How Green is your Valley

I’ve set a world record this time by not posting for exactly two months. But I can plead a worthy excuse.

Remember in my last post when I mentioned I’d be off to ‘Delhi and surrounding regions’? What I neglected to mention was the name of the ‘surrounding region’ – Kashmir. 

I know what you’re thinking – disputed territory, terrorist attacks, how did I come back alive and most importantly, did I bring back any AK-47s for any of you? The answer, sadly, is no. 

Tourists are not thronging the place at this time of the year, though I suppose only the terrorist threats put them off. In terms of weather, this is the perfect time to visit, as day temperatures hover around 25 degrees Celsius and the night is cool enough to require a thin quilt. 

This is one of those posts where pictures will naturally speak a lot more than words. So here goes.

First up, here’s the view from the airplane:

 A peaceful boat-ride on the Dal Lake: 

 Opulent house-boats we didn’t stay in: (note their innovative names)

A few of the majestic Mughal gardens that we roamed around in:

How nice the flowers in our hair look:

  To prove that I really did horse-riding:

 And played with a snowball:

And enjoyed a ride on the highest cable car in the world:

 After all that excitement, I returned to find this ad sizzling on the airwaves. Isn’t it totally awesome!