Srinagar

The road to Srinagar was pretty wild. Another all night drive on narrow dirt roads with massive drop offs to the valley below.

Thankfully the jeep was really good and as ever – the company was great (thanks guys :-)

One of the main reasons people come to Srinagar is to stay on a house boat – a left over from the Empire days, when Brits weren't allowed to own land. So they built houseboats and lived on the lakes. They've mostly all been converted into hotels – although tourism has dropped significantly in this area given the stand off between India and Pakistan and the ongoing violence related to the disputed area of Kashmir.

Sadly the houseboats also have a reputation for scamming tourists – with people being given cheap rooms, but being charged ridiculous amounts for everything else – often without being told first.

We managed to find a pretty good place to stay – but we did get scammed on a few things. So we really kicked up a fuss and managed to work our way out of having to pay a huge bill :-)

Inside the houseboat:



The moon rising over Kashmir:



Nagin Lake:



And the mountains in the background:



It was Jo's birthday so we had a party with coffee and cake, and in the evening went for a really great night out - I won't mention the “urban skiing”...but it was fun

:-)





Thanks to Brock for this photo...

Jo and Gabe were heading back to Delhi so they could go to Agra – so after the run out to the airport, Brock and I headed back into town to check out the sights.

The real highlight was the Jama mosque – which is one of the biggest in the world – and is one of the most unusual mosques I've been to, given that it was built in square formation around an inner courtyard.



We also ended up walking around town – here's some shots of Srinagar Old Town:

Looking across the river:



Medieval Graveyard:



To save a weeks travel back to Delhi – we managed to book some ridiculously cheap tickets from Srinagar – so decided to fly. Here's a pic from out of the plane window: