Dryzone

I'm writing this from an internet cafe which exists probably only by a mistake or a joke. The attendant had to turn on the generator to power the computers and connection speed is like that of an old dial-up. Neat.

We pretty much cleared Kashmir and are now in Kargil - a necessary stop-over on our way to Ladakh. I still have something to write about the north-west, so here goes:

Kashmir is more or less a dry (alcohol-free) zone. This allowed us to save some money as in cities of Srinagar and Sonanmarg it is (almost) completely impossible to buy the poison. Instead, ganja grows pretty much everywhere and is free - you could see our attempts to make use of it on one of the pictures in previous blog entry. This is a tradition here. Although it's officially prohibited, militaries smile politely when they see someone (in our case that would usually be Klapek) picking plants right next to the street.

We spent few days in Srinagar living on a houseboat and visiting nearby Mughal Gardens - wonderful places established few hundred years ago to give people much needed cool. The next stop was Sonanmarg - a bit more serious destination.

Surrounded by Kashmiri mountains, Sonanmarg was once a popular tourist destination (or so Lonely Planet says) but during 5 days we only saw a few white faces - and most of them were just passing through. A bit strange, considering incredible surroundings, easy accessibility and sleepy, peaceful atmosphere of the village. The electricity here is turned on only between 18-24 o'clock, which means you need a torch if you want to go five meters away from your room at night. You can sometimes hear artillery fire (the "line of control" is very close here) - India and Pakistan are just checking if the other guys are still around. Just in case. And no, for some reason this does not make this place any less peaceful.

We rented ponies and went for 2 days into the mountains. Not a lot of time, but sights abounded as did pain in the ass. Sleeping in the tent in Himalayas is a thing to remember - the stars were probably of the brightest I've ever seen. It was around healthy 0°C, so we were extremely impressed with our guides (they come in package deal with ponies) - they each had a sweater, a sort of overcoat and a blanket and slept in a slightly sheletered from wind remains of a cottage on cardboard boxes - until we returned to the village. It just happened that doctor visited Sonanmarg for one week to offer his services for free as a part of some govt project. The queue was long - probably every second citizen had half a dozen of long-lasting pains, so it looks like carrying this extra fleece does pay off.

The day after we came back was Sunday so the road to Ladakh ("National Highway") was closed. In addition it is operated on 12/12h basis (the pass is so narrow cars are only allowed to go 12 hours a day in each direction). There are worse places to be stranded in, so we took a day off to lay on the lawn and do some laundry. On Monday afternoon we found some trucks to take us to Kargil - the gateway to Ladakh.

The Indian trucks. Constructed from pure horsepower and car jewellery, these beasts carry all kinds of crazy stuff across the roads no-one in Europe would attempt in 4x4. Waiting in a huge queue on a narrow road glued to - or carved in - a vertical wall of rock, they are extremely impressive. Our driver stops in the middle of the pass and lights a candle at a small Muslim shrine - and another one for us, at a Christian cross. For the process, his helper puts a serious-sized rock under the wheel. It's safer than handbrake. When he's done, the column moves. That was yesterday, Today we leave Muslims and enter Buddhist realm.

The oil is expensive, so that's it for now. Next report probably from Leh.