Got up pretty late & my cosy bed to be blamed for that. Only thing that was pending was to check out Aru before bidding bye to Pahalgam. But for some reason, was not able to get out of cosy bed & at last made a dare move by 8:30 AM. Thought to get fresh & move out but to my luck, I had left my bath soap in another room (I was later on shifted to this room yesterday) & that room was locked from inside. After wasting 30 mins in knocking the door, decided to check out Aru & then think of this. Had Masala Dosa in ‘Delhi da Punjabi rasoi’ & bought a new soap, case & nail cutter from nearby shop.
After initial few distance of packed roads, vista turned out to be heavenly. Boy o boy! What a glory it is. The best part was entire 12 Kms ride from Pahalgam to Aru was super scenic without any tourist crowd. Stopped at quite a few places for clicks & moved on. But one needs to be careful as the roads are entirely on hills & very narrow ones.
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| Beautiful Valley on the way to Aru |
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| Deadly hills... |
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| Water falls on the way... |
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| My baby posing :) |
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| Busy with Bat & Bowl |
Reached Aru & took a U-turn without switching off my engine as there was traffic jam with tourists vehicles. Who cares about some view point when entire stretch is so beautiful? Rode back to Pahalgam very slowly to enjoy the serene beauty of nature. Did reach my hotel after getting stuck in traffic for around 30 minsL. Soon got ready & loaded the bike. As I was about to leave, it started to rain heavily. What the heck? Who told it to come at this time??? Again stopping my bike, getting into the rain gear & placing my camera inside the box consumed good amount of time. With all these, bid byes to paradise on earth & was on towards Srinagar. And guess what?? It was false indication of rain from nature. After some distance I was feeling very hot but wanted to cover some distance before I stop for a break. On my way, all that I could see was lush greens on either side of the road & army guys in groups for every 300 odd mtrs.
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| Trees on the way to Srinagar |
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| Lush green of Kashmir! |
After a break & few photo stops, entered Srinagar by 2:00 PM. 25 days back when I had left Bangalore, a distance board said Srinagar 2750 odd Kms & today I have done itJ.
While entering the dusty city, 2 guys came in bike & said,
“Staying in Srinagar?? We have our rooms in boat house. Bike parking is also very close. You can directly go to Leh from there…”
“How much does it cost???”
“We have from 300 bux to 2000 bux!”
“Ok! Lets see.”
“You do one thing. Go straight in this road. My brother will be standing there. He owns an auto & his name is Rafiq! He will take you to boat house. I have to go for party now!”
“How will he identify me??”
“Arre! Don’t worry. He will identify looking at your bullet.”
Continued inside the city & Rafiq stopped me. Followed him & the boat house was kinda ok. As I was just looking for basic amenities, I agreed for 400 bux & said,
“Mujhe 3 pin ka plug point chahiye!” as my laptop had gone almost dry.
“Woh bhi miljayega sir!” Rafiq said & bought a dairy for entry.
While I enquired about Shikara ride, he said,
“Aap pehle jaldi fresh hoke aayeeye! Main baat karunga aapse…” Man! Was I stinking so much just coz of not having bath for one day???
After getting fresh, he said
“Government rate teen sou rupai per hour! Par mera aadmi aapko che points dikayega. Woh sab dekne main do gante se bhi zyada ho sakta hain!”
“Kitna lega???”
“Che sou!!!”
“Arre kya baat karte ho??? Itna zyada mujse nahi hoga!”
After arguing a lot, got the deal done for 500 bux & soon we were off to Dal Gate for Shikara ride. Parked the bike & got into oldies Shikara & it just took off. Man! So nice experience it isJ. A silent lake in front of your eyes, cool breeze to manage the climate & sofa to relax on! What else you need??
“Aapka naam kya hain???” I asked the Shikara guy!
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| That's Abdul Rehman |
“Aapka naam kya hain???” I asked the Shikara guy!
“Abdul Rehman saab…”
“Kitne saalo se Shikara chala rahe ho???”
“Kareeb chalees saal hogaya…”
While chit chatting with him, got little busy with clicks but was enjoying the ride as well.
“Yah apke foreign log bahut aate hain saab! Woh photography karne! Woh log aat se dus din tak yahi pe rehte hain!” he said while our Shikara moved on.
“Yeh lake kitna bada hain??” I asked just to break the silence.
“Bahut bada hain saab…”
“Yeh winter main poora baraf se band ho jata hain! Bachhe is main kelte hain!!!”
He also showed me some places where agriculture takes place, where the shops are present, Shankaracharya temple up the hill from where one can get good views of city & so on. Some people came close to our Shikara selling stones & other stuffs! But I politely rejected them all as I just wanted to experience the ride. But when a fruit seller came close, I did grab the opportunity & bought a fruit bowl for 30 bux. Was feeling very hungry as I had skipped my lunchL. On the way, I did shoot some birds & swans. Abdul Rehman stopped Shikara near some shop & told me to check out the shop & till then he would take some rest. The shopkeeper took me in showing some shawls & jackets but again I refused from buying anything. Our Shikara ride continued & on the way back, heavy wind started to flow in opposite direction & Rehman said,
“Chatt pakdo saab warna ud jayega!” Boy! Will I reach safely??? It was not my safety in question as I knew swimming but the safety was of my camera.
“Bahut hawa aa raha hain saab! Ab agar hum lake ke beech mein jayega toh Shikara doob ne ka katra hain..” he said trying his best to get the Shikara move ahead but it was just moving to a side. After a lot of struggle, he dropped me at Dal Gate & I moved out handing him 20 bux for his effort.
“Bahut shukriya saab…” What an innocent person I said to self.
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| Kids enjoying in Dal Lake |
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| Our Shikara moves on! |
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| Loved the reflection |
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| Spotted on the way! |
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| Boat house any one? |
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| Floating fruit bowl shop! |
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| Fast food in lake! |
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| Having Sun bath? |
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| Dal Lake view! |
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| Shops on the fly! |
Took my bike out & enquired the route to Shankaracharya temple with army chaps standing beside Dal lake. One dude told it is closed now as time was already 5:30 PM.
“Woh paanch baje band hota hain!”
“Aap kaha se aaye hain??”
“Karnatak..”
After few more questions,
“Karnataka dyage yellri?? (Where in Karnataka??)” Another army guy spoke blushing.
“Arre! Neevu Kannada davra?? (Arre! Even you are a kannadiga??)” I said with a smile.
He said he is from Mantralaya & told me to visit some other gardens ahead. I thanked them & moved ahead. With nothing else to do, took a casual bike ride beside Dal Lake & suddenly,
“Kitna cc hain yeh??” 2 guys on bike asked me.
“350”
“Aur mileage??”
“Kareeb chalees deta hain highway main!!” What kind of questions come to their mind I thought while on the move.
Then again,
“Yeh Kaha ka number hain??” 2 guys in bike asked me.
“Karnatak!!!”
“By road aaye aap??”
“Ha!”
“Kitna din laga??”
“Kareeb pachees din laga…”
“Ab vapas???”
“Nahi Ladakh jaana hain…”
“Isi main??”
“Ha..” Wanted to say ‘Nahi! Train main..’
“Akele???”
“Ha…”
“Phir bhi yaar akele waha se yaha tak….” & he did a Thumps upJ.
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| Loved it |
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| Dal Lake in front of himalaya's |
Saw a board Zabarwan Park & entered it with 20 bux ticket. Came out in not more than 5 mins as it was dead boring. Security person gave a stare with ‘What’s wrong with this idiot?? He just entered & now wants to go out???’ expression but I hardly bothered. Came out & took a walk around Dal Lake till dark & then had Channa Batura in Nathu’s sweets. It filled my stomach till the neck & rode back to boat house & crashed hoping to get up early tomorrow.
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