Natural splendour, real musics, wines, wordpower
They are in varying states of repair, but many striking examples of distinctive “traditional”/“vernacular” architecture still stand in Kashmir’s capital.
Such buildings typically employ both timber and bricks in their construction, and they have proved remarkably capable of withstanding earthquakes.
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On the Indian subcontinent – especially in urban areas – one particular raptor usually “rules the skies”.
Black kites are especially abundant in Delhi and Srinagar.
Not coincidentally, black kites are generally rather more “opportunistic scavengers” than “majestic predators”.
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On this trip – whether the relevant terrain was contested, or unambiguously within India, Pakistan, or China – there was a lot of still-solid “up” to look at.
All of the world’s “7000+ metres ASL” peaks are less than 2,000 kilometres distant from Srinagar, and most of them are very much closer than that.
The pictured peaks are less than 7,000 metres above sea level, but all of them are enormously higher than is Australia’s highest peak.
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This post’s featured image is “representative” of tourists’ experience of Srinagar’s Dal Lake.
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If you get up before sunrise, and then head to somewhere well away from “your” (or anyone else’s) houseboat, it is still possible to “feel the serenity” on the waters of Srinagar’s Dal Lake.
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Australian governmental advice says “do not travel” to this destination.
A great many tourists do go there, albeit very few “Westerners”; our group aside, we saw only a handful of “Caucasians”.
Over several days in Indian-controlled Kashmir, we saw many thousands of Indian tourists..and almost as many Indian soldiers and police.
Petty corruption and “checkpoints” are a nigh-constant annoyance – and the two are inextricably entwined – but at no time did we feel “unsafe”.
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