[Dr.AD]

Photologue from Kashmir: Prologue

Evening Scenes at Dal Lake, Srinagar

The pilot of our flight from Bangalore to Srinagar was quite poetic. In his cabin announcement before landing at Srinagar, he described the weather in Srinagar as "chanchal aur beimaan" (fickle and dishonest), and also announced that Kashmir is his favorite place by reciting these oft-quoted poetic lines:

Agar firdaus bar ru-ye zamin ast
Hamin ast-o hamin ast-o hamin ast

If there is heaven on earth
It is this, it is this, it is this!

As I and my better half spent the next 5 days in Kashmir, we realized that he was spot on about his description of the weather there, and allowing for a poetic license, many places we visited were apt for those poetic lines he recited too.

In the 5 days we spent there (in the month of September), the first day the weather was cloudy, cool and breezy, and with intermittent showers (the perfect weather for walking around and exploring places), then the next couple of days it became sunny and quite pleasant, and in the last two days (which we spent in Sonmarg which is supposed to be much cooler than Srinagar), it was actually bright sunny and hot.

The September scenes there were the typical autumn scenes. There was no snow anywhere yet (except on the distant glaciers), neither was it too cold. And it was not too hot either. The perfect mix of summer and winter weathers, and so was the case with the landscapes too. We got typical autumn landscapes - mix of green and yellow grass and leaves, plenty of blooming flowers everywhere, and mostly clear blue skies.

In this post, let me give a brief information about our hotels and itinerary, before moving on to the main content - the photographs from Kashmir - in the subsequent posts.

We had a simple itinerary. We spent two days in exploring Srinagar city and visiting various places in and around the city, then spent a day in a day-trip to Gulmarg and Doodhpathri, and then did a two-day trip to Sonmarg, with an overnight stay in Sonmarg. This was a fairly relaxed plan, and the last two days in Sonmarg were especially relaxing where we got plenty of time to relax in a beautiful hotel enjoying the scenery, and also walk around enjoying the views of the glacier. For all this travel there, we used a taxi from a company named "Kashmir Tourism Cabs", and had a good experience with them.

In Srinagar, we stayed at "Four Points by Sheraton", and it turned out to be a very nice hotel. We had a spacious and well-appointed room, the hotel itself had great ambiance, the restaurant there was excellent and the staff exhibited extraordinary levels of hospitality and service standards. We loved our stay there of four days. The only negative was that this hotel is a bit away from the scenic parts of Srinagar (Dal lake area), and is situated in rather boring city areas with nothing interesting to see around the hotel.

Our spacious room at Four Points by Sheraton:


If the location of our Srinagar hotel was not scenic, we compensated for that by staying at a very scenic and iconic hotel in Sonmarg, called "Snowland Sonmarg".

Snowland Sonmarg is one of the best hotels in Sonmarg, located right next to Sindh river (we had Sindh river views right from our balcony) and the mountains as well. The suite we had was very nice too, and we had river and hill views everywhere as we walked around in the hotel premises.

The scenic hotel located next to the hills and river:



Our room had a nice traditional Kashmiri decor:



We we had a separate living room as a part of the suite, with an electric fireplace too:



River views from our balcony:



The bathroom had this "Jacuzzi with a view":



Parting shot of the hotel where we spent two days and enjoyed a relaxed time and great views:


With that basic travel information out of the way, let me share the photographs from this trip in the subsequent posts below.

[Dr.AD]

Dal Lake and "Char Chinar"

Dal Lake is of course the most famous "attraction" in Srinagar, and indeed an amazing place. Dal Lake is a vast area, mush bigger than it looks like when you visit Dal Lake near crowded city areas. But once you go out in the open parts of the lake, away from the city shores, then you realize how vast and beautiful it is. The best way to enjoy the lake is in a shikara - a hand-paddled wooden boat that is ubiquitous on Dal Lake - at that too in the evening hours.

We spent two separate evenings - about 2 hours each evening - enjoying a shikara ride through Dal Lake, and watching the beautiful sunset views and the play of light and shadow through the clouds. We went away from the city areas, out in the open water, and that is where we got the best experience of Dal Lake.

Dal Lake is also a thriving market place. There are a couple of floating markets with shops lined up right next to water and you visit these shops in your shikaras. But much more than these floating shops, there are uncountable number of vendors and sellers selling stuff in their own shikaras. They keep selling a variety of things - fruits, snacks, tea/coffee/kahwah (the famous Kashmiri tea), pakodas, wooden crafts and gift items, jewellery, and many other small items - on their shikara and they keep bumping into the tourist's shikaras to sell them this stuff.

It was a fascinating sight to see this buzzing marketplace on the lake. We had tea and kahwah from one of these floating sellers, and it was awesome! It was a great experience to sip on a fresh hot tea, on the middle of the serene lake, enjoying cool evening breeze, and with beautiful views all around!

The ubiquitous shikaras on Dal Lake - we got into one of these for a nice evening ride:



It was cloudy, with the sunlight coming through the clouds, creating such beautiful visuals on the lake as we headed towards the open parts of the lake:



Motion blur shot from our moving shikara (that hilltop fort in the silhouette is the famous "Hari Parbat Fort" - more on that later):



The floating market:



This fruit seller gave a nice pose:



Wooden items for sale in another shikara:



Jewellery sold on yet another shikara:



A floating restaurant in the middle of the lake - shikaras pull over next to it and you get your order delivered in your shikara:



The evening sunlight through clouds created such magical views in the far shore:



While I was enjoying that magical view, another shikara appeared in the frame, giving me one of my most favorite photographs from this trip:

Char Chinar

"Char Chinar" is a tiny man-made island in the middle of Dal Lake. It has four chinar trees (one on each corner), and hence the name - char chinar! Chinar trees are the characteristic trees of Kashmir, and these four chinar trees on a tiny island form a nice landmark in the middle of the lake. There is also a small park there. You can see this landmark in the deep water, from most parts of the lake, and it looked very inviting. So the next day, around sunset time, we hired another shikara and told the boatman to take us to this island to enjoy sunset views from there. This turned out to be one of the best experiences of our Kashmir trip!

Approaching Char Chinar from a shikara:



Sunset through one of the four chinar trees there:



Sunstars! Got a sunstar shot from one of the chinar trees:



Silhouette of the tree and the park area there:



Sunset time, with the famous Hari Parbat Fort in the silhouette:

[Dr.AD]

Srinagar and Around:

We visited several interesting places in and around Srinagar city. That included many gardens (the famous "mogul gardens"), the Shri Shankaracharya Temple, and a couple of old forts and palaces around the city. While I did not find any specially appealing photographic composition in those well-manicured gardens, I found some solo flower shots more appealing, and I have included a few of those below.

Shri Sankaracharya Temple was a great place to start our sightseeing trip in the early hours of the day! We loved climbing up (it has around 250 steps to climb) the hill full of lush green trees, the absolutely serene and spiritual ambiance at the top, and the great views of the lake from all around the top of the temple. It is a wonderful place. Unfortunately, it was very hazy and foggy in that early hours, and the photographs from there - especially the telephoto images of the distant views - came out all hazy. Although the views were very scenic to the eyes, the photos do not do justice to that and I decided not to include any of those photos here.

Out of the other places we visited, the two places that we liked the most are "Pari Mahal" - a beautiful ancient palace located on the hills with lovely gardens all around and breathtaking views of the lake and the city from the many terraces of the Mahal - and a hilltop fort called "Hari Parbat Fort". Hari Parbat is a proper hill fort and requires a good amount of climbing to reach the top. But is has nicely built steps to climb, and the climb was fun! This fort is under army control, and is maintained immaculately well by the army! Just like Pari Mahal, this Hari Parbat fort also offers breathtaking 360 degree views of the city and the lake areas. Both these places overlook different parts of the city and have contrasting views from the top - while Pari Mahal shows the lush green resorts and golf courses and the plush areas of the city, Hari Parbat shows the views of the congested old city and tightly packed houses. Nevertheless, both views are magnificent!

Pari Mahal, one of the nice places we visited around Srinagar:



Views from one of the terraces of Pari Mahal:



You can see the golf course, the resorts, and the lake from here:


Pari Mahal, like most other places in Srinagar, has a well manicured and immaculately maintained garden around it, full of colorful roses and other flowers. As I said, somehow I never felt any garden composition interesting for photography, but found these solo flower shots (especially roses) quite interesting.

One of the thousands of beautiful roses we saw in Kashmir:



Colorful Dahlia:



Red Rose:



And an orangish one:



Bright pink:



Finally, elegant white:


Lunch at "Vivanta Dal View": For lunch, we visited the magnificent Taj Vivanta, Dal View hotel. This hotel is famous for breathtaking lake views and a restaurant on the lakeside. And it did not disappoint us. The place, the ambiance, the location, the views, the service, and above all the food, everything was absolutely fantastic! This place was so good that I felt stupid for not choosing this place for stay. Nevertheless, the lunch was a great experience too. This lakeside restaurant would have been ideal for a dinner over sunset views, but somehow we ended up going there for lunch and enjoyed that anyway.

Our table with a lake view:



Table in the shape of a shikara, with breathtaking views:


We got delicious authentic Kashmiri vegetarian food (yes, we are vegetarians!) here at Vivanta Dal View. The chef came to talk to us and made local dishes otherwise not in the menu on our request. The entire food and service experience was absolutely top notch!

Nadru Yakhni (lotus stems in a white gravy), Haak Saag (Kashmiri spinach), and Kashmiri Pulao (full of walnuts, raisins and chunks of apple, along with other spices), made to perfection for our lunch:


After that sumptuous and relaxed lunch at Vivanta Dal View, where we also spent some time just enjoying the views and the breeze from the open air lakeside location, we continued exploring other places and went to Nishat Garden, one of the most famous mogul gardens in Srinagar.

Nishat Garden was thriving with people and activities in that evening hour, and once again, instead of the views of the manicured gardens, I found the street views there more interesting.

People having a good time at Nishat Garden in the evening:



Dal Lake views in front of Nishat Garden:



Hari Parbat Fort: This is a fort at the top of a hill, probably the highest point around the city, and is currently under army control. Army has maintained it immaculately well and has built nice steps to climb atop, with a couple of benches along the way for mid-climb rest. The fort offers breathtaking views from the top. You need a government issued ID card, which is checked by the army personnel, and after making the appropriate entries, they allow you permission to enter and climb up. Climbing up the stairs, with great aerial views all along, and then walking around atop the fort was a fantastic experience! We spent a good two hours here overall, and loved it.

Top view of the fort, after climbing up:



Views from the side of the fort:



Views of the city and the lakes, from the fort (do not miss the cricket ground there, where a local cricket match was going on -which we could see from close later from another location):



The crowded and congested old city areas on the other side of the fort:



Finally, found this kite flying over the hazy and congested city background an interesting composition that I could not resist sharing here:

[Dr.AD]

Old City Areas and Streets

We spent one afternoon in Srinagar exploring the old city areas, the famous mosques and shrines, and the buzzing streets in the old city and around the shrines.

The first stop was the famous "Jamia Masjid" in Srinagar. This is a famous mosque known for its architectural beauty, and has a major historical, cultural and religious significance. Approach to this mosque is through very crowded, congested and narrow streets, and we got stuck in traffic jams everywhere. However, once we reached there, it was very peaceful and beautiful. Spending a quiet time at this mosque, appreciating the beauty of the structure and its significance was a great experience.

View of the Masjid from one of the grand entry doors:



View from the main courtyard:



This mosque's architecture is famous for these huge wooden pillars, and 378 such wooden pillars are used in the interiors of the mosque:



Next we visited the famous Dargah Hazratbal Shrine, on the shores of Dal Lake. This is a very beautiful large structure and a complex built on the shores of the lake, with nice landscaped gardens all around. Right at the entry and on the compound walls around this shrine, there were boards saying photography and videography is not allowed without a prior written permission. Therefore, I could not take any photos of this shrine. Surprisingly, despite the clear notice, I saw plenty of people taking photos and videos everywhere there, quite openly, by both mobile phone cameras as well as proper cameras. Maybe the restrictions apply only to some specific areas. Anyways, I decided to follow the rule as I read it, and did not do any photography inside the compound of this shrine!

