july 4 kashmir trip

DUBAIWALLAH

hi to all

planning a trip to sri,gul,son,phgm.
(4th to 11th july)8 adults.

only booked 2 dble cottages with jktdc at gulmarg for 6th july..

planned trip
4th srinagar-stay not fixed
5th srinagar-stay not fixed
6th early morn-to gulmarg-jktdc hut booked

7th gulmarg to sonmarg(on the way have to pick one member frm sringr airport)-sonmarg-stay not fixed

8th sonmarg-stay not fixed
9th pahalgam-stay not fixed
10th pahalgam-stay not fixed
11th early morn-srinagar airport.

looking for leads on where to stay(medium budjet)spent a hell on air tickets-(dxb-dhl-srinagar return)for the 8day trip-the fares are sky high due to summer vacations!

regds

Balvar

I would recommend that u Book a hotel in Sonmarg. Hotel Glacial Heights is a good Option to Stay in Sonmarg.

DUBAIWALLAH

thanks balvar
have booked mantoos at phgm
shall cal the glacier hotel guys.
is it safe to camp/tent for 1 nite in sonmarg?(as we hav 2 nites)

DUBAIWALLAH

any idea of how much does it cost for a 3 room house boat in july?-(9 adults). pls get me some prev experiences/contact nos..& on wht would be the rates per day. also rates n nice stay in sonmarg.

Aniara

How much you paid for the flights? We are flying Srinagar-Delhi sometime late July, and haven't booked in advance. Delhi-Srinagar on July 8th was 156 euros each - I think it's the highest we have ever paid!

DUBAIWALLAH

del sri return was abt (5500-7000rupees)per head.
the ones we booked later was cheaper(5500)both on spicejet.

edwardseco

Might be wise to stay out of Srinagar as much as possible just now..

DUBAIWALLAH

hi to all

july 3rd thursday.noon : dubai
finished packing b y 7pm,left home by 8pm flight time 10pm
luckly it was delayed for an hour.
4th july
reached delhi by 6am. donot eat frm delhi intl terminal restaurant go to the canteen instead.got the inter terminal bus-neat one-went to the spicejet counter-surprisingly all the staff looked alike! the 9.45am flight for srinagar was postponed to 11am( they had notified us by sms earlier)


july 4th noon
srinagar was hot!!
reached srinagar airport by 12 in the noon, it was hot n humid..no bloody mobile range xcpt airtel! no telephone booths at arrival!!! had made some arrangements while at delhi..to get some govt qrtrs..but didnt work out as it was too late.
got out of srinagar airport met a guy-(mohd sultan) who had his own houseboat-2 bed rooms-settled for Rs2000/-per nite for 8 members, but took an extra room for Rs1000/- on an adjacent boat.(so that all had beds)reached the h.boat by 3pm, he offered lunch from his house-which was behind his 5 houseboats. rice dal & a veg dish. asked for the bill but said that he would give it later. went out on a shikara ride-2:30hrs Rs400/- didnt take all over!had dinner at Lahsa hotel-good food-mutton/chicken biryani,rotis,raita,gustaba,li me soda,raita,fried rice & chicken tikka which was the best! 750/- for 8 was a fair deal.

july5th
went out on the sumo cab(same guy who dropped us to the housebaot)mr Tariq who took us to 2-3 gardens & nageen lake-the queiter part of dal lake..the houseboat guy compelled to have lunch & dinner frm his place which we obliged-asked bill said later.same rice dal veg curry little bit of mutton at noon, chicken curry at nite. asked for bill.. as we were leaving on 6th early as t was a hartaal on 6th. at last he gets the bill-boat charges as agreed-total 6000/- for 2 nights.food bill-Rs5600/- (for 2 lunch, 1 dinner & 1 breakfast-8 members) 3 times that of lahsa hotel that too without choices & oliver twist like quantities!! the 5star bill was not acceptable by us, we(me the only guy with my wife,mother,mom in law,my 2 sisters & 2 other family friend siblings-girls) argued that take 2400/- or leave it.he didnt accept -tore off the bill, then quietly put the bits into his pocket & left(now the face wasnt the innocent one wew saw at the airport or when he showed his house & members)

july 6th
got up by 4 am, the boat was ready to take us to the shore where tariq was waitin with the sumo to proceed to gulmarg.tried paying the H.Boat guy the food money-which he didnt take nor did he let his son take it. tried keeping it on his table, no way-so my wife goes-"we dont want anything for free-but if ur too proud its up to u" & we get on the boat, now comes the best part-as soon as the boat starts moving our guy shouts-"so you are leaving with my money"!! we dont even look back at him, we reach the shore praying... as soon as we reached the raod our driver stands with a grave smile-the B.H guy had called him & told him not to take us!! and in comes our 'Hero'(B.H GUY)following on a boat... comes up to us & politely speaks to me-(i just noticed why- 2 soilders were standing 20 mtrs away with auto-rifles)then i give him 2600/- which he counts & says angryly"give me another 500/- & i'll let u go.(the soldiers were out of view now!!) i said NO, I had been my decent best...& told him quietly- now im on land & my family too...pls leave before I take you back to where u belong-the water! that was it-he accepted the 2600/- & left.
we had a great trip to Gulmarg-the raod was clear-no blocks..it started to rain halfway..

back in dubai after a great trip mixed with good n bad experiences.. but overall it was great

kashmir is safe-take it from me, i was there during the hartaals-me,the only guy in the group with 7 ladies:-wife,sis's,mom, mom in law,& family friends-females again!!!
didnt have the thrill factor-(read the above)
but it is safe to be in j&k, the people were warm.
they hate hartaals & terrorists as it affects their bussiness which is open for only 6 months due to snowfall!!!
shall add pics & details asap
regards

DUBAIWALLAH

view pics here(incomplete)
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/sanjayvu

DUBAIWALLAH

srinagar volatile now- infact the whole of india-better not to take risks..tamilnadu & south kerala karnataka himachal sikkim are safe to travel now

Aishah

Dubaiwallah - your story reads like an adventure novel! Not so good at the time - one of those people you say are warm, wasn't was he? Glad all turned out well in the end, but rather horrid moments there for you which you could have done without. Recent news re Kashmir and Srinagar in particular, makes one think not the best place to visit at the moment. Another member posted words to the same effect about a week or so ago.

__________________
"Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards."