A trip to Paradise
Last year that is in June 2005, I visited “Paradise on Earth”. I hope you must have guessed about which place I am talking. Yes, it’s “Jammu & Kashmir”. After eons of deaths and sorrow, the state has recently opened for tourists. Though terror persists, the army is successful to stave off tourists from a spate of attacks. Thanks to the BSF men. This is what the main reason is for a large number of tourists found in Kashmir last year. Hearing all this, even my family decided to visit Kashmir last year. We have already had memorable trips to Nainital and Sikkim earlier. Now it was the time for most awaited “Kashmir”. Many people have a dream to visit this paradise on Earth. Really, it is HEAVEN.
We left Jabalpur (in Madhya Pradesh) on 17th of June. We had to go to Jammu via New Delhi, so, we first left for Delhi. Landing the Hazrat Nizammudin station, we left for our hotels, which were already booked. Reaching the hotels, we refreshed ourselves and decided to visit various tourist places in New Delhi. We visited a number of places like India Gate, Rashtrapati Bhawan, Lotus Temple, Appu Ghar, Isckon Temple, Kutub Meenar, Indira Gandhi Bhawan in Safdarjung etc. Above all, the Delhi Metro was the most happening and refreshing. After spending the whole day in Sun (as it was June and on top of it Delhi), a fully air-conditioned train with the speed of a hurricane was no less than Heaven.
The next day we had a train for Jammu. Until Delhi, we were two families, but in the train for Jammu my uncle’s family also joined us who were travelling in the train from Indore. Finally, we left for Jammu. We started in the morning circa 7:30 am and we reached Jammu in the evening about 7:00 pm. Therefore, it was almost a 12-hour journey. We reached our booked hotels and decided to take rest for that day. We had our dinner and went into our respective rooms to sleep.
Now the real enjoyment starts. The next day we hired our private mini matador. It was a 16-seater compact bus having comfortable seats and ventilation (ha ha ha…). We left Jammu. The whole way to Srinagar, we played Antakshari, enjoyed listening songs, played jokes and much stuff. As we came closer to Srinagar, we could see sylvan beauty around us. On one side, there were mountains; the other side was deep valley. Every time the bus took a turn, all felt that the bus would fall down into the valley. That was so exciting and a bit frightening. In the evening, we reached Srinagar. It was about 7:30 pm and yet the Sun had not set. It was as if it is a day. This is an interesting fact about the state that in both Jammu and Kashmir it is daylight until 8:00 pm in the evening. While Srinagar is the summer capital of J&K, Jammu is the actual capital. This time we had no hotels booked. We had to search for them. Finally, we found a Rajasthani Hotel, named “Hotel Royal Palace”. To our surprise, they served us delicious Gujarati food. Mmmm….............mindblowing.
The next day we left for a local hill station nearby which is Gulmarg. Gulmarg is a beautiful valley of glaciers with green mountains surrounding it. At a height of about 5000 feet was Khilanmarg and the way to it was either via a ropeway or on horses. Since we all enjoy adventures, we opted for horses. This was so scary but still enjoying. The way to the top was so dangerous and full of zigzags. However, the well-trained horses hardly made mistakes but we kept shivering all the way. When we reached the top, we were knackered but the beauty of the place made us fresh and recovered our lost energies. Now it was time to get back. This time we chose to go by the ropeway. The ropeway of Gulmarg is the largest ropeway in the country. It was no less than flying in the air. We crossed the valleys one by one and reached the other side in a flash.
Our next spot was Sonmarg, another beautiful hill station. This time a river in its full spate was accompanying the beautiful sylvan valleys and glaciers. The water of the river was like a mirror and splashed over us as we sat near the river shore. We enjoyed sledging and skating over the glaciers and had a great fun. The various rivers connected to Kashmir are Sindhu, Tavi and Jhelum.
Amongst all, the best hill station was Pahalgam. A town with posh clean roads attracted tourists a great deal. The market was very reasonable to our expectations. We shopped a lot and bought beautiful Kashmiri stuffs like Kashmiri suits, shawls, which are very famous for their embroidery. These are special because they are handmade. Much other stuff is also famous.
Kashmir is very famous for cricket bats and walnuts. The centre of attraction is the Houseboats. A well-furnished and designed boat with extravagant facilities is the main attraction for tourists. The houseboats reside on the very famous Dal Lake of Srinagar.
The Dal Lake is 18 kms long and is the land of the people living there. The Kashmiri people have developed their sweet homes on the Dal Lake. The Lake also consists of floating schools, floating market, floating vegetation etc. Are you getting what am I saying? Yes, the small children there go to schools, built on the lake itself. How do they go to schools? In their sweet Shikaras.
This is all so exciting. People do vegetation on the fields built on the lake. In addition, people have also made a market on the lake, which I found most interesting and appreciating.
However, life out there is full of terror. The terrorists are always ready to make attacks on any part of the city. If this continues, life would become miserable very soon in Kashmir.
Finished with Kashmir, we went to Vaishno Devi, prayed for all our desires, and thanked the Devi for returning back safe from Kashmir. We walked all the way which was about 14 kms. Even the way to Vaishno Devi has developed so much that we all were surprised to see Café Coffee Day at Vaishno Devi. Is it not exciting? Well, knackered we returned to our hotels in Katra after the Devi Darshan.
Now it was time to part with all cousins and loved ones. We had to go back to our own places. Nevertheless, we were all carrying back with us the beautiful memories of the trip. We returned to Jabalpur on 30th of June. These 12 days were Golden Moments for all of us and are unforgettable. Hope this year also brings some more exciting trip.
We left Jabalpur (in Madhya Pradesh) on 17th of June. We had to go to Jammu via New Delhi, so, we first left for Delhi. Landing the Hazrat Nizammudin station, we left for our hotels, which were already booked. Reaching the hotels, we refreshed ourselves and decided to visit various tourist places in New Delhi. We visited a number of places like India Gate, Rashtrapati Bhawan, Lotus Temple, Appu Ghar, Isckon Temple, Kutub Meenar, Indira Gandhi Bhawan in Safdarjung etc. Above all, the Delhi Metro was the most happening and refreshing. After spending the whole day in Sun (as it was June and on top of it Delhi), a fully air-conditioned train with the speed of a hurricane was no less than Heaven.
The next day we had a train for Jammu. Until Delhi, we were two families, but in the train for Jammu my uncle’s family also joined us who were travelling in the train from Indore. Finally, we left for Jammu. We started in the morning circa 7:30 am and we reached Jammu in the evening about 7:00 pm. Therefore, it was almost a 12-hour journey. We reached our booked hotels and decided to take rest for that day. We had our dinner and went into our respective rooms to sleep.
Now the real enjoyment starts. The next day we hired our private mini matador. It was a 16-seater compact bus having comfortable seats and ventilation (ha ha ha…). We left Jammu. The whole way to Srinagar, we played Antakshari, enjoyed listening songs, played jokes and much stuff. As we came closer to Srinagar, we could see sylvan beauty around us. On one side, there were mountains; the other side was deep valley. Every time the bus took a turn, all felt that the bus would fall down into the valley. That was so exciting and a bit frightening. In the evening, we reached Srinagar. It was about 7:30 pm and yet the Sun had not set. It was as if it is a day. This is an interesting fact about the state that in both Jammu and Kashmir it is daylight until 8:00 pm in the evening. While Srinagar is the summer capital of J&K, Jammu is the actual capital. This time we had no hotels booked. We had to search for them. Finally, we found a Rajasthani Hotel, named “Hotel Royal Palace”. To our surprise, they served us delicious Gujarati food. Mmmm….............mindblowing.
The next day we left for a local hill station nearby which is Gulmarg. Gulmarg is a beautiful valley of glaciers with green mountains surrounding it. At a height of about 5000 feet was Khilanmarg and the way to it was either via a ropeway or on horses. Since we all enjoy adventures, we opted for horses. This was so scary but still enjoying. The way to the top was so dangerous and full of zigzags. However, the well-trained horses hardly made mistakes but we kept shivering all the way. When we reached the top, we were knackered but the beauty of the place made us fresh and recovered our lost energies. Now it was time to get back. This time we chose to go by the ropeway. The ropeway of Gulmarg is the largest ropeway in the country. It was no less than flying in the air. We crossed the valleys one by one and reached the other side in a flash.
Our next spot was Sonmarg, another beautiful hill station. This time a river in its full spate was accompanying the beautiful sylvan valleys and glaciers. The water of the river was like a mirror and splashed over us as we sat near the river shore. We enjoyed sledging and skating over the glaciers and had a great fun. The various rivers connected to Kashmir are Sindhu, Tavi and Jhelum.
Amongst all, the best hill station was Pahalgam. A town with posh clean roads attracted tourists a great deal. The market was very reasonable to our expectations. We shopped a lot and bought beautiful Kashmiri stuffs like Kashmiri suits, shawls, which are very famous for their embroidery. These are special because they are handmade. Much other stuff is also famous.
Kashmir is very famous for cricket bats and walnuts. The centre of attraction is the Houseboats. A well-furnished and designed boat with extravagant facilities is the main attraction for tourists. The houseboats reside on the very famous Dal Lake of Srinagar.
The Dal Lake is 18 kms long and is the land of the people living there. The Kashmiri people have developed their sweet homes on the Dal Lake. The Lake also consists of floating schools, floating market, floating vegetation etc. Are you getting what am I saying? Yes, the small children there go to schools, built on the lake itself. How do they go to schools? In their sweet Shikaras.
This is all so exciting. People do vegetation on the fields built on the lake. In addition, people have also made a market on the lake, which I found most interesting and appreciating.
However, life out there is full of terror. The terrorists are always ready to make attacks on any part of the city. If this continues, life would become miserable very soon in Kashmir.
Finished with Kashmir, we went to Vaishno Devi, prayed for all our desires, and thanked the Devi for returning back safe from Kashmir. We walked all the way which was about 14 kms. Even the way to Vaishno Devi has developed so much that we all were surprised to see Café Coffee Day at Vaishno Devi. Is it not exciting? Well, knackered we returned to our hotels in Katra after the Devi Darshan.
Now it was time to part with all cousins and loved ones. We had to go back to our own places. Nevertheless, we were all carrying back with us the beautiful memories of the trip. We returned to Jabalpur on 30th of June. These 12 days were Golden Moments for all of us and are unforgettable. Hope this year also brings some more exciting trip.
posted by Rashmi Motiwale at 10:06 AM
1 Comments:
Keep it up.
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