Unexplored Kashmir – Bangus Valley

May 23, 2014May 25, 2014 by Kaushik

28-Sep-2012

We started the bright day with bright hope, this was a very important day for us, 2 elusive permits one for Gurez and other for Bangus, we would be trying for and this day would decide how the rest of the trip would shape up. Had a quick breakfast in Aharbal Tourism GH, we started for Srinagar around 8 in the morning. The roads from Aharbal to Sophiyan was tremendously scenic within the dense forests and meadows going through the winding hilly roads. We crossed Sophiyan which is just 15km from Aharbal in no time and the town was still sleeping, we crossed it and saw the part of historic Mughal road just before touching Sophiyan. Further 21km nice drive around valley landscape took us to Pulwama another town of South Kashmir. We didn’t take any break as we intended to reach the SP Tourism Enforcement office at Srinagar by 10.00 in the morning, we were not sure how much time we had to spend there and was really not hopeful after our experience of loosing a complete day on the first day of the trip there. The moment we entered the Srinagar city area, traffic jam greeted us, which was a horrible experience this time whenever we touched Srinagar, it’s so congested even in leanest tourist season, I feel pity for those who would plan to travel Kashmir keeping their base in Srinagar during a high season. Apart from Dal lake, Srinagar has nothing much to offer like other so called touristy places Manali, Shimla, Gangtok etc. We finally reached Srinagar TRC (Tourist Reception Center) around 10.15 which was 30km from Pulwama and without any delay headed to SP Tourism Enforcement Office. The office staff easily recognized us and in a few minutes they came back saying the police verification hadn’t yet reached then. I was almost mentally prepared for that and we all three (including my wife and kid) wanted to meet SP in person. We were called soon and again SP tried to convince us why they couldn’t issue permit to us without the police verification. We tried to convince him politely that we didn’t leave any stone unturned from our side and did exactly what we as a tourist supposed to do starting from applying the permit from Kolkata a month before the trip. SP was worried and repeatedly telling us despite of home ministry order, if he issued the permit and later we faced any difficulties, he would be responsible and answerable. The arguments and deliberations going on for almost an hour. My wife and even kid started requesting him to issue the permit. He consulted with his subordinates in Kashmiri for almost 10 mins, keeping us in deep suspense and finally smiled and said, he would be issuing the permit to us but he told me to let all my friends know that this he won’t repeat again for anybody else in future. He advised us to take a photocopy of Govt notification (which I already put in first page of this report) and to share that with our friends and also suggested anyone willing to visit Gurez, to bring atleast a character certificate from Local Police station verifying address so that he could do something even if the police verification didn’t reach in time. I tried that even before my journey but local police station straight away declined to give any such letter / certificate citing us the technical reasons. So as of now Gurez permit is a big mess unless you have some good connection at higher level or you are lucky enough to get your police verification on time. Whatever it be my request would be to apply for it atleast a month in advance and then follow up constantly with local police and SP Tourism, Srinagar. First thing we did after getting the permit was to get 5 photocopies of that and it proved to be wise later on.

Here is the elusive Gurez Permit for us and see we required photograph and detail even for our driver Kazim, so it has to be well planned especially if you are planning to hire a car for Gurez.

Once the Gurez Permit was received, we were very happy atleast we were sure by then to complete most of the trip we planned. Next was Bangus, another big hurdle and for this we had not much of information either. I spoke to SP, Handwara (Bangus comes under jurisdiction of SP Handwara) couple of times and he asked me to meet him in Handwara and clearly told things would be considered based on then situation. But unfortunately in Aharbal I was browsing net in my mobile and found an encounter was going on there between army and militants for last 3/4 days and honestly was not that hopeful about getting a permit for Bangus. We hit Srinagar – Sopore – Baramula – Uri – Muzaffarabad highway soon and it was pretty wide and nice highway but army was checking the vehicles in regular intervals. We drove for 45 km in that nice highway to reach Sopore which was almost half closed because people were busy in offering Friday Namaz. We shopped there for few necessary things and once again in few minutes got an invitation from the shopkeeper to have lunch at his house, amazing Kashmiri hospitality, haven’t found it anywhere within or outside India. He was requesting us but we were in a hurry to meet SP, Handwara and were about to try our best for Bangus Permit, so we politely turned down the offer but couldn’t get out of the place until we told him we would try our best to go to his place during our return journey. From Sopore, the straight road goes towards Baramula – Uri and further to Muzaffarabad and right turn would take you towards Handwara and Kupwara. We turned right and kept going on an excellent highway towards Handwara. It’s in Kulangam, 27 km from Sopore, the road again divides, the straight goes to Kupwara and 3 km detour towards left would take you to Handwara Town. Just before reaching Handwara main town, in left you would find SP Office, our first destination there. We parked the car outside, faced all the questions by security guards out of SP Office and finally I was allowed to go inside to meet SP. SP, Md. Aslam, was in his early 50 and a KPS Cadre officer was the best officer I met in the entire trip. He was browsing net through his Galaxy Note, when I met him, he was in all smile and informed me that presently an encounter was going on but still as we came from so far to visit the place, he wanted to make sure we could visit the place. It’s absolutely a different experience than what we faced during Gurez Permit process. I was taken into his office. I faxed my details to his office from Kolkata and I saw he made everything ready and the office bearer brought the permit for his signature in no time. He signed it and handed over to me and then called up SHO of Kalamabad PS under whose jurisdiction Bangus comes and instructed the Officer in Charge to do all kind of help we need during our stay in Reshwari. The Bangus Permit is a 2 stage process, SP, Handwara issue the permit from Civil administration side requesting 17th Infantry Brigade (Army in charge there) to allow us to proceed. Now it’s the brigade’s decision finally to let you in that heaven if they consider the situation then is stable based on the permit issued by SP, Handwara. Now Bangus has 2 entry points, one through Reshwari, called as Bada Bangus, and other is through wadarbala, known as Chota Bangus. There is no permit presently issued for Wadarbala route and permit through Reshwari is subject to clearance from SP Handwara and Army.

Map of Bangus:

This is the permit of Bangus we received from SP Handwara.

