Srinagar: Finding air.
I was really looking forward to this part of my trip as spending the last four months either at the beach or in the heat of central India started to wear a bit. Dust, sweat, and temples were becoming routine, so as I did a one nighter in the transport hub town of Jammu which in itself was a bit of fresh air as I got my first taste of riding a bit in something hilly. At night it got to the point where I thought about pulling my sleep sheet out for the night, but it was still fairly mild.
The next morning I was up at the crack of dawn and on the road as I had the longest leg of my trip (not too much in the way of places to stay on this leg except for some resort places along the way. Almost immediately I was into some pretty steep vertical hills that could be considered mountains. It was a bit worrisome at first as I turned off the seemingly main road to follow the well signed NH-1. It was worrisome because the line of Jeep hires and buses kept on the main road and I was on my lonesome. It was a short half an hour or so of doing some pretty good climbing before I came out on the other side of a fairly steep ravine and met up with all the traffic again. I guess they came up with a quicker less drastic route. After that it even got better.
Pine trees. Pine trees are a good sign for clean, cool, mountain air. When you see pine trees, it almost takes on the same soothing relief as when you get the first view of a long stretch of sandy beach along the ocean. The smell and feel of the air changes and all of a sudden you are smiling.
The traffic was a bit hectic with a mixture of large transport lorries, buses, and jeep/car loads of tourists making their way to the rmountain resorts around Kashmir. Schwinn did a pretty good job of carrying me up the winding roads as well as zipping through traffic and finding safe passage through the mountain roads. It may seem like bike riding is very dangerous given the situation, but in reality if you do drive with a little bit of pizzazz, you can keep yourself out of the death zones rather easily. There were plenty of times where traffic got locked up and because I was on my bike I was able to zip past the blockage and have clear roads in front and behind me. Those were special moments. It was surprising though that I saw no other foreign bikers and not so many locals on them either. Oh well, just more open road for me.
Srinagar was my target location and used to be the main summer tourist destination for Indians as it provided for cool temperatures while the rest of India was racked with heat and humidity. Currently it is slowly recovering from the war torn times of the 80’s when Pakistan and India almost came to nuclear blows over this peace of property. Even now, being so close to the Pakistan border as well as having a heavy percentage of Muslim and Hindi residents, the area is sometimes targeted by terrorists who zip back and forth across the border. I do have to say that it is the heaviest militiarized zone that I have been in including Jerusalem. Although the area is fairly full of Indian tourists and about ten foreigners, there is an air of uneasiness. I gauge these areas by watching the soldiers. Here, they are always staggered with rarely more than two people ever being near each other. The patrols are always five meter staggers. The soldiers also treat you as invisible unless you do something wrong. In some other places, the soldiers are bored because there really is nothing that is going on so they will kid around and joke with you or at some points terrorize you. Here, like in Israel/Palestine, they have other things on their minds than foreigners, so they don’t even react to you. Also, these guys don’t mess around when they are on duty. They are stationed about every fifty or so meters, but what really stands out is that they pay attention to the direction that there could be a problem. For example, when you take the road around the lake, you don’t find guys day dreaming while peering out to the lake, they are all faced away from the lake looking out into the forest areas. Very professional.
Beyond the heavy military presence, the area is gorgeous. You have Dal Lake which is the center piece. As a high altitude lake it is dark and clear. The real claim to fame though is the centuries old houseboats that are tailored to the visiting clientele. Basically, they are leftovers from the British occupation and have been revitalized into catering to visiting tourists. There are currently over a thousand of these boats. Now, for most, houseboat connotates something different. These are like little boutique bed and breakfasts rather than what you will find in the floating party boats elsewhere. Detailed wood engravings, fancy interiors, all the plush luxuries you would find in any land based hotel. The locals have turned these into showpieces and also live on them as well as family dwellings. Now the negative aspect which partially made me decide to stay in a guest house is that they are only sort of on the lake. Yes they are floating, but they are permanently docked side by side, all thousand of them. It is really like a tight knit neighborhood. Also, the waste from these boats run straight back down into the water so it is kind of like floating in your own septic tank. The other problem is that the majority of boats are stacked right off the main road that splits the lake from the market/hotel area, so there is tons of noisy traffic. For me, I wanted peace and quiet. Being pounced on ten kilometers before I even made it to town was the final nail as I didn’t want to deal with all the tourist crap. I drove around and finally found a nice little guest house on the other side of the market area on a road that splits a huge cemetary. Yes, the backyard as well as the front yard is packed with grave stones, but it is beautifully quiet, the family has accepted me as their own, and the little neighborhood is action packed with non-touristic stuff.
My day starts with a nice hot cup of sweet tea to get me going in the cool brisk air of morning. As long as you are in the sun, the temperature is perfect, but in the shade it gets a bit cool. Once I am up I take a stroll down a bit past the mechanics, rug makers, and carpenters, and visit my omelete guy who provides tea and omeletes for the local workers. Then, it is off on some ride to where ever. I spent a day visiting the Mughal gardens spotted around the lake which are famous because most were dedicated to the leaders wives. They are actually surprisingly interesting coming across these manicured parks with blooming flowers and trees everywhere and little creeks running through them. Another day was spent visiting the market and the old town with all it’s old wood plank buildings and temples. My most exciting day was a ride out to Sonamarg a little village right below a glacier and surrounded by snow. The exciting part came when my usual hard headed adventurerness kicked in and I kept going climbing the Zoji La which is the main blockage point for transport. The pass had opened to trucks and buses, but the people at the roads commission said that it would not be passable for a motorcycle for another month. I ended up passing Sonamarg as it is in its own valley and I wanted to get some photos of the totally snow capped area at the end of the valley. Once I got to the end of the valley I was stopped and had to sign in so I told the guy I was just going up a bit to get some photos. Well, the road did turn to dirt and rocks, and there were bits that were difficult because of the snow run off, and a couple of sketchy areas where they were bulldozing the road, and of course the ever present drop-off as the road is only wide enough for one vehicle (one direction goes in the morning while the other direction traffic crosses in the afternoon.) Well, actually, they put up a little memorial for a commander that died from an avalanche and it is visible as you are climbing so of course you have to go up there to see what it is, so in the end I crossed over and down the other side. Hell, I had just saved myself a return trip back down to Jammu and a roundabout to get to someplace a few hundred kilometers from the pass. I was exstatic as now I can keep going and make a loop rather than two ups and downs. On the bad side, I am totally unprepared as I have no cold weather gear. My fleece jacked did nothing for the sting of cold that comes from the 3500m crossing. Getting rained on the way back also facilitated a shopping day.
So, as I wrap this up, I am planning on making the run over the pass either tomorrow or the following day. I am hoping that a few extra kilos on the back of the bike will make it even more stable so I think everything should go fairly smooth. I did have a plug fouling problem but I met a Indian biker who was on vacation with his family and he gave me the suggestion of opeing up the gaps on the spark plugs to keep the carbon from collecting. I also had the points regapped and am going to bring a couple of extra sets of plugs just in case. Other than that, I am raring to go.
Photos of my Sonamarg run.
Tags: Dal Lake, Schwinn, sonamarg, Srinigar, Zoji La
