May 4 to May 9 1985: Kashmir, Pony Trekking, Aru

 Taken from Back to the East, India, Nepal, Kashmir on Amazon 

4^th May

A warm day, much spent just enjoying the sun on the houseboat.. Lesley, Brad and Kerry were all feeling better. Now I was slowing down! I felt fine.

We called in to see Yussef Baktoo in his office. He said that in Kashmir Lesley was “Puxley” and Alun was “Ali”.

The guy who met us from the bus, Gulab Khar, told us a tale. When he was a baby of four years old, a vulture swept down and carried him off; his father quickly threw a stone and it hit the bird which dropped little Gulab ten feet and the father caught him. Lucky Gulab!

5^th May

We spent most of the day lazing around on the deck of the houseboat, watching the clouds and shikara boats. We had a splendid view of snow-capped mountains. I bought a silver box, also earrings with coral.

The local Islamic people were fasting today.

It rained heavily during the night.

6^th May

Suddenly at 7 Am we were awoken by loud voices and knocking on the door.

“Quick, quick, come quick, water is coming into the boat”.

So with pounding heart I jumped out of bed and put on some cloths, making sure Lesley was doing the same. I am not sure she believed what was happening.

We rushed outside then Bashir says “No, it is OK, go to sleep, as they are bailing out the water with buckets."

Apparently one end of the boat was lower in the water and caused a panic.

By noon it was too hot to sit on the sun deck.

It was either a holiday or a strike.

7^th May

Trying to find the Thomas Cook office was not easy despite the offers of help from the holiday company. Mr Kahr said it was at the Oberai Hotel.

Lesley bought some medicine called Amelast that contains dioxamide and tridazole, an intestinal anti-parasitic drug.

In the afternoon we went on a shikara ride to the beautiful lake Nageen to see the new Butterfly Houseboat, which looked palatial with beautiful paintings in the Mogul and Indian rooms, carvings in the Kashmir room, and in the Shikara room a bed shaped like a shikara.

 

On the way back we called at a carpet shop. I bought a woollen carpet in 1981 for £200, so did not want one this time, but Lesley bought a beautiful silk one for a deposit and then monthly payments when back in the UK. They will send it to her my air mail. Of course there will be duty on it so it will cost her over £400.

8^th May

So far we had seen shikaras selling jewellery, now it was saffron. It’s cheap though.

Lesley had developed a habit of saying “Maybe later” and inevitably they come back.

I wrote a letter to the Sitar shop to arrange a later date to meet the guy back in Delhi with the Sitar I bought as we would be there later than expected. I gave it to Jimmy to post.

 

9^th May: The Valley of the Shepherds

We went by taxi to Pahalgam and a few miles more to the toll gate. It was raining hard. By the time we walked to Aru we were soaked.

In 1981 we had camped by the river but now it was too wet so we are staying in the Rest House in the little town of Aru, before we start our pony trekking tomorrow. Our guide was another Ali.

The village lies on the left bank of the Aru river, which was a tributary of the Lidder river.

The village was a base camp for trekkers to the Kolahoi Glacier, the Tarsar-Marsar lakes and the Katrinag valley. It was also a base for the treks to Lidderwat, the Vishan-Kishansar lakes and Kangan.

Aru was situated at 9,000 feet. The population was less than 50.