The SP called up Army Brigadier on his own and spoke to him directly, requesting him personally to issue the permit to us. Their discussion lasted for 5 mins and after that SP told, army was not so keen to issue permit as it was not safe and he advised us not to deviate from the defined trek route at any cost. He asked us to meet the army in TCP Nawgam where the 17th Infantry brigade was located for further permission. With lots of hope in our mind, we proceeded towards TCP Nawgam which just couple of km before our final stop for the day, Reshwari. We were stopped at the gate of TCP, at entrance itself they started laughing once they heard a family wanted to visit Bangus with kid. They said in 2012, not a single person was allowed there and there was absolutely no chance of going there. We showed him the permit issued by SP and requested to speak to Brigadier. Then they said, getting Brigadier at that moment was not possible instead he advised me to speak to the head of 1 Naga Regiment who controls the Bangus Permit. He spoke to the officer and apprised him of detailed situation and I understood officer from other side asking this man to dissuade us. Anyway once they understood we were really serious about this, he asked my wife and kid to sit there in his office and asked me to visit the officer directly escorted by one army person. In a short while I met the officer, Vidyanand Medhkar, a young man in his mid twenties from Pune. He is very polite yet firm on his decision that under current circumstances he could not permit us to proceed beyond Reshwari. He said he won’t even allow us to Reshwari unless it was late in afternoon and we planned there to stay. I could hear in between the radio / wireless messages he was responding and it was clear to me a combing operation was in progress in the region and they hunted 2 out of 12 possible militants already there. I couldn’t disagree to his concern on our security and he was telling repeatedly under present situation if anything happens to civilians it always have a deep impact on army, so he was helpless and so were we. Then he finally told me he had to consult to his senior officers located at Baramula but he said he was 99% sure we won’t get permission. I asked him about the rest 1% chance and we need some basic preparation like getting mules / horses in the morning if we were lucky to get the permit. He shared his cell number with me and asked me to call at 9 in the evening. I was in a mixed mood, the Bangus was so near (Another 15km) yet so far and the situation was not looking promising at all. I thanked the officer for all his efforts and had even tea in his office before I left for final stretch of journey towards Reshwari. We reached there finally around 6.00 in the evening when day light was fading and it was a fabulous place to stay. The hills all around, the dense forests, high trees and mawar river flowing just in the backyard made it an awesome place. The JK Tourism bunglow here was completely made of wood and quite old, it was the only Guest House in valley what according to caretaker was not torched in those violent days. We were quite tired and the namkeen chay prepared by caretaker Bashir was something to enjoy after a long and difficult day. I called up Kalamabad Police Station as SP asked me to do, and the Officer in Charge Mr. Mehboob was very co-operative (may be because of SP’s instruction) and he told he would arrange everything for me even the army permission and would send 2 armed police to escort me. I told him about my discussion with army but he was confident and asked me to take rest and he would take care of rest in morning. I called up around 9.00 in evening the army officer and he said he still couldn’t connect to his senior officer and would be back to me next morning before 9.00. I had nothing to do but to leave the whole thing now on our fate before we retired for the day.

29-Sep-2012:

I couldn’t sleep in the night because of the tension regarding permit, gone up early in the morning and had a cup of tea and Bashir told me to have a visit in the Reshwari Village, he said there are 9 villages very close by and thus there name Nawgam came. It was an amazing morning the first ray of sun was making a magic in the valley floor. Here are some fabulous moments in the morning at Reshwari:

Morning at Reshwari:

Mawar River:

Reshwari Village:

Innocent Faces:

The Reshwari GH beside Mawar River – Awesome location to stay few days:

I came back around 8.00am and was really anxious over my discussion with army officer in next one hour. Once I returned to the Guest House, I found Officer in Charge of Kalamabad PS (Mr. Mehboob) was already present there with 2 armed police persons. He confidently asked me to get prepared and start as soon as possible, he also had arranged the horses/ mules for us. He said he spoke to army already and we shouldn’t have any problem to proceed till Bangus. Now I was in a fix, should I call the army officer at 9.00 to get his confirmation or should I rely on Mehboob and proceed to next army camp and try my luck there directly. Somehow I decided to follow Mehboob and start for Bangus. From Reshwari the road is motorable road up to Neelvan which is 4km, where from it is 12km of trek route via lush green forests to Bada Bangus. We left the car at Neelvan where we found 2 new JK Tourism huts were built, though we didn’t understand under present situation how tourists could come and stay there. The ponywallas came with 4 mules and 1 horse, my daughter got the horse, we and the two security men took the mules. Now here at Neelvan army asked to show our identity and asked where we were going, hearing Bangus, they asked about the permit and we showed them the permit issued by SP and told them that we informed the brigade at Nawgam too. They spoke in their wireless set for few mins with base camp, keeping us waiting there for few minutes in the middle of few nervous moments and ultimately smiled and gave us a go ahead. We still couldn’t believe we have got the permission for Bangus but we didn’t wait for a second there and started our journey on mule. Soon we left the main road and a very narrow road was taking us route through the dense coniferous forests. It was really difficult to find your ways inside the forest unless you knew it really well. We realized why army was not keen to give us permission, you couldn’t really see someone even in a distance of 5 mtrs from you, so dense the forest was.

Neelvan where the new JK Tourism huts were built: Motorable Roads end here:

That’s the start of Trek for Bangus Valley:

Ride continues:

We slowly entered in the dense forest:

Soon we reached a lovely meadows and we took a small break there. This gave us the first impression of what might wait for us at Bangus.

There were few small stream crossings across the dense forest and finally we reached at the bottom of a very steep ascent of almost 60 degree, this was a difficult area to cross as the region had lots of small gravels and that made it even more difficult to cross.

The ascent was difficult:

Somehow we continued and after almost 1 hour of steep ascent we suddenly got exposed to the Bangus Valley, it’s a lush green meadow, quite big in size and the horses, sheep were grazing there, even we could spot the wild flowers across the valley, made it even more beautiful. The feeling was difficult to express in words, starting from hearing about this place, planning all the way, facing so much difficulties in getting permit, all efforts were making so much sense then. Instead of wasting any more time with words, let’s have the visual treat.

Our armed security guard during the trek:

Lovely wild flowers in Meadow: (You would find 50 times in April / May as the locals told)

Happy family click at Bangus:

We couldn’t even understand we spent more than 2 hours in that heaven until the ponywalla reminded us that we required another 3 hours to be back till Neelvan and the road was not safe after evening, leave alone the militants, the forest was full of bears and leopards and the villages almost every other day used to receive their attacks. The journey was one of the most memorable journey for us as we never ascent a 60 degree slope before, neither we took any journey accompanied by 2 security persons armed with AK47, nor we had to haggle so much for getting a permit and finally after all efforts we never felt so satisfied at the end of it. It was like a dream came true when we came back to our GH at Reshwari and was in a dream until my phone rang and the army officer in other end informed me with due apology that they couldn’t grant our Bangus permit. I was so shocked momentarily that really couldn’t react, just said ok and thanked him and hung up the phone. Still it is not clear to me how I reached there, whether they didn’t stop me because of SP’s personal request to Brigadier but didn’t want to issue an official permit or it was just sheer luck that took me to Bangus. Whatever it might be, I am thankful to God and to Aslam Sir for being able to visit this wonderful place.

Next day we were supposed to move to Chandigam GH at Lolab but Sabbir saab, the tourist officer called me in late evening to inform that as suddenly Lolab festival was scheduled and there were a lot of VIP movements there, he couldn’t host me at Chandigam on next day and he arranged my accommodation at Chowkibal PWD GH for next day, alternatively I could stay at Reshwari for one more day and on 1st October I could reach Chandigam. We decided to leave for Chowkibal and planned to visit Sadhna Top on next day but what finally happened was completely unexpected.

Previous: Unexplored Kashmir – Kokernag, Verinag, Aharbal

Next: Unexplored Kashmir – Karnah Valley, Teetwal, Lolab Valley, Entering into Gurez Valley

Unexplored Kashmir – Kokernag, Verinag, Aharbal

May 23, 2014May 25, 2014 by Kaushik

26-Sep-2012:

We woke up early and soaked ourselves in beauty of Warwan valley for one last time, army once again was ready with their breakfast for us (this is really something new I have experienced where Army was so kind and helpful). Again the day would be long, so wanted to start early, same winding road keeping the valley and Dariya i Chenab beside us, was slowly taking us to Margan Top. 2 days back when we came, it was almost evening, today morning the same road in bright sunlight was looking awesome!! Sheppard taking the herds of sheep, narrow winding road turning upwards, dense forest in between, unnamed waterfalls flowing across the gravel road, made the whole surrounding mystic. After 2 hours of drive, we finally reached the Margan Top and just before the final turn of the pass, in our left Kazim first spotted the Nan-Kun Peak at a distance. The pyramid shape is unmistakable. In spite of few clouds we could enjoy the full view of the peak from back side of it, last year we have seen these duos from other side at Zanskar, this time it was great view from Margan Top. We took usual stop at top, had some pictures but still had to go a long way, so started our downwards journey from Margan Top. I would someday be back to explore those python infested glacial lakes in the top of Margan Pass .

