Another horrific ride in India, caught in snarls of traffic, incessant honking, roads filled with potholes as we got closer and closer to the town of Gulmarg and the real Himalayas.
Along the way, we saw multiple groups of nomads, with usually two or three adults with horses or sheep. On Sunday we saw a horse herd being led by a man in a cloak, and a woman bringing up the rear. They live in hutched roof buildings some of which we saw as we took the cable car ride up the mountain and also at the top when we walked in the meadow.
We passed through several small congested towns, and then began to rise up through a fragrant forest of pine and other trees, very green and shady. Ultimately (about 3 hours later with more than an hour to get through the chaotic traffic of Srinigar) we got to Gulmarg. There were two portions to the gondola ride. Initially Jo and I were going to do the first portion and let Jim and David go up to the very top of the mountain. However the second portion had closed down the day before so the ride was only open to the first station. Jo decided not to go, but I finally did after a fair amount of hemming and hawing. Each car held up to six people, and I, as usual, kept my eyes either closed or on the side as we climbed up for the 8 minute ride. Going both up and back the ride stopped for about a minute, and I practiced by yoga deep breathing! We got to the top and had some coffee and then headed off to the green meadow.
It was beautiful and it was hard not to envision it as the site for Julie Andrews singing “The Hills are Alive with the Sound of Music”, so we decided to do a Meek family rendition of that song. David set a self timer and we all held hands and ran towards the camera.
Then we walked off to the edge of the meadow to see the valley below. I heard a sheep and a lamb calling each other, and then saw a shepherd coming up the hill to round them up. We were amazed to look down into the valley, and be greeted with a scene straight from New Zealand. There were so many sheep, walking between the rocks down below, all baah-ing to each other.
There were two shepherds and a small nomad’s hut, probably used by the shepherds. The sheep were herded up the valley wall and into the meadow and many walked right next to us. They were marked with a variety of colors on their backs, presumably so they could be identified. There were a few black sheep but most were white. There were also a number of horses grazing in the meadow but they did not seem particularly interested in us.
We had a picnic of hard-boiled eggs, some chipatis, and some energy bars. The repast may not have been the fanciest one we have ever eaten, but it was hard to match the scenery with the spectacular peaks of the Himalayas towering overhead, still covered with snow in areas. Blue skies, white clouds, green meadows. Truly breathtaking.
A brief shiraker ride back to New Fountain Garden, and David and Jo headed out for their romantic evening ride with Nizar.
Although it started to rain shortly after they left, they had a fabulous time. Nizar tucked them in with a tarp, and they continued in the back bay area.
It stopped raining and they loved exploring the markets and the site of all of the shirakers going through the canals.
They were out for about an hour-and-a-half and said it was the most memorable part of their trip to Srinikar – which is saying something.
The back bays are very interesting. We explored them the night before, and saw women working amongst the lotus blossoms and pulling what turned out to be water chestnuts, since they didn’t belong there. We saw some floating vegetable gardens where people plant cucumbers, pumpkins, squash, and tomatoes. We were surprised at the number of homes that were behind the row of houseboats that we are part of. There are homes ranging from shacks, to very elaborate two story brick buildings where six related families live. Many of the homes had built up the backyards so they have vegetable gardens there.
AND they said that Nizar told them about a vegetable market in the canals that started early in the morning. Jo thought she would pass on it, as did Jim, but David wanted to go and asked me to go with him. Naturally I agreed. Since we were to be picked up by Nizar at 4:30 am the following morning, we had dinner and went to bed early without any Hearts. We noted that Jonathan was finally on his way and we would be seeing him in .about 24 hours!
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