to be very choosy with our luggage if we were taking the car. Anyway, I wasnt even sure if the car would clear the speed humps in the society and make it to the road outside the apartment with all that luggage.


Now that we had decided ondoing the trip in the car, there wasnt much to do apart from a fastag balance check, a tankup and all necessary documents. The car had just come from a quick service at dcheckautomotive, Kochi. The iDrive hard disk had failed and so I could not stream any music in the car as the phone could not be paired. Did not have the time to clone a new disk either. This meant a long drive in silence for the full distance. I was reminded of the Thar drive to Sikkim in 2014 where the lovely bare interiors of the Thar (no music) made me sing to myself and I arrived in Sikkim with a throat that was on the verge of shutting down. Finally, took the plunge and drove from Bangalore and made my way to Jammu. Chose the Nagpur-Gwalior-Delhi route. Jammu was quite warm and I stayed at the Hari Niwas palace hotel that shared space with the Amar Mahal museum(great place). Had a small belly rub in the car parking zone at the hotel and winced at the thought of what was going to happen later in the trip on really bad sections that I didnt even know about properly. I worried about this so much and ended up calling up few transport operators to get a quote for trucking the car from Jammu to Srinagar. It took a while for them to understand why something on four wheels that hadnt broken down couldn't be driven on the road. I had to tell them that my ground clearance was in millimeters and my problems were rather special and self created. They sympathized and quoted large sums of money that made me take a steely resolve to drive it over everything and get into the valley.

[megazoid]

Early morning at 5.30am, I grabbed a packed breakfast, started the car and headed for Srinagar. Flew past Nagrota, Udhampur and reached Ramban. I would be lying if I said I wasnt anxious. The roads were in absolute shambles and there were large transport trailers and even army trucks that had broken down on the axle twisters. To top it all, a landslide too had decided to join the party. Stopped, stared, measured, gulped water, apologised and made the arduous climb. Somehow, after a heroic effort, I crossed Banihal and was staring at the valley. I cant articulate the relief I felt at that time. There were some who clicked pictures of my struggles while I was negotiating the moonscape earlier who waved to me later. Anyway, to cut a long story short, I crossed Qazikund tunnel and parked up by the side, grabbed my packed breakfast and stared as the dirty car that had taken me this far. That is when I was convinced the fellow would go the distance come what may. Gave the dirty car a pat and zoomed into the beautiful morning never feeling the need for music!

[megazoid]

The plan was to head to Daksum and enjoy some quiet time doing the Sinthan pass. By now the heat of the plains was a distant memory and I was freezing from head to toe. The woollens had to come out and copious amount of hot tea had to be washed down for survival.


Jktdc Daksum


Sinthan top drive


Hike inside the forests at Daksum

[megazoid]

Two days later, drove to Srinagar via anantnag and the number of security personnel on the road took me by surprise. There were so many of them lining the streets. Anantnag was chaotic with very unruly traffic. This was a common observation that I had all acorss J&K. The driving is extremely aggressive and one has to be very careful motoring here. On top of this, the roads are narrow with plenty of blind turns. So caution is advised. Checked into my place of stay at srinagar and the heavens opened up. It rained like monsoon times but i was prepared. Took a poncho and an umbrella and walked around the Dal lake in the rain. It was an exhilarating experience to see the Shikaras and the Dal once again, bringing back old memories. Tried out Stream and Lhasa for food and found them both very good. Thought of retiring early as I had to pick my wife from the airport the next day. Before I forget mentioning this, the whole of srinagar is undergoing a revamp for the G20 summit and that meant lots and lots of road and pavement laying and beautification. Travel times were inflated and the roads were congested on account of this. The general public was understandably irritated at this but in the long run it will surely be beneficial.


Beautiful house


The lovely cottage


Parking at Khajana Cottage

Srinagar airport is a place that can teach one patience. Queues are long and the frisking is tedious. One has no option but to endure the process. The only wise thng I did was to empty the car at the place of stay so that I did not have anything more than an engine under the bonnet and a spare wheel in the trunk. This saved me a ton of time, else I would have had to open and close each box before making my way into the parking. Flight was on time and now the lonely drives were over after many days. We took it easy in the coming coming days. Visited Ahdoos for food, shopped in the markets, walked a lot, visited Badam wari, Dhoodpatri and few other places and by then Srinagar started feeling like home. I was loving the Kashmiri cuisine. The Trami was terrific even though the noon chai took some time getting used to.


Sunset on Dal

[megazoid]

Dhoodpatri was a place that blew our mind with its ravishing beauty. Simply stunning views welcomes the tourist and there was no dearth of opportunities for photographs. In addiiton, Badam wari was beautiful for long walks. Saw MH, KA, BR, DL, UP, MP, LA, CH, HR, HP, RJ, GJ, WB registration plates in taxi and private form in addition to the JK ones at Srinagar.



Dhoodpatri


Enroute Dhoodpatri


Dhoodpatri


We got up really early at 4.30 one of the days and hopped onto a Shikara to visit the floating vegetable market on Dal Lake. This is where fruits, vegetables and flowers are bought and sold on Shikaras. It is a sight to behold the vendors fix prices rowing their shikaras. Two decades ago, hundreds and hundreds of shikaras would be part of the market but now it is a much smaller number as other ways of trading have become easier. Yet another highlight is Mushtaq bhai's Kashmiri Kehwa that he prepares and sells from a Shikara at the floating vegetable market. He is a celebrity and has developed this unique style of doing business.


Idyllic setting


Floating vegetable market on Dal lake

[megazoid]

The next leg of the trip was to Gurez valley and one we were eagerly looking forward to. The fickle weather compounded our misery and the travel advisory stated that vechles with chains only will be allowed up the Razdan pass. With a 2mm gap between the wheel arch and the tire edge, putting a chain was an impossibility and by then the weather had turned worse. We dropped the idea of driving the pass in the car and parked at Bandipora and took a scorpio to go to Gurez valley. It was just good fortune that we did this as the road was littered with fallen rocks and snow and the dirt road past Razdan to Dawar was a slush fest. The scorpio was just brilliant and Umar Lone was an excellent pilot. He drove brillianty and we contributed by screaming in joy seeing the vistas every few minutes. It was good that someone else was driving as the scenery was just astounding and we gaped stupidly around wondering if this was the most beautiful thing we had ever seen. Razdan is one of the most beautiful passes I have traversed and I have seen a few. It was a surreal experience and we enjoyed this drive.


Razdan pass


Razdan again


The mighty landscape


surreal


Kaka palace in dawar is an unassuming place and the best place to stay for a very simple reason. The hosts are just fabulous. In both behavior and execution, they are an unmatched outfit. When we spoke to them about our car not being able to climb the pass, the enterprising hotel owner made sure we safely parked it in his relatives place in Bandipora and arranged the scorpio for us at very reasonable rates for the entire duration of the Gurez trip. The food was unimaginably good at Kaka palace and it was one of the places where we were overwhelmed by the hospitality on offer.
Habba Khatoon, Gujran drive and izmarg were on the cards and we managed these in the next few days and also shopped in the remote dawar market for some kashmiiri specials. The maggie at the razdan top was spicy and specially suited for the biting cold. The scenery is splendid and the weather very unpredictable. Since this area is very very close to the border, there is heavy military presence and your credentials are checked very frequently. But the whole experience of being in the cut off Dardistan was unbelievable. People were so gracious and nice and we got invited by random people for tea to their homes. They were curious and puzzled but were extremely warm. Met Fakir Mohammed, a ninety year old gentleman at Habba Khatoon who greeted us effusively and told stories of how tourists come from far away "Hindustan" to visit the place which made us smile. They are so cut off from mainstream life that their village is everything for them. He was wonderful to talk to and the evening spent with him will surely stay with us.


Izmarg


our hired scorpio


enchanting Gurez valley


Habba Khatoon


Men of Tulail


A smile that wipes away all worry





the scorpio that took us to Gurez

[megazoid]

We got back to Bandipora, bid farewell to the talented Umar and got back into our car and headed to Srinagar. It was raining heavily but Srinagar had become a very familiar place by now and we knew our way around well enough. Managed to dodge traffic and make some smart moves and get to our place of stay by the Nigeen lake that was beautiful and had a brother sistser pair running it who were absolutely fun to be with. We had a whale of a time at the home and topics ranged from autism in kids to militancy to sensible tourism and a hell of a lot of other little things. It was fun to be with Yusuf and Rubi at their quaint place.