Nan-Kun at a Distance:

Nan-Kun Up-close:

At Margan Top:

After winding down for 24 km, we came back to same army post, they asked us how was the visit, we were really overwhelmed by the beauty of Warwan, expressed that and they asked where we were heading next, when heard Handwara and Kupwara, their smile disappeared, they suddenly became serious and advised us to take care as those are really disturbed part of valley according to them. Keeping in mind the uncertainties and more so on permit, we kept going and soon reached the black topped road after more than 48 hours. We crossed Valioo and reached Kokernag, tried to have a quick look at the garden, it was good but really crowded even on a weekday afternoon. We took half an hour break there, sat in the corner of the garden, were enjoying the splendid garden and also the people who were having fun times there.

Kokernag:

The journey resumed and first thing Kazim did was taking a car wash and it was really necessary after the 2 days long Warwan affairs , our next destination was Verinag and as we understood, we can take a short cut in left without going all the way back to Anantnag. The left turn took us in a nice narrow valley simply full of apple orchards, it was just a village road (kind of a link road it seems) but very scenic, we reached Verinag around 5 in afternoon but the garden, the stream, flowers and mostly its location just in the middle of hills would make it feel special, indeed this is the best garden so far we had seen in Kashmir Valley.

Source: Wikipedia – Verinag spring which is in Verinag town issues from a high scarp of a mountain spur, and is considered the source of the river Jhelum. It is situated at the bottom of a hill covered by pine trees and evergreen plants. The Mughal Emperor Jahangir constructed an octagonal tank of sculptured stones around the spring for which carvers for were brought from Iran. A garden was also built by Jahangir next to this natural spring which is of pre-Islamic religious significance. The construction date of the octagonal tank and the garden is 1029 Hijri or 1620 A.D. is duly inscribed on a stone slab built into the southern wall of the spring. The water is collected in a pool surrounded by arched recesses, and then flows down a 300-yard canal to the Bihat river. Jahangir wished to be buried at Verinag gardens, but his wife, Nur Jahan, disobeyed his wishes. Today nothing remains of the pavilions which once decorated the area. According to a legend, goddess Vitasta(Jhelum) wanted to take rise from this place, but it happened that when she came, Shiva was staying here, whereupon she had to go back and then she took her rise from Veravurthur, a spring about a mile to the north-west of this place. Virah in Sanskrit means to ‘go back’ and ‘nag’ means a water spring and, as Vitasta had to go back from this place, it came to be called Virahnag or “Vernag”.

Here are few snaps on what we have experienced there in Verinag.

Octagonal Tank at Verinag:

Verinag Garden:

When we finally left Verinag, it was already 6.00pm, From Verinag one road goes left straight towards Quazigund but somehow Kazim knew taking that route would need tolls to be paid, he somehow managed to get another road which would take us up at Quazigund but just after the toll plaza. So he took that route, we wasted some more time and finally hit the Jammu Srinagar highway and the wide road was really a break after the broken roads of Warwan. At Wanpu we left the NH and turn left towards Sophiyan / Kulgam. It was another 13 km till we reached Kulgam and then 30 odd km of night drive took us to Aharbal. We initially could not locate the Tourism GH as it was one km further into the forested road but Shaukat Saab, caretaker of Aharbal (again his number was provided me by Amit) was constantly in touch with us and guided us to the guest house over phone and we were greeted with warm welcome there by the GH Staff, they were all very good and courteous and the GH was one of the best I have seen in JK tourism in terms of location and staff. We were the only guest that night and got the full attention. Once again I was terribly missing my camera stand and the full moon night outside made a magical charm on the whole ambience. Suddenly from the remoteness of Warwan to the comfort of Aharbal with electricity, geyser, hot water, friendly staff yet quite remote and pure blissful ambience was a great transformation for us. During dinner we had the bad news broken as because of President’s visit, Huryiat Conference had called for 24 hours valley strike on next day. Next day 27th Sep, we were supposed to be at Dudhpathri, now after discussing with locals and considering the fact we had to go through few potentially disturbed places like Sophiyan and Pulwama, we were forced to change our plan. Called up Khan Saab, CEO of Dudhpathri Development Authority and he also advised us not to make any movement, Aharbal guys were more than happy to host us for another day and we took it as blessings in disguise, as we needed a break too after hectic journey of Warwan and the place Aharbal is too tempting to stay for another day.

27-Sep-2012

This is absolutely a day of rest, very unlikely and unusual for our kind of trip, where we visited just the Aharbal falls a km away from GH and relaxed the whole day in the GH. As it was a strike day, many local families came to visit the place, I got introduced to a lady who was a teacher of local school and we had a long discussion on the current situation in Kashmir. She mentioned she didn’t think Indian Govt or especially Indian Army treat them well, she said still to visit her school from her home a barely 5 km of journey, almost every other day army challenged her identity and asked her to show her face removing the veil and that too in multiple locations. I am not getting into an argument how far that’s required considering current situation of Kashmir but yes it’s really irritating if you have show your proof of identity 5 times a day and if you somehow forget to take your I-Card, you might end up loosing a working day, may be it’s not a comfortable situation to live in there. She explained sometimes in disturbed days, they had to give shelters to militants as those guys were armed and simply threatened to harm the kids if they didn’t listen but next day army would come and would harass them in a bigger way without considering the fact that you really couldn’t stand against a gun. But one thing for sure they have understood the futility of these so called armed struggle that perished their one whole generation in last 25 years, every common people now wants peace except a few with some other motives.

Going back to nature, we gone to Aharbal falls, pretty close to the GH and though the waterfall is only 20/25 ft height, the volume of water and the narrow gorge would keep a lasting impression in your mind, yes Aharbal should be in a must visit place if you visit the valley. The deep blue water gushing across the narrow stiff cliffs of rock was a view to enjoy. Rest of the times we spent in the sprawling lawns of the Guest house, my kid enjoyed most running there. I would be back at this place sometimes in future for the famous trek to Kausarnag. I was started feeling nervous a bit as tomorrow would be a very big day, first we have to meet SP, Tourism at Srinagar for Gurez Permit and then from SP Handwara we have to collect the Bangus Permit before we can stay the night at Reshwari. The situation was more complex as we have no spare day left as we lost a day due to strike here at Aharbal.

Awesome JK Tourism GH at Aharbal:

Aharbal Falls:

The river gushing through the deep gorge:

Relaxed evening at Aharbal before a tensed day ahead:

Previous: Unexplored Kashmir – Martand Sun Temple, Achabal Garden, Warwan Valley

Next: Unexplored Kashmir – Bangus Valley

Unexplored Kashmir – Martand Sun Temple, Achabal Garden, Warwan Valley

May 23, 2014May 25, 2014 by Kaushik

24-Sep-2012

This is going to be an exciting day as we move towards Warwan Valley. It was planned to start from Aru as early as possible and proceed to Martand Sun Temple and Achabal and from their moving to Kokernag and subsequently towards Warwan via Margan Top. A Google map is attached for better understanding but it might not be showing it very accurately.

