India - Kashmir

Visiting Kashmir at winter time! So this means that this is my first encounter with snow! Kashmir was a very lovely place and most of the locals are Muslims. So I don't have hard time finding halal dishes.

Kashmir is a famous place for Bollywood movies since most of the beautiful scenery in the movies are being shot there.

I was having a serious flu when I reached there and surprisingly, the locals were saying that we arrived at a good weather which is 0 degree Celsius (OMG! So cold!) And they were saying that usually the weather can reach up to -15!

Anyway, I was staying at what they called as boat house. It is a house made out of a big boat and located at the center of the icy cold lake. Me and my fellow tour groups were crossing the lake using a small nicely decorated boat. Its just like Hokkaido ice breaker but smaller haha

Ice breaking on the lake

Staying at the boat house is a very interesting experience. The temperature is cold and we were only depending on a heater that burns charcoal. If the heater is out of charcoal, you'll be sleeping on iceberg! For shower, you have to take your shower early in the morning before 6.30 (that is the only time the water heater works) or you'll be having ice cold for shower which I had once! *shivering* O_O

The boat house

Lets check the room

The charcoal heater in our room

After taking a clear view of what we are going to be sleeping at for the night, the tour continues by cruising with the smaller boat (not the house boat) to the water village. I can see lots of shops closed during that time, but don't be fooled cause the locals actually doing their business on the boat! They just park next to your boat and they will do their trading with you. You can bargain like crazy and they also will persuade you like crazy. Be smart when bargaining ;-)

Show your poker face

There are few Mughal gardens that I've visited in Kashmir but sadly, the tour guide did not explain much on the garden so we've just had to walked around the garden but luckily I've managed to take some shots with the wonderful view

Me and my mom

A trip to Gulmarg was breathtaking, with beautiful people and beautiful scenery of Kashmir, you can really enjoy the view and the culture. Firstly, we had to travel by SUV and then switch to a bus which would climb up to Gulmarg. The best part of the trip is, the locals climb up on top of the bus and had a free ride along with us (of course we had to pay the fee since we got to sit inside the bus). My thought were "can this small bus really go up the mountain with this heavy load? OMG!!! Incredible super bus!"

Snow on Gulmarg

Sliding with the sledge

When we reached Gulmarg, I was sooooo excited with the snow, sledge, ski etc that I slipped and felt on my bump. Ouch! That is DAMN hurt! And remember that I said I was having a serious flu? Well~ As excited as I can be, I was playing (more like wrestling with myself on the snow) with the Snow that when I stood up, I lost my breathe. Seeing my mom's worried face, I turn and looked at her with my fake smile and said "I love snow!" Only god knows how I felt almost like dying to catch my breathe haha. Promised myself that I will never ever ever be too excited with snow.

Excited me on snow

View from Gulmarg

Showing off my skiing skill

Thank you so much Kashmir for the great time I had there. Thank you for the friendliness, thank you for the hospitality, and most importantly, thank you for my first snow experience :-) 

Peace out~