Although I did not take photos inside the compound, let me share a few photos from the buzzing streets and the beautiful lake views outside the shrine.

Shikaras parked in the lake outside the shrine:



Views of the lake and the mountains from outside the shrine:


The area around the shrine was thriving with local market lanes, buzzing with shops selling a variety of gift items, toys, and other stuff. One lane was full of food vendors selling the famous local food, mostly the sweets and the fried stuff like pakodas.

Shops selling freshly made sweets and snacks:



The large gulab jamuns (the large one you see in the picture was about 6 inches in diameter!) looked tempting and delicious:



A massive plate of halwa (hard to judge the size in the image, but this plate was about 4 feet in diameter):



And equally massive parathas (these parathas were about 3 feet in diameter)


Pieces of these large parathas and halwa are sold by weight, and this paratha-halwa combo is one of the local delicacies. And then there were plenty of fresh hot pakodas, straight out of the frying pan, kept in huge bowls too.

An afternoon though this old city areas was a great experience to see the local culture, streets and the delicious local food culture.

[Dr.AD]

Gulmarg and Doodhpathri

We did a day trip from Srinagar to Gulmarg and Doodhpathri. Both of these locations are famous for scenic meadows, hills, and views.

Of course, Gulmarg is famous for skiing and the winter sports. However, in these autumn times, since there was no snow, obviously there was no skiing and no winter sports. Nevertheless, Gulmarg is a popular place to visit for the views and the scenic locations even in these non-snow months.

The main attraction in Gulmarg is the famous Gondola ride (cable car ride) that takes you on top of the mountains. There are two stages of these Gondola ride, called Phase 1 and Phase 2. Phase 1 takes you from the base level to one viewpoint on top of one mountain. And from there, Phase 2 takes you further up on the top of the biggest mountain there, which is mostly used for skiing in winters. Honestly, in summer months, there is nothing here other than the views.

One has to buy tickets for this Gondola online beforehand, at this website: https://www.jammukashmircablecar.com/

I had bought tickets for both Phase 1 and Phase 2 in advance. However, as I had read in many reviews, they shut down Phase 2 many times, and they refund you your money. Although I had bought these tickets a week in advance, on the morning of our visit to Gulmarg, I got an email saying my money had been refunded. The email was very confusing and it did not give any reason or explanation. They simply refunded the money. Then on Googling, we read the news that the Gondolas as getting shut down for annual maintenance for about a week or so, and Phase 2 had already shut down. Even Phase 1 was going to get shut down for maintenance in a few days, but at least that day it was working fine and we got to experience this gondola ride up to Phase 1.

The famous gondola (cable car) in Gulmarg:



Views after reaching Phase 1 point of the gondola:



View of the Gulmarg city, and notice the massive high Himalayan range in the far distance, which can be easily mistaken for clouds:



Typical Gulmarg landscape (notice the tiny looking sheep in the foreground):


After the gondola ride, we visited a couple of scenic viewpoints around Gulmarg mountains.

Mountain views from one of the viewpoints (notice the river flowing through the bottom of the valleys):



From another viewpoint:



Mountains full of pine trees:



After spending about half a day in Gulmarg, we went to another famous place, Doodhpathri. Doodhpathri, roughly means "valley of milk", named so because of the milky white water of the river flowing through the hills there. Doodhpathri has beautiful green meadows, charming roads going through these meadows, hills all around, and through the middle of this, a river flowing which looks as white as milk. A small walk takes one to the river, and it is fun walking around on the rocks and boulders around the river and dip your feet in the fresh cold water! Doodhpathri was a lovely place and we had a great time there.

"Autumn in Kashmir", landscapes from the side of the road while doing to Doodhpathri:



The quintessential green meadows and roads leading to the river view point in Doodhpathri:



The famous river there, known as "Shali Ganga River" (a handheld long exposure shot):



Another view of the meadows:


The road to Doodhpathri is very scenic, and just driving around these roads and enjoying the viewpoints from the road itself was a great experience. I must admit I sorely missed driving my own car there. Getting driven around there in a taxi was not even 10% of the fun one would have driving their own cars there. Alas!

This road not only had great views, but also had great roadside dhabas selling freshly made food. Our driver told us these dhabas have very tasty and hegemonic food, and he took us to places that serve fresh hot "Makki ki rotiand sarson ka saag". The lady at that dhaba made fresh rotis in front of us, and served us fresh hot rotis straight from the tawa.

The many roadside stalls selling fresh hot food, tea, and kahwah:



And these stalls had such seating arrangement, with nice views all around:



We had this absolutely fresh, hot and delicious food there of Makki ki roti and sarson ka saag:


And of course, it goes without saying that we also had kahwah there which was very nice! Just for the sake of curiosity, I also tried the local tea called "noon chai" or "pink tea" (it looks pink in color), which is a salted variation of tea. The locals love this tea and most local people told us they drink only this pink tea. However, it is surely an acquired taste and it is hard to like it when one drinks it for the first time.

Pink tea and kahwah served at the dhaba, in humble paper cups (otherwise the kahwah is usually served in nice decorative cups); pink tea (salted tea) is an acquired taste, but the kahwah was absolutely fantastic:

[Dr.AD]

Sonmarg and Thajiwas Glacier Hike

The last two days of our trip involved travel to Sonmarg, and a walk/hike to the famous "Thajiwas Glacier viewpoint". Most people take a horseback ride to reach this viewpoint, but we decided to walk. The walk is so much more fun, and besides, it was painful to see the tired horses being forced to walk carrying people.

The horse owners there will try very hard to sell you a horseback ride. They will follow you everywhere and keep running into you and keep asking for horse rides. We politely refused each time and continued walking.

This walk/hike is relatively simple in most parts, but in some sections it requires climbing up and down small hilly stretches on narrow paths made of large stones or rocks. Apart from a couple of such tricky sections, it was more or less easy. The main fun of the walk is that it offers great views all around while you are walking. It is a very scenic walk for sure. And further, as you reach closer to the glacier viewpoint, a small river flows next to the walking path and it is a great fun to stop there, dip your feet in the river, and play in the refreshing water and take breaks there. Overall, we walked about 7km in total (round trip) including small detours here and there on some nearby hills. We enjoyed every single moment of this 7km journey. Walking by ourselves, enjoying the views, taking small detours, playing in the river, all this was so much more fun than the cumbersome and painful horse ride, pushing the poor tired horse to climb up with the load on its back. For anyone with a reasonable fitness level, walking would be the best option there.

For those who are unable to walk for whatever reasons, a much better option (than taking a horse ride) exists and that is battery powered buggies operated by J&K tourism department, from another starting point. Of course, those buggies can not travel on this trail, which is quite a narrow and steep walking trail at places. But there is actually a wider and flatter path (and much longer too), from another starting point, and there the battery powered buggies are available. In fact, we did this trail walking the first day, and second day, in the morning hours, tried this buggy ride again just for the fun of it. Also, the first day it was quite hazy and the sun was glaring at us from the side of the glaciers, making it very difficult to get decent photos. Therefore, I wanted another chance of photographing the glaciers with better position of the sun. Thus, in the end, we did two trips to the glaciers area, one by walking and another in an electric buggy, and the photos shared below are a mix of the two trips.

The road from Srinagar to Sonmarg is quite scenic, and runs alongside Sindh river. You get good views of the river and mountains from the road, and there are also a few viewpoints on the side where you can pull over and see the river. We stopped at a couple of such view points in this journey.

Sindh river, at one of the road-side viewpoints:



Another view of the Sindh river:



After reaching Sonmarg, we started on the glacier trail immediately, and were greeted by such glacier views already:



Meadows and hills all around as we started walking:



View of the Sonmarg town nestled amidst the surrounding hills:



The official start of the trail, with the "Thajiwas Wildlife Sanctuary" board:



Pretty houses on the side (I think this is the J&K Tourism Department Bungalow) in the landscape:



Scenic mountains all around (you can see the trail section in the bottom with horse riders there):



Some of the easier and flatter sections of the walk, but this is a long walk (the shortcuts involve more ups and down on the hills):



This plateau is called "gol maidan", and we were told this is a popular spot for film shootings, including the famous Hindi movie "Satte pe Sattta":



As we got closer to the glacier viewpoint, we got views like these:



More views of the glacier:



A river that runs next to the trail:


We stopped next to that river, took a break, enjoyed the river views and the refreshing cold water. And moreover, I also got opportunities to try river photos with hand-held long exposure photography.

River photography:



This is the last point of the trek, and this is the glacier view point:


This is only the glacier view point where this relatively simpler trek ends. This is not the actual glacier (although mistakenly most people call this point itself as Thajiwas Glacier). The actual Thajiwas Glacier is still further ahead, and there is a much more difficult and long trek further ahead if one wants to go to the actual glacier. Our plan was to only walk till this glacier viewpoint (as most people do).

The views from the glacier view point:



Views of the river that flows down from the distant glaciers:



More hand-held long-exposure photography of this river:



River with the distant glaciers in the backdrop:



Parting shot of the general landscape from that viewpoint:

[Dr.AD]

Epilogue

On the final day of our trip, we saw a beautiful sunrise in the morning, and then the lovely morning light spread around everywhere, tempting me to do a walk with my camera.

As I stepped out, this bright yellow sunflower welcoming the morning sun greeted me, right outside our room:


Thankfully, the glaciers were visible from right outside the hotel, and I got to see the magic of the morning rays on the glacier. Photography is all about light, and I got to see and photograph the glaciers in different lighting conditions. Let me share those photos here, showing the play of the light.

This was the view the previous evening, of the last rays of the day (sun is on the right hand side of the frame):



The last rays of the day on the top of the mountains:



And now at the exact same spot, the first rays of the day (the morning sun is on the left hand side of the frame):



Parting shot from that lovely morning, with horses grazing in the front of the glacier views:


As I mentioned earlier, we did another trip to the glaciers view point on the day, but in an electric buggy this time. To be honest, the buggy ride was not even 10% as much fun as the walk the previous day. But the main purpose of the buggy ride was to see the glaciers in different lighting conditions, and some of those photos are already included in the above post.

We spent some more time enjoying the lovely glacier views, and then drove back to Srinagar and caught a night flight back to Bangalore.

And that brings us to the end of this trip. We spent just 5 days in Kashmir, but came back with plenty of memories and had a great time there.

And now to answer to that poetic pilot of our flight to Srinagar, who recited those famous lines in context of the beauty of Kashmir, I would like to reply by quoting a sher by Qaisar Ul Zafri, with my loose interpretation (not a strict translation) in English:

तुम्हारे शहर का मौसम बड़ा सुहाना लगे
मैं एक शाम चुरा लूँ अगर बुरा न लगे

The scenes in your city are quite charming to my mind
Let me steal an evening from there, if you would not mind!

That is all from this short trip. Thank you very much for reading!

[KarthikK]

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

Great autumn pictures and captivating narration as always, of an exotic destination .

[SnS_12]

Beautiful pictures. I am not sure what were your dates of travel in September but I and my wife did a four day trip from 4/9 to 8/9 and we stayed in the opposite room from yours in Snow Land. My only complain from this property was the quality of food, while the breakfast overall was good the dishes served at Lunch and Dinner could have been better..

Some Pictures from my end…

This was our second trip to Gulmarg and this time we took the Gondola ride only for the food on our first day of arrival.



One of the best Dum Aloo’s we ever had was in Phase 1 and we visited again to fulfil our craving for the same.



Room no 4008 in Snow Land in Sonmarg



Beautiful Room



The living area that we didn’t use much



Except for enjoying the views it offered



But the main highlight has to be the Sindh river view. We spent our morning and evening soaking in the view from the balcony



Just breathtaking views from every corner



Fresh apple juice was a must every morning



The property has some amazing flowers all around









Same photo spot like yours where we stopped to admire the Sindh river for one last time on our return journey to Srinagar

[busydrive]

Amazing as always. Another great photologue with good details. Loved the photographs. Kashmir is so beautiful.
How is the Gulmarg chaos now a days for people who want a day trip? Earlier it used to be a tough job managing the so called guides and pony/horse fellows who created a mess of people trying to walk to the Gandola from the parking. Also Srinagar vehicles had to stop at one place (Tanmarg?) if I am not wrong.

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by KarthikK

Great autumn pictures and captivating narration as always, of an exotic destination .

Thanks a lot, @Karthik!

Originally Posted by SnS_12

Beautiful pictures. I am not sure what were your dates of travel in September but I and my wife did a four day trip from 4/9 to 8/9 and we stayed in the opposite room from yours in Snow Land.

Thank you. We were there in the 3rd week of September.

My only complain from this property was the quality of food, while the breakfast overall was good the dishes served at Lunch and Dinner could have been better..

OK, I see. For us, we liked the lunch and dinner there too. We had no issues with food in that property.

Originally Posted by busydrive

Amazing as always. Another great photologue with good details. Loved the photographs. Kashmir is so beautiful.

Thank you very much!

How is the Gulmarg chaos now a days for people who want a day trip? Earlier it used to be a tough job managing the so called guides and pony/horse fellows who created a mess of people trying to walk to the Gandola from the parking.

I think it is much better now. Also, our local taxi driver was an expert and a good guide himself, and he took us directly to the gondola ride station avoiding all the agents and the guides on the way. Also, at most places in Kashmir, these agents/guides/sellers keep approaching you again and again, but with a firm and polite no, they all went away. We really did not have much trouble. I had read a lot of stories about these, but turns out if you do not engage with them in any discussion but simply say "no, thank you!", then they get the point and they go away.

Also Srinagar vehicles had to stop at one place (Tanmarg?) if I am not wrong.

That is only in the winter when there is a lot of snow there. In peak snow conditions, the outside vehicles are stopped in Tanmarg and only vehicles with chained wheels can go further. The local taxis offer these chained wheel vehicles for further journey from Tanmarg. In summers and dry weather, there is no such issue and all vehicles from private cars to taxis from Srinagar were all going to Gulmarg without any issue whatsoever!

As I mentioned, our taxi went all the way to the gondola station and that is where we were dropped.

[Shutter_art]

A great travelogue with the mesmerizing beauty of Kashmir.
Very well captured

[silverado]

Beautifull pics, i am very lucky to have experienced Kashmir way back in 2004.
It is mesmerizing and these memories will stay with you for a long time.

Mountains in North are like magnets they will keep attracting you with their towering heights and beauty.

[megazoid]

Good one AD. Nice collection of pictures and experiences. There is so much variety in this country that it never ceases to amaze. The canvas is so breathtaking that all one needs is a camera in hand and a relaxed mind.

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by Shutter_art

A great travelogue with the mesmerizing beauty of Kashmir.
Very well captured

Thank you very much!

Originally Posted by silverado

Beautifull pics, i am very lucky to have experienced Kashmir way back in 2004.
It is mesmerizing and these memories will stay with you for a long time.

Thanks! Wow, Kashmir in 2004 must have been a great experience, before it became the crowded tourist place that it is today.

Mountains in North are like magnets they will keep attracting you with their towering heights and beauty.

Very true!

Originally Posted by megazoid

Good one AD. Nice collection of pictures and experiences.

Thanks a lot, @megazoid!

BTW, your own travelogue on Kashmir in your 330i is something that I always remember and remembered through this trip. The photo you shared of your car in Doodhpathri was the inspiration for my photo of the same spot. This is the photo from your travelogue that I am referring to: https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/attac...p_dsc_6395.jpg

So thanks for your own report that I am sure inspired many including me.

There is so much variety in this country that it never ceases to amaze. The canvas is so breathtaking that all one needs is a camera in hand and a relaxed mind.

Very true! As I sometimes jokingly say, all I need is a car and a camera, and I am happy anywhere :-)