We knew it would be a long day and so started early. Basheer, the guy from JKTDC Aru accompanied us as he was going home little beyond Pahelgam. The same guy whom I didn’t like much in last 2 days while staying at JKTDC Aru, became a different man all together and while dropping him off, he won’t let us go without having a cup of tea at his place, first touch of Kashmiri warmth and I was thinking how difficult is to make judgment on the people. Basheer’s house is a small one but still under construction, he took us to his nicely decorated guest room and offered us some snacks, cakes, akhrote and of course the promised chay. We requested for Namkeen chay and that’s what he served us. We didn’t understand how almost 45 minutes have been passed chatting with his family but ambience became heavy as he unfolded how he lost his father, brothers and almost all of his family due to the 25 year long militancy. This pensive mood was felt across the valley, you would find almost every family has lost someone or other due to these violent 25 years and they now a days want simply a normal life. Let’s not get into the reason why it happened but reality is it happened and changed their lives for ever, it almost taken away a generation from them and it would need couple of more generations to heal the wounds. We left Bashir’s place and soon after taking a left from main road towards Ananthnag and moved towards Martand Sun Temple.

Martand Sun Temple:
It’s more than 1300 years old structure and the ruins would still impress you. Martand is another name of Sun God in Sanskrit. ASI, renovated the whole places and built a nice garden and one shouldn’t miss the place if you go towards Pahelgam.

Source: Wikipedia
History:

The Martand Sun Temple was built by King of Karkota Dynasty – Lalitaditya Muktapida in 8th century AD. It is said to have been built during 725-756 AD. The foundation of the temple is said to have been around 370-500 AD., and also some attributed the construction of the temple began with Ranaditya.
The temple was completely destroyed by Sikandar Butshikan in early 15th century. It took one year for Sikander Butshikan to fully damage and destroy this Martand temple.
Architecture and style
The temple was built on top of a plateau from where one can view whole of Kashmir Valley. From the ruins and archeological findings, one can say it was an excellent specimen of Kashmir style of architecture, which had blended the Gandharan, Gupta, Chinese, Roman, Syrian-Byzantine and Greek forms of architecture. This beautiful Martand temple has a colonnaded courtyard, with the shrine in its center, which is 220 feet long and 142 feet broad. It was surrounded by 84 small shrines.

Martand Sun Temple:

Achabal Gardens:
We spent some 30 minutes and enjoyed the beauty and architecture before moving towards Achabal Garden. I didn’t find it that impressive compared to Kokernag or Verinag but may be because I was there in wrong season, I heard these gardens look awesome in spring season with lots of flowers.

Source: Wikipedia
It was built about 1620 A.D. by Mughal Empire Emperor Jahangir’s wife, Nur Jahan, called the “greatest garden lovers of them all.” The garden was rebuilt on smaller scale by Gulab Singh and is now a public garden. A main feature of the garden is a waterfall that enters into a pool of water.

Achabal Gardens:

Warwan Valley
It was almost 12 noon when we left Achabal gardens and realized by then we were running late, considering we have to cross Margan Top and drive 48 km of very bad to worse roads across the Pass to reach Warwan Valley which was still 100 odd km away. So we skipped lunch and skipped Kokernag garden too, keeping it for return leg started our drive towards Warwan Valley. Kokernag is located on NH1D which connects Jammu to Kashmir Valley via the alternate route through Kishtwar and Simthan Pass. We drove for another 12 km on NH1D which is an excellent road through Vailoo before taking a left turn towards Margan Pass via Mattigaoran. The landscape was beautiful with wide valley colorful with gold and green encircled by mountain ranges. The road turned ok from excellent as we left NH1D and subsequently started turning bad and tar road completely vanished when we reached Mattigaoran after another 15 km from where we left NH1D. From here onwards, roads are only having loose gravels, boulders, water crossing and I could easily understand how bad it could be during monsoon when Amit attempted this road. Kazim, being an expert driver, was also little tensed and we could see the ascent and could count up to 15 loops on the top. It’s a long 24 km arduous climb towards pass that would start just after an army check post where your car details would be entered. The road gets worst around 6 km away from top and we had to literally clear the boulders from road to save the low GC Innova from underbelly hitting. It’s around 4.00pm we finally reached the top and frantically trying to locate Nun-Kun peak which we heard could be seen from top, but it was cloudy and even some light snowing started in the other side of the pass, we didn’t wait much on the top but the vast landscape with all snow peaks around made it surreal. We later heard from army, there are three extremely beautiful alpine lakes those could be trekked within an hour from M-Top but all of them cautioned us not to go without a group as they have encountered huge Indian Rock Pythons in that areas. Not sure how much truth was there but locals said there were a few incidents of people got vanished while trekking in that region. Anyway as we started our descend from pass we discovered the road is much better in this part, reason primarily is the road up to Margan Pass was built way back in Mid Eighties but the road was not connected to Warwan Valley. Mufti Govt., in 2008 connected the road to Inshaan at Warwan Valley from Margan Top but the road built earlier was not re-laid and as a result the road in Daksum/Valioo side is in worse condition that what it is in Warwan valley side.

On the way to Warwan Valley:

At Margan Top

First look at Warwan Valley – Simply Magical:

We finally reached Inshaan around 6.00pm as evening approached by that time. Inshaan is having only 2 accommodation options, one is the dakbunglow which militants burnt during those days of turmoil, it is being rebuilt but not yet completed. The only other option is a Forest Rest House which falls under DFO, Marwah region, where there are 2 small rooms only. There is no electricity, landline phone available in Inshaan, it’s raw and rustic nature you would enjoy once you reach there. BSNL built a mobile tower but because of electricity issue that is not yet in operation. I have spoken to DFO, Marwah, Dr. Anand, a very nice gentleman and he assured me a stay in Forest RH for 2 days. To book Inshaan FRH, you have to speak to DFO, Marwah and please note as there is no telecommunication in place, you have to book atleast a month in advance, so your booking information can reach the Caretaker of the Forest RH. All VIP, MP, MLA stay only in this FRH as there is no other Government places to stay in whole Warwan Valley, so there is some uncertainties always involved incase of VIP Movement. But the people in the valley are so good and warm hearted, I personally think you would never find it difficult to have a stay there with locals if you wish so. We met the caretaker Abdur Rahaman there and the he was sadly down with flu. Initially he was little cold towards us may be because of his health but it’s Kazim who slowly took the control of the situation, offered to cook for the night and request him to get a chicken for us. Meanwhile my wife being a doctor came into help in making Rahaman fit with some medicines. He soon became active, made a great namkin chay and served that with biscuits, after a long and hectic day those were really a wonderful break. Rahaman was a very easy going person, initially scared us by asking for “koi to ek nishan chod ke jao” while taking my wife’s sunglasses (later Kazim told him it was for ladies) and sometimes wearing my Quecha Trek shoes, made me begging that I brought only single pair of shoes there. He became very friendly with us soon and Kazim that day cooked one of the best chicken dish I ever had, a candle light dinner, in the full moon night with Kazim’s handmade chicken and rice made it a wonderful end to a very tiring day. Just outside the hut, bakhrewalas taking their herds of sheep towards Margan pass as I heard from them, night movement usually be much easier because of almost zero traffic. The full moon lit valley with sheep moving in the winding roads of Margan Pass, the river Dariya i Chenab flowing like a silver lining with its gushing sound, the snow peaks of Zanskar and Pahelgam/Seshnag region encircling us casted a magical spell on us. We didn’t know when we gone to sleep finally.

25-Sep-2012:

The morning was bright and sunny and the valley was looking amazingly colorful. We came out of the hut and invited by the army to join with them in the superb breakfast of Roti and Sabji. We started chatting with them on the possibility of places to visit but they were really surprised to know that we came there just as a tourist. Warwan valley is triangular shaped sandwiched between Pahelgaon/Seshnag range in West and Zanskar Range in East and cut off my Pirpanjal range in south. Across Pirpanjal we can cross it through Margan Top, opened only between May to November. The road from Margan touches the western fringes of the valley. There valley is divided North South by the river Dariya i Chenab which finally meets Chenab at Ramban. There are several footbridges over the river in various places for walking down but only motorable bridge is opened in 2009/10 by current NC Government in Inshan where you can cross the river with a car. So the valley at Inshaan with current roads alignment looks like English letter “X” where Inshan is located in the middle. Refer to the handmade map below for better understanding.

The left (West) lower fork is coming down from Margan Top, only motorable connection of the valley with outside world. the left (West) upper fork is going across several villages like Uran, Bryn and the last village is connected by road is 16km away named as Churaman. As per locals from Churaman, survey of the road till Panikhar in Zanskar was already completed, though no one sure when the actual work would begin. The right (East) upper fork goes through village like Minglee and finally to Aftee around 12km from Inshaan. The road ends there. Aftee is turned into a model village with Sat phone connection which is only operative during day for local, during night it’s for use of Army only, a high school with just 2 teachers and 500 students, a health center which usually keeps under lock and key and doctor comes only during visit of MLA/MP. The big joke in the name of model village indeed!! People there thought we came from press and they took me 500 meters by walk to get a snap of their only high school and closed health center. Reasonable enough, they have lots and lots of grievances against the administration and Government who are too passive there. One of the students who wanted to be an engineer asked me “Sir tell me how we could compete at all India level after plus 2 when we have just 2 teachers for 500 students and we don’t have classes in most of the days”. I had no answer really, felt good that they wanted to come to main stream India but the question is how they could unless Government does its role appropriately. Back to the map, the right (East) lower fork goes to Nayapool via Dasbal village where the motorable road ends and trek route started towards Marwah and then subsequently to Kishtwar. The road work is going on in that side but no one knew when the loop from Kishtwar to M-Top – Inshan – Warwan valley – Marwah – Kishtwar would be completed. Now except the left lower fork of ‘X’ which is coming from Margan top, rest all so called motorable roads are actually for a 4X4 vehicle, so much mud / slush and gravels are there, it’s extremely difficult to navigate those roads with normal cars. As we had a long trip to go, we didn’t take any chance with Innova, hired a local Sumo, which took 1500 for a day to take us through various parts of Warwan. Left upper fork was inaccessible because of a huge land slide a week back, we only covered right upper fork till Aftee (12km) and right lower till Dasbal (10km) and back to Inshaan and it took us 5 hours. Mokhtab was our driver in Sumo, very friendly guy (+919906741384) you can call and enquire about road condition of Margan Pass or anything on Warwan, those who plan to visit by hired car, can contact him as well for a nice trip in every corner of the valley.

The only Motorable Bridge in Warwan:

Dariya i Chenab:

The gorgeous Valley:

Extreme Left Mokhtab and middle Kazim with 2 middle school students in Dasbal:

Eager to pose before Camera:

One of the many footbridge over Dariya i Chenab:

Golam Mohammad Wani – the retired school teacher offering us Apple from his orchard:

A cute Face:

The Apple Tree:

Golam Saab with family, Mokhtab seen second from left:

The farm land:

Roads are all Kachha:

The beauty of Warwan is difficult to express in words, the meadows, the apple and akhrot orchards, the golden farm land, the deep blue dariya i chenab flowing across, snow peaks all around makes it a must visit place for all. In addition to that you would find the most welcoming people of valley here, we took atleast 10 cups of tea, roti, cakes, apples, akhrots number of times during these 5 hours. Sometimes they stopped our car to get acquainted with us and offered us apples and tea, took us to their home, introduced us with the family members, awesome experience indeed. Once again the nice day was followed by a brilliant dinner with Kazim came into play with his great chicken curry and Rahaman prepared a nice alu-gobi. Army was even so friendly, when we came back from our day visit, we found they brought lunch for all of us from their camp. I have visited many places in India and outside of it but never touched so much the way I was touched in Warwan.

Awesome Vistas of Warwan:

Minglee Village:

Model Village Aftee:

Primary School at Aftee:

A wonderful JK Tourism Hut in Aftee but there is no approach road

Government Higher Secondary School at Warwan Teacher Student ratio 1: 250

A wonderful moment:

The Visitor’s log in Warwan, since Anirban’s visit last year, I am 3rd guest and first tourist to visit:

Kazim in middle and extreme right is Abdur (Nishane chod ke jao) Rahaman, an excellent host

Tomorrow we will depart from this part of heaven again towards Margan pass and yes would try to spot Nun-Kun from there and then via Kokernag and Verinag we would be moving towards Aharbal at Southern Kashmir.

Previous: Unexplored Kashmir – Aru, Lidderwat Valley

Next : Unexplored Kashmir – Kokernag, Verinag, Aharbal

Unexplored Kashmir – Aru, Lidderwat Valley

May 23, 2014May 25, 2014 by Kaushik

Before starting the trip report, I must acknowledge the help and support from our driver Md. Kazim, who took me to Zanskar last year. We all are aware the valley is not completely safe and in slightest pretext any major issue could erupt anytime. I spoke to dozens of driver from Valley but none was really prepared for such a long 15 days trip to the places called Warwan, Bangus, Handwara, Kupwara, Sophiyan primarily because of 2 reasons:

1. They have enough tourist in Kashmir in recent years to earn easy money by driving between known and established places and that too in most of the times by day trips.
2. They are definitely not confident about the situation in valley where they are not familiar with.

Kazim, though a Kargil driver, not that fluent in Kashmiri (Knowing Kashmiri is really helpful in many of the interior places where they won’t understand Hindi or Urdu), ready to be our companion for these wonderful 2 weeks, without him, we really couldn’t make this trip. I was aware about his safe and sound driving in difficult road already but this year I discovered his culinary skill and believe me in many remote places, he brought everything and surprised us with excellent chicken curries and rice and yes he didn’t take a single rupee for that, it was more like a friend, relative, companion he was than the driver. Next year November, I am planning to attend his eldest son’s marriage ceremony at Kargil, got the invitation already and it would be so thrilling.

The only thing he did a mistake was bringing his new Innova instead of the Xylo/Scorpio. Innova got battered badly in Warwan, Karnah and Gurez, if you plan these places, high GC cars like Xylo/Scorpio even Sumo would be much more effective.

22-Sep-2012

I never could sleep before catching an early morning flight, this time the tensions were building up more as I didn’t have any of the permits I needed at the time of journey. For Gurez, I sent all the details with photographs and application almost a month back of our journey and Sunny Paaji was kind enough not only just to submit those but followed up several times being present in SP Office physically. After he submitted the papers, J&K Police sent the verification request through their home ministry to my local PS. This was really a complicated process and still today I didn’t understand through what exact channels the verification was routed as J&K and Kolkata Police were not in sync on this. Even after the verification was done at my local Police Station and subsequently sent to regional office for further routing, it never reached the J&K Police. Several calls, visits all were futile and I had no option than to start my trip without the permit. This is the reason, I would suggest anyone applying for this permit, please do so a lot before than recommended and keep on following up with the concerned authority.