Yusuf and Rubi's place at Srinagar


The two hundred year old Chinar trees in the property


Flower man at Nigeen

[megazoid]

Next hop was Aharbal jktdc that was a three hour drive from srinagar that we dispatched off without incident. It was incredibly cold at Aharbal and we had to use our camping stove to keep ourselves warm at night. The Aharbal waterfall is a ten minute walk form the Jktdc stay and is incredibly beautiful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-L49MusEbPE

We also spent time in the apple village of Shopian and drove the Mughal road toward peer ki gali. The sights were astounding but the hills were extremely landslide prone and was shut for tourist traffic.


apple town Shopian


The bimmer in its habitat


Falcon territory


Mind numbing scale


mountain life


steed



I got a call from Srinagar that I had left my laptop charger in the room. So we drove back to Srinagar and picked the charger, making that an excuse to go to Ahdoos one more time. My wife was to return by a Go air flight and it was then we received news that the airline had filed for bankruptcy and all flights were cancelled. Wife decided to fly out of Delhi instead and we drove from Srinagar to Delhi and I was happy as that meant I would get company on my way back toward Jammu on the crater road that we had to traverse.

Anyway, Kashmir was just spectacularly beautiful and no words can describe how blessed we are to have this paradise. The hospitality was outstanding and we came back richer for the experience. Thanks to Shivali for clicking tons of pictures while I held on to the wheel. As for the car, it did not miss a beat and performed as expected. I took it on some seriously bad sections but with some care it made it everywhere.

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[wheelnpaddock]

Lovely travelogue. Different from the usual. What got me glued was the opening line of going to Kashmir in a Bimmer.

You make light of what must have been some truly arduous driving so much that the reader enjoys the drive too.

Good pics. Is that a dashcam / Gopro on the exterior of the windshield and if so was it safe to leave it as such in parking areas?

Thanks for sharing!

[graaja]

What a beautiful travelogue, Megazoid! As always you bring to life, the landscape, the people and culture of places you visit. Reading your travelogues always triggers that itch to immediately take the car out and drive to the place.

It is great to see that you took the 330i. The car looks just awesome amidst the grand scenes of the Himalayas. Your drive gives me confidence to take my 3GT to Hanle this year.

[androdev]

Wow, that's one epic road trip with amazing photos. You are asking Bangalore Thar owners some tough questions :-)


Edit: Did you make any formal contingency plan specially keeping the 330i in mind (lowered as well)? Like potential RSA locations along the road, arranging alternate transport if required, etc.

[Dr.AD]

Wow! Absolutely stunning! Only a certain @megazoid can pull of something like this.

When I saw the title "Kashmir in a BMW 330i" on the homepage, I was stunned right there. We know plenty of BMW owners who use their cars as garage queens or for some local drives at best. And here we have someone from drove it all the way to Kashmir. And when I clicked on the link, I was not surprised at all to see that it was of course, the famous Mr. and Mrs. Megazoid doing this. You guys are truly amazing. Take a bow, both of you!

Absolutely fantastic travelogue. The story of someone driving a BMW from Bangalore to Kashmir is hair-raisingly exciting by itself. And on top of that, your explorations within Kashmir, the breathtaking photography, and that white car that looks so so sweet (not only in the literal sense of that F30 design and the lowered stance - that of course is a timeless look by itself- but more so because that particular car has done this all and has so many amazing stories to tell, that all oozes out from its looks. Man, if that car could talk, I can listen to it all day and all night), all of these make this one of the most astonishing travelogues on this forum.

Thank you very much for sharing this. This is inspirational stuff at the highest level. You guys rock!

[Oppanna]

What a brilliant thread Megazoid. The moment i saw the thread title i knew it was you and only you can do something like this!

Brilliant capture and narration as usual which kept me hooked to the thread and completed in one go.

Super!!