In 2008 I wanted to visit India mainly to ski Gulmarg. A lot of resistence from the family made me decide not to go. Resistence because Kashmir is officially in war which could obviously be dangerous. Two years later I decided I had to go regardless of other people’s opinions.
Because India is such a diverse country with a rich culture I wanted to see more of it than white mountains only. Ten days of traveling and two weeks of skiing in Kashmir seemed a good way to absorb a bit of everything the country has to offer. I flew into Delhi on December 28 filled with expectation. Not really sure of what to expect and the idea of visiting Kashmir on my own made the flight a special one.
The arrival was a real culture shock, even considering I’d been to Nepal recently. I arrived early morning around 5 am and the taxi drove me to the hotel in Old Delhi. I had seen homeless people but never lined up all together, at least 100 of them. The whole area was brownish/greyish and rats were all over the place. There I was, with my skibag. Can you imagine a bigger contrast?
Old Delhi was interesting because it felt like the real India, as far I know what that is, and because it’s close to two great attractions. The Red Fort on one side and the Jama Mashid, a beautiful mosque on the other side.
The first couple of days you really have to get used to everything, it has to sink in. The dirt everywhere, the immense poverty, so many people everywhere, chaotic traffic, rats, the food; it’s simply overwhelming. So at first you doubt whether you can make it for a couple of weeks but strangely enough, after a couple of days one gets used to it and I started to really enjoy it. Look at everything, and I mean everything, as an adventure. Getting breakfast can be an adventure, taking a rikshaw is always an adventure, walking around is an adventure.
I took the train to Agra to see the famous Taj Mahal. A nice express train took me there in two hours. At the station in Agra I met my rikshaw driver for the day. We arranged a full day tour and set a price. He would take me to the Agra Fort, Baby Taj, some factories and finally the cherry on the cake, the Taj Mahal. I wanted to check in first at my hotel and take a shower. He waited for me and 10.30 we took off. It shows their need for work I guess.
The Agra Fort is not very different from the Red Fort in Delhi, both beautiful though. The Baby Taj was great, something you actually realize afterwards. The Baby Taj is quite similar to the real Taj, only a bit smaller as the name suggests. Just as the size of the building the audience is smaller as well. Where at the real Taj you’re surrounded by thousands of people, at the Baby Taj you can wonder around almost on your own.
After a full day of sightseeing in Agra it was time to celebrate New Year’s Eve. I was hoping for some nice food, some drinks and interesting conversations. The evening started hopeful but unfortunately once the evening progressed some annoying typical party people joined the group and things got worse. I decided to go to bed and prepare for my trainride 5 am the next morning…
The train turned out to be delayed for about seven hours, so time had to be spent in a different way than initially expected. I met a couple from the UK and we talked a bit. They were at the station already for 2 hours sleeping amongst the rats. After traveling this amazing country for 4 months they were hard to surprise. We had some chai, the local tea, and talked a lot about all our experiences. Once the morning progressed more people arrived at the station and locals started to interact. Some wanted to take pictures, others wanted to know everything about my personal life. Then people wanted business, as the train was late they offered shuttle services. “The train is not coming today, I can take you anywhere you want!”. Sure… Luckily the train did eventually arrive and off I went to Jaipur where I was greeted by hundreds of rikshaw drivers…
Looking back to this trip I think Jaipur is my favourite city. It’s not too big and there is so much to see, it’s really overwhelming. I stayed in the Arya Niwas which turned out to be a great base to explore this amazing city. When traveling to India I can really recommend staying in a tranquil place in order to relax after a full day of chaos!
The Hawal Mahal, the Amer Fort and the Nahargarh Fort were my favourite sights. Every city in Rajasthan has a beautiful fort but these two were really amazing. The Amer Fort was huge and it was great to walk around and imagine you were there centuries ago. I spent hours and hours walking through little hallways and all the different rooms inside the fort. Being inside a fort or any sight in India also means you temporarily escape the crowds. You won’t be hassled by people all the time besides the odd family that wants you to take a picture so you can show it in your homecountry!
The Nahargarh Fort is nearby and is overlooking the pink city as Jaipur is called because of its city walls. Clearly the views are the best feature of this fort but the architecture is to be noted as well.
Maybe the best thing about Jaipur is its citycenter. In order to get to some of the sights one will have to pass the gates of the center to enter the pink city. Inside these citywalls there is so much to see even without the sights. In general streetlife consists of 6 cars next to one and another with rickshaws in between, a cow sleeping on the crossroad, monkeys walking on the electric cables overhanging the city and people doing their needs on the side of the road. And if you’re lucky some people get a haircut on the floor amongst this big chaos!
After Jaipur I had a stop at Chittorgarh before visiting the Venice of India, Udaipur. The real city of Udaipur is not that interesting but when you come closer to lake Pichola the city becomes more charming. Actually the hotels, restaurants and guesthouses (yes, the tourist area) surrounding the lake make a stunning vista! Recommended by a colleague I stayed in the Kankarwa Haveli. An Haveli is some sort of mansion, usually quite impressive. I was really looking forward to having my own private jharokha, an overhanging balcony. Unfortunately my room was the only one without this kind of balcony but luckily there was one in the common room. Udaipur is very good for relaxing. The weather is very pleasant, the area surrounding the lake is very beautiful, you can walk through the local streets to observe life and the food is absolutely amazing! I decided to eat hot meals twice a day here simply because the food was to good and this way I could try more restaurants. The best restaurant I have tried in Udaipur is probably Ambrai. This is a restaurant at a great location down at the lake. Tables are situated in a beautiful garden in a very relaxed setting. I had my first Karai chicken at this place which is a dish prepared in a special pan, the so-called Karai. Wonderful meal! Afterwards I visited a traditional dance show at Bagore-ki Haveli to finish the day. Although touristy I can still recommend this show.
After two days in the Venice of India time had come for the final chapter of the trip, Kashmir. First I had to fly back to Delhi to pick up my skibag before heading north. That turned almost into a little nightmare as the flight was delayed and then overbooked and then overweight. People were asked to stay in Udaipur or to leave baggage in Udaipur in order to reduce weight. Both were not an option to me as I had to catch my connecting flight the next morning. Finally I took off and managed to arrive in Delhi on time, a rather close call.
The next morning tension started to rise when I sat in the plane to Srinagar, the capital of Kashmir. Not entirely sure what to expect, I left the plane after landing and hoped someone was waiting for me to drive me to Gulmarg. AK-47’s everywhere, ofcourse nobody was there. After about an hour the driver finally showed up and my journey continued. I haven’t really felt unsafe but being in the car on my way to Gulmarg still felt as some sort of a relief. After merely three hours, on the way we picked up some familymembers and friends of the driver, I arrived at my destination. Soon it became clear 2010 was not one of the best snowseasons of Gulmarg. According to the hotelmanager normally there was around three meters of snow surrounding the hotel, now the grass was visible. Still I felt great to finally be here!
The first day in the hotel I started chatting to the manager. The Russian guests who occupied the hotel where not so friendly so he was looking forward to a nice chat as well. I asked him how he liked life in Kashmir and he replied that life in South Africa was better. Indian man in South Africa…, my mind started working and I concluded he must have been working in a restaurant over there. It turned out he had been the manager of Bukhara in Cape Town, the restaurant that made me interested in visiting India in the first place. Wow, we had come full circle!
The next day I took the gondola to the top and started exploring the area. The ski area consists of about a dozen bowls all lined up next to one and another and then there is the vast backcountry to explore as well. The gondola takes you up to around 4000 meters and from there you can hike to the top of mount Apharwat at 4124 meters from where you can access all the goods.
the main bowl right under the lift is controlled for avalanches but all the others are out of bounds. As Gulmarg is very avalanche prone it’s wise to ski those bowls with a skiguide unless you really know what you’re doing. I loved the hike to the top because it’s good exercise and the views are superb. I skied the main bowl a couple of days before I headed beyond the boundary. The snow was old and tracked everywhere. The final day one of the skiguides wanted to go to the village of Drang. To access this remote village you ski down the steepest bowl, then walk quite a bit (low snowseason…) and then take the taxi back.
The snow was sugarish which was a pleasant surprise after all the hardpacked conditions so far. Finally some soft snow and a great adventure to finish my visit to Gulmarg!
Before I flew back home to the Netherlands I stayed on a houseboat at Dal lake near Srinagar. The mountainrange in the background made a nice sunset!
At the houseboat I was accompanied by a family from Mangalore, a city in the south of India. The temperature hardly gets below 25 degrees celsius over there so for them it was a shock to witness freezing temperatures. They only have cold showers at home so a nice warm bath was like a gift to them. At the dining table we had a lot of fun talking about all the cultural differences between our homecountries!
Click here to see more pictures of my trip to India!
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