So finally boarded the morning flight from Kolkata and subsequent change in Delhi, finally took us to Srinagar around 12 noon. I knew my first job was to visit SP Tourism Enforcement office and sort out the permit issue. When I reached they acknowledged quickly about my application and but couldn’t do anything as police verification was still pending. SP was out for lunch and I was told to wait until he came back. Meanwhile I tried my luck going to Director Tourism Office (which is adjacent to SP Office inside the TRC) and meeting PA of Director Mr. Shafee, once again I was introduced to him by Amit. Shafee was a nice gentleman and he heard the details and ready to issue me a recommendation letter to be produced at DC, Bandipora office to get the permit. I readily accepted that as I was really not sure what SP would finally decide. I got the elusive recommendation letter signed by Dy. Director Ajmat Saab but that’s a day when my luck was fluctuating like a pendulum. Soon after handing over the letter, Shafee called up DC, Bandipora to apprise of the situation and there the shock came, DC confirmed over phone as per latest rule, he was no more authorized to issue the Gurez Permit to anyone who doesn’t reside in Bandipora. So the letter was taken back and put into waste paper basket. It’s already 3pm by then and I had to proceed to Aru for my night stay, time was slipping out, I ran to the SP Office again as recommended by Shafee and met Quayum Saab who was the SP, Tourism. Once again it’s Amit who introduced me with Quayum saab and even gave me his mobile number. He tried his best as well by calling the Kolkata Police Office Number (North Regional Office) but at that point these guys said the routing of the request was wrong and it should be directed to CID Control,West Bengal as local Police station can only verify on what the person has done within the PS jurisdiction, over all verification has to be obtained from CID Control. The complexity keeps increasing, Quayum Saab was sad but he was helpless too and it was really heart breaking that even after trying seriously with all documents in place for more than a month, we are denied permission to visit a place which is part of our own country. As a last resort called up Amit around 4.00pm and updated him about the situation. Surprisingly in the middle of all negativity, Amit was extremely positive, he asked me to wait there and promptly called up, Talat Saab, Director Tourism J&K. Things start moving from this point, Talat Saab called up SP and then SP asked me to come back on 28th Sep again at his office, hoping by that time police verification might have come. Meanwhile SP office asked me to produce Driver’s address proof and photograph as well including the car registration number. We have done that too. Though SP didn’t give any commitment but I felt the situation might change after Talat Saab’s call. I can’t really thank Amit enough, not just for his help but the moral support he provided me at a stage when I was not only damn tired after the whole journey but utterly frustrated for not getting the permit even after loosing one full day at Srinagar TRC.

We hope for a better day on 28th Sep and finally left TRC around 5.00pm for Aru. It was already late and we caught in a terrible traffic jam just outside Srinagar to loose one more hour. Evening was approaching when we finally got our way towards Ananthnag. During this whole drama, I completely forgot to call Sunny Paaji for which I really want to apologize. Now I had a plan to visit Sunny Paaji’s Aru Eco Resort which I didn’t even find on the way in the middle of darkness, it was already 9.00pm and raining heavily. The road to Aru from Pahelgam was felt little tricky and we just drove with high beam on taking the road as it was coming. At the end of the road we finally reached the JKTDC Aru and we had no option to search for any alternative at 9.30 night after such a long and hectic day. JKTDC Aru is located nicely but honestly didn’t like the people working there, the first surprise came as they blatantly charged 2000/- per night for a room and when I pointed out I have seen the JKTDC website on same day it was being sold at 1000/- per night, he simply said 50% discount is available in booking over net but not if you reach there and try to book, I was in no mood to fight but straight away told him I need to move if he charges me just double. Then he came out with an alternative plan, asked me to stay first night without any registration in their book and for second night asked me to pay full 2000/-. I had not much option than to agree to that at that point of time, but it was evident to me that they go by their own wishes and could take unsuspecting tourists for a ride. We were so tired that next day we got up at 10.30, where as in my whole life ever in a trip I never got up after 5.30 in morning. They offered us trout and chicken and finally brought a bill of 900/- for these 2 items, (The hotel menu card doesn’t include either of these items), after lot of bargains, we got horse at 500/- (Down from 800) for Lidderwat ride what we later learnt from Sunny Paaji that can be managed in 350/- during that time. So if you stay at Aru, JKTDC, be careful about the hotel staff and better I would say, stay at Aru Eco Resort, which is probably the best located property in Aru with nice treatment to the guests, a signature of Kashmiri warmth, which you would miss in any of these so called commercially established places like Sonmarg/Gulmarg/Pahelgaon. We later visited the eco resort and it’s one of the greatest repentance of our whole trip that we couldn’t stay there for a night.

23-Sep-2012

As we got up late, we were really confused if we should still go for Lidderwat but finally decided for that and it proved to be a good decision. We were little skeptic in beginning as my 7 yrs old daughter had to sit in a horse of her own but we decided to take the chance. The ride starts from Aru and it’s a 12 km distance one way, so if you have just a day in hand and you are not a seasoned trekker, trekking is ruled out. The horse riding was a fun though the horse owner very easily directed us to move our body weight to balance it whenever we were in a slope. The downward slopes were scary comparing to upward slopes or level walk. We soon entered into a dense pine forest still muddy due to heavy rains from last few days. We kept going saving our heads from tree branches and ofcourse from the weird movements of the horse in slopes. Soon we started getting heights and at one time find lidder river just beside us, the clear blue water was very inviting and the vast green meadows with sheep grazing made it feel like a different world.3 hours of riding over horse brought us to Lidderwat Valley where we found an Israeli couple pitched their tents and planning for further hike on next day. We even found tourism huts in leederwat, a definitely worth place to stay if you can, brilliantly located though unmanned, I asked the locals and they confirmed it’s not locked and anyone can stay there. We were tired after 3 hours of unfamiliar horse riding and took some rest in the meadows, got a cup of hot tea from the Israeli couples which was enough to get rid of all tiredness. It was already 3.30pm and we started our return journey along the same route, while coming back it took slightly less time (2.5 hours) and we reached Aru by 6.00pm. Once we returned we were informed Sunny Paaji came to the hotel to meet us, we really felt sorry as we should have contacted him by then, we gone to Paaji’s resort and believe me once I saw the property and the location, it was a big regret not to spend there a night. Pics can’t do justice always but still have a look into the place here. We couldn’t meet Sunny as he left for Srinagar but God has made a separate script for our meeting and we met very surprisingly later in the trip, would elaborate as I proceed with the T’log

The day was much better than last day as Lidderwat is an awesome place to visit and we started feeling the beauty of the valley. Tomorrow will be a big day as real flavor of unknown Kashmir would begin as we proceed towards Warwan Valley.

Starting of Trek for Lidderwat:

Innocent Faces:

Road continues keeping Lidder at left:

Open meadow appears:

It’s heavenly with the valley and Lidder flowing in between:

Trek Continues:

The JK Tourism Hut at Lidderwat – Excellent Location:

Lidderwat Valley:

Aru at Dusk:

Kid became friendly with her horse:

JKTDC Aru – Location wise excellent, otherwise not very friendly:

Aru in Morning:

Aru Eco Resort my favourite place to stay in Aru:

View from Eco Resort:

Previous : Unexplored Kashmir Introduction

Next : Unexplored Kashmir – Martand Sun Temple, Achabal Garden, Warwan Valley

Exploring Paradise on Earth: Lesser Known Kashmir – Introduction

May 23, 2014May 25, 2014 by Kaushik

This trip would never be possible without the tremendous help from Amit Tyagi (Hiambuj), Anirban (ADC) and Sunny Paaji (SunnyKashmir). No amount of thank would be enough for them as from starting of planning the itinerary, getting permits, connecting me even to Director Tourism of J&K, these guys were instrumental in making this trip happen and when I felt almost frustrated, these guys keep on encouraging me and such a trip in terms of complex logistics with family won’t be possible without their unconditional help and support.

