The North - Pictures

2007/09: Kashmir trek

2007/09: Ladakh

2007/09: India's Portraits

2007/09: Delhi - part 2 - Jama Masjid

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.

Kashmir: Im Westen Nichts Neues

We left Jammu quickly. The highlight of the city for us would be going to the best Bollywood movie at the moment. Read about them anywhere in the Internet - it's all true. Even more funny thanks to bottle of relatively cheap whiskey (security at the entrance didn't seem to care too much about foreigners).





And the next place: Srinagar. Kashmir. A lot to write about and my Internet time is almost up. I'll just leave you with some pictures and try to write something later. Just a note: there's MUCH more military than visible. They're kinda tricky to shoot at, you know.


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"Black briefs? Good, they'll last a week"

The Delhi adventure is finally over. This city has more to offer than one could want - in terms of cars, noise and degrees Celsius. We took our train to Jammu hoping to avoid any Kashmir conflict-related unpleasantnesses. The air of disturbance can be sensed everywhere: barbed wires around all government buildings and facilities (that means: a lot), army and police carrying long guns, suspiciousness of many civilians. Perfectly understandable if you consider that occasional Pakistani-Indian artillery fire exchange still happens.

After few more days in India I think I'm beginning to understand that I don't understand anything. China and Turkey are calm and everything is in perfect order when you compare them to this place. Absurd bearoucracy I mentioned earlier mixes with no respect for rules and law in general. Not that I'm against that - it's just completly different from Europe. Now that I mentioned it - there are some European accents: namely "Sklep u Miska" and "Piotrus Export" in Main Bazar.

Another thing - copying Western ideas and doing it wrong: "hot shower" is a tap with cold water and AC machine placed carefully so its rear is blowing hot air straight into your nose; bus stop sign is placed on a pavement behind a fence, over which everyone climbs to get on the bus. The bus itself in turn doesn't usually stop - if there are just a few people waiting they just hop in when bus slows down a bit. The information about leaving trains is also scarce and the trains themselves don't seem to care about timetable either. But hell, that's one of the reasons I came here in the first place.

Leaving Delhi helped us get rid of the ever-present stench and sights of extreme poverty (about which books have been already written). We await Karakoram and Himalayan sights instead. We already ordered a jeep for tomorrow (roughly mighty 10$ per person) to take us to Srinagar. Will try to write from there.

Oh, and the title quote - it's Krzysiu. Sweating is a major problem here, you know.

Spinach with pancakes

Delhi - part 1

The much-anticipated heat wave (first just after disembarking the plane, second - upon leaving terminal building) turned out to be even better - or worse - than expected. After we had come to terms with gazillion of intended-for-one-room AC machines in huge airport hall we took our leave. 2-hour night taxi ride was a result of "holiday", because of which "everything is booked" and "there is no cheap accomodation". So yeah. We got ripped off. about 4 euros - not much, but lesson is learned. Buying a good guidebook proved to be a necessity, and that's the first thing we did in the morning. At least now we know where to LOOK for a place to sleep.



Heat takes all will to act so after we had found a hotel we slept until noon - and even then didn't feel rested. The best refreshment, beer, is on the other hand below expectations. Hope I can get used to strange taste. I'll try to call it "exotic" from now on. The first day was uneventful. We didn't feel like rising a finger, let alone go sightseeing. Busy bazars with colorful displays (and yes, I do mean food stands) and quiet parks made our day. But there were also bad points.



Bearoucracy in India is unbelivable. We cannot buy train tickets for our friends (who are flying from Helsinki as I type) without their passports - but no one looks at our own. We can't get stuff from our own backpacks in Cloak Room ("place where we store your suitcase after you wait 20 minutes in queue and rats try to climb on your legs") without checking it out, which obviously takes another 20 minutes. And so on. More examples probably yet to come.



Last, but not least I realise now why there are so many Missworlds from India. And why they say sari is one of prettiest everyday outfits that exist. Will get pictures.

Hopefully incredible India

So, after 4 months of idleness (that means studying and working and studying again) it's time for a vacation. About time.

In two days I'm flying to New Delhi with two of my friends and there we wait one day for another four to join us. Tickets and visas are taken care of, guidebook and itinerary aren't. We'll have to find the Lonely Planet guide, check whether forecasts and see how is monsoon doing and decide where to go: west - to the Thar desert, north - to Kashmir or east - to Himalayas. South, with Agra, Varanasi and hopefully Goa will wait until we see if we've got enough time.

I'll be trying to update this blog as frequently as possible so stay tuned.