When we did a fabulous Zanskar and Ladakh trip last year, I was pondering about coming back to the state again but this time specifically for the Kashmir Valley. Kashmir has been attracting highest tourist footfall in last 2 years among all Indian states but saddest part is like Arunachal it’s concentrated just on pocketful of places like Sonmarg, Gulmarg and Pahelgaon. I can vouch you won’t get the experiences of Kashmiri warmth and raw beauty of valley in any of these established commercial places. But then comes the next question where we will go, honestly I was not aware of any places except those so called established tourist places and along with that the ever volatile situation of the valley that makes it more difficult to plan especially when you go with family.

The planning started a year back and first we started debating over the time to go. From the perspective of natural splendors you really can’t make a call, Spring is the season of flowers blooming all across, summer is the time to enjoy the lush green with snow scapes, autumn is the time for fruits and the valley turned fire with fall colours and winter brings a different perspective with it white veil altogether. Weather plays a very important role in any Himalayan trip and so we gone by familiar wisdom of selecting either of the two windows, one just before monsoon arrives around June by which high passes should be opened or just when monsoon recedes around end September as the reversal of wind flow keeps the weather usually better and dry during these periods, if you have noticed most Himalayan summits are attempted during these two windows. We chose September end over June primarily because of

1. The pass openings are almost guaranteed
2. Roads are at its best condition in Himalayas and water crossings are mostly manageable which was a must for us as we were venturing in the unknown roads.
3. Season would be at its leanest and obviously you have an upper hand in bargaining which is essential in valley.
4. Airfare usually be cheapest in the quarter ending September (than that of in June)

I booked my flights from Kolkata – Srinagar and back way back in January this year and for 3 of us return cost just 25K (which subsequently gone upto 70K later, thanks to shut down of Kingfisher).

I called up Sunny Paaji around January and had some initial discussion on the places I should include in the trip, that time it was very sketchy and only thing we could conclude that keeping 2 weeks for the trip is safe to cover the most part of the valley, flight tickets were booked accordingly. Then several rounds of discussion with ADC (Anirban) who did his Kashmir trip in last year October and Hiambuj (Amit) who did another brilliant trip in August, slowly started giving me clarity on the plan. This is the first trip in my life where I didn’t have the clear idea of the routes / plans to be taken even couple of weeks before starting the trip. Slowly the names of the places, I repeat just the names (as I still have no idea on what they could offer then), were started figuring out. Gurez, the famous Kishanganga river outlining the LOC and Habba Khatun peak in backdrop, Bangus the brilliant meadows, very popular to foreign trekkers till mid eighties and the Warwan valley, hidden treasure of nature sandwiched between Pahelgaon and Zanskar Valley were came out as must go. We included Dudhpathri too as it was close to Srinagar and heard about its beautiful meadows. I wanted to visit Lidderwat Valley, courtesy Sunny Paaji’s T-log and hence wanted to include Aru too. Amit’s extremely useful suggestion on including Aharbal made a lot of sense which we realized once we visited the place. I also have a hidden wish to explore atleast one of three frontiers from Kupwara, Karna Valley, Keran Valley and Machil valley but even on the start of the trip not sure how to get permits to visit those places.

Once the destinations are in place, question comes in which order, clockwise / anticlockwise how we would travel as I was not so keen to touch Srinagar every time enroute. This time the thumb rule we taken was let’s go for the places first where permits not required and that would give us additional time to try for permits of other places if required. This turned out to be a very good strategy as we later realized, when to get Gurez permit I had to spend almost 2 full days in Srinagar.

So route plan charted as follows:

22nd Sep – Kolkata – Delhi – Srinagar (Reach by 12.00 noon) and proceed to Aru and stay at Aru.
23rd Sep – Aru Stay and visit Lidderwat Valley
24th Sep – Aru – Mattan Sun Temple – Kokernag – Valioo – Mattihgawran – Lehanvan – Margan Top – Inshaan (Warwan Valley)
25th Sep – Visit Around Warwan, go as far as Dasbal in south (another 10km from there road ends and you will reach Nayapool and 2 days trek via Marwah can take you to Kishtwar), Aftee in North (where road ends and a 2 day trek in either side can take you to Panikhar in Zanskar Valley towards east or in Pahelgaon towards west.)
26th Sep – Inshaan – Margan Top – Valioo – Kokernag – Verinag – Quazigund – Wanpu – Kulgam – Aharbal
27th Sep – Aharbal – Spohiyan – Pulwama – Budgam – Khan Sahib – Dudhpathri
28th Sep – Dudhpathri – Budgam – Sopore – Handwara – Reshwari
29th Sep – Visit Bangus Valley
30th Sep – Reshwari – Handwara – Kupwara – Sadhna Top and if possible to Karna Valley till Tangdhar and if could manage permission then till teetwal.
01st Oct – Tangdhar – Sadhna Top – Kupwara – Lolab
02nd Oct – Lolab Valley – Kupwara – Sopore – Watlab – Bandipore – Rajdhan Pass – Kanwaljan – Dawar.(Gurez Valley)
03rd Oct – Dawar – Barnoi – Neeru – Chakwali (Till the point civilians are allowed and road starts winding towards Drass via Kabul Gali) – Tilail Valley – Back to Dawar
04th Oct – Dawar – Chorwan Forward Post to LOC if permission granted and then move towards Kanwaljan – Bagtore till Tarabal where road ends. Planned to trek towards forward post again if permission granted. – Back to Dawar
05th Oct – Dawar – Rajdhan Pass – Tragbal – Bandipore – Gandherbal – Kangan – Naranag – Back to Srinagar
06th Oct – Spare Day considering the infamous track record of Strike/Bandh in Valley (This came very handy later)07th Oct – Srinagar – Delhi – Kolkata Flyout.

So now with an ambitious plan in hand, the next question comes from where and how we get permissions.

This should be a separate part in T’log as during my extensive travels in remote Ladakh or Arunachal I never faced so much complicacy in getting permits and spent so much time to get those elusive permits.

Let’s chart out the permit processes in a nut shell:

Gurez: If you are not a resident of Bandipore, J&K you have to get your permit from SP (Tourism Enforcement) at Srinagar office. For that you have to apply with your details in a prescribed form 15 days in advance atleast (I will suggest do it a month in advance) with your photographs. If you are in a rental car, even the driver’s details and photograph is needed. This will go through proper scrutiny before it would be sent to your local police station for pre-verification which is simply a MUST now. The rule has changed recently on 31-Jul-2012 and now SP/DC Bandipora can only issue permit to people residing in Bandipore, all others have to follow the long drawn process mentioned above. Read the exact Government circular below (Clause ‘e’ is the difficult one) and prepare for some difficult times if your police verification doesn’t reach in time. Keep photocopies of the permission and we had to give it in 4 different places and our passports / I-Cards were checked 8 times between Bandipora and Dawar. I tried to figure out why these rules and formalities and when speaking to locals, it seems Govt discourage people from outside to visit Gurez and main reason is the 3X110 MW Kishanganga Hydel Power which is going through terrible rough times as tussle between Govt and locals now gone upto court and right now all works in dam sites are stopped because of a stay order from court. Otherwise the LOC and other issues remain much peaceful here than the areas like Samba sector in Jammu or Bangus area in Kashmir Valley.

Govt. Circular on Gurez Permit:

Permission to visit any forward post like Chorwan has to be taken from the local army brigade.

Bangus: Really unpredictable and it’s absolutely your luck that can take you to this magical valley. You have to apply to SP, Handwara in plain papers and SP will issue a written permission on behalf of civil administration and request 17th Infantry Brigade stationed there to issue final permission. So you are at the mercy of the army and their movement and other factors. When we went, an encounter was going on and I heard myself in army brigade out of 12, 2 were eliminated, they were combing for rest 10 if they slipped out to POK or hidden in the dense forest region. We were denied permission by Army for good enough reasons but how we finally made it to be told in the T’log later.

Karnah / Keran / Machal Valley : In all cases permission has to be taken from office of DC / SP Kupwara and then visiting forward post needs army permission.

To visit Teetwal, last Indian village from where you can see Pakistan’s village, roads, bus/trucks everything in 50 mtrs distance, has to be taken from Police Station / Tehsildar of Tangdhar. Same will be verified and countersigned by Army at Chamkot, 10km before Teetwal. There is an excellent PWD Guest House at Teetwal, just beside river Kishanganga which might be an excellent stay but unfortunately Tangdhar Police doesn’t issue more than a day’s permit which makes it impossible to stay there.

Warwan : Doesn’t need any permission but just before the ascent of Margan starts, you have to make an entry in Army check post and similar entry would be required once you reach Inshaan.

After a lot of text, it’s time for a few snaps to show you the highlights, details would come soon as I proceed with this T’log.

Aru – The start of Trek to Lidderwat:

Warwan – Untouched Heaven on Earth

Nun-Kun Peak from Back side : From the Margan Top – On a clear day it’s very well visible.

Verinag – The best garden I have seen in Kashmir

Elusive Bangus – I can walk many miles to go there again

Teetwal Bridge – River Kishanganga makes the divide. We are in Indian Side , Other side is in Pakistan, try to identify the flags of Azad Kashmir (POK) and Pakistan on other side:

Fall colors playing at Lolab:

Gurez Valley with Kishanganga flowing across:

Dudhpathri – The lovely meadows:

Next : Unexplored Kashmir – Aru, Lidderwat Valley

In Iceland – The Land of Fire and Ice

May 22, 2014August 15, 2014 by Kaushik

As I was standing near the exit of Keflavik airport, it looked sunny outside those sliding glass doors. Just 10 feet away from my dream destination, I still couldn’t believe I made it till here. As a moment of celebration, I stepped outside for a smoke and it was bloody cold and windy. I got a small taste of what I can expect for the whole trip.

Meeting Witold and Agata

Our first stay was at Keflavik through couchsurfing. This was also my first experience in couchsurfing. Not a bad experience at all. Finally, Witold and Agata arrived. We decided check out the town. The streets of Keflavik wore a deserted look. Empty streets, big shops that were all closed by 6pm. I started to like what I was seeing.

Next morning we were all geared to begin our epic journey armed with the printouts from Regina’s travel pages.

The Route

I will rather let the pictures do the talking. Here are my favourite moments from Iceland –

All geared up

The planning

All set

Food and Liquor

Eating out in restaurants can be quite expensive. But there is a way around. There are couple of low cost supermarkets – Bonus and Kronan. Lots of varieties to choose from breads, fruits, and noodles. Carry a small portable gas stove, which will be very handy. Again drinking in bars is not that cheap here. There are State owned liquor places, mostly besides these supermarket known as Vinbudin. Get your stock from here.

Day 1 (Snæfellsnes – Arnarstapi – Stykkishólmur)

Arnastapi

Cliff formations by the sea with a breathtaking view. I could just spend hours here doing nothing. You can spot fulmars here laying their nests between the rocks.

Stykkishólmur

We camped here for the 1^st night. Don’t recall the name of the camping site, but it was close to a basketball court. I remember shivering with three layers of clothing while some kids were playing basketball at 11 in the night wearing t-shirts and shorts. They sure knew how to make maximum use of daylight hours. Our first encounter with rain that night. We had a hard time setting up the tents with strong winds blowing. I just closed my eyes and was glad to see myself alive the next morning.

Cost at the camping site – free as nobody was there and it is only open after 1^st June.

Day 2 (Stykkishólmur – Hvítserkur – Blönduós)

The sea tour at Stykkishólmur

This is one of the must-do things in Iceland. This 2.5 hour boat trip takes you around the Breiðafjörður islands (Breiðafjörður – broad fjords. Fjords – A long, narrow, deep inlet of the sea between high cliffs, as in Norway and Iceland, typically formed by submergence of a glaciated valley). Each island has a history which is well described by the guide on the boat. For 2.5 hours, you are surrounded by stunning landscapes, seas shimmering from the clear blue skies above, the beautiful puffins, the noisy Arctic terns and the witty narration of the Captain. At the end there’s a feast of shellfish and some creatures which were still moving and very tasty.

Vatnsnes Peninsula

On the way to Blonduos, circle around the Vatnsnes peninsula. The amazing rock formation at Hvítserkur cannot be missed. It’s simply stunning. And if you are lucky enough, there might be some seals resting on the shore.

2^nd night halt at Blönduós

Again, I don’t remember the name of this particular camping site. It was a small bar and the owner lived in the basement. The owner was an interesting old man who was kind enough to let us use his kitchen. The camping site was just beside a small lake. The sight was just so beautiful that we didn’t feel like returning to our tents. And how could we – it was midnight and the sun hadn’t set yet!!! The next morning the owner engaged us in an interesting activity. He had this hobby of collecting hand imprints from different countries. Luckily, Poland and India were missing from his collection. First traveler from India…ahh…that was a proud feeling.

Cost – 500 ISK for each tent with shower/kitchen facilities.

Day 3 (Blönduós – Akuryeri – Myvatn)

Blönduós to Akureyri

The road from Blonduos to Akuryeri is picturesque. Snow on both sides of the empty roads. The scenery was so breathtaking that we had to stop many times for pictures.

Akureyri Swimming Pool

Since Blue Lagoon was off the list, we had decided to try out lesser known geo-thermal pools. And this one at Akureyri didn’t disappoint at all. After 3 days on the road, this felt amazingly refreshing. I don’t know which was more weird…being the only non-white guy in the pool or seeing everybody naked in the changing/shower room. ‘Different countries…Different cultures’. 🙂

Witek sharing a light moment

3rd night camping site in the backdrop of Myvatn.

Day 4 (Myvatn – Dettifoss – Egilsstaðir)

Myvatn

Now this is the jewel of Iceland. One full day here is a must. This is where Iceland shows you why it is called the ‘Land of Fire and Ice’. It is really amazing to see these contrasting elements exist together. Volcanic mountains on one side…snow-capped mountains on the other. Lava fields and frozen lakes. Sulphur fumes coming from the boiling mud pools and just a couple of kilometres away it’s snowing. And all these places are close by.

Mt. Krafla

My favourite place in Iceland. The parking spot is surrounded by boulders of snow. The ice here has a blue colour to it. As you start ascending a little further, you can see the crater with a frozen lake inside. It felt like the entire landscape was painted in only 2 colours – blue skies, white snow, blue ice, white clouds, blue frozen lake. Truly a magical place.

Dettifoss Waterfall

Located in the North eastern part of Iceland, this is the Europe’s most powerful waterfall. You can hear the sounds of the waterfall from the parking lot. As you approach the waterfall, you can see a beautiful rainbow if it’s sunny. The ruthless waterfall with a backdrop of the rainbow does create quite a spectacle.

Night halt at Egilsstaðir

The night before my birthday. 🙂 It was here we had our first real encounter with a local. We were sitting in the bar and this friendly guy joins us. We start chatting up and in no time we are invited to his place to spend the night. The dream of spending a night in an Icelandic house started to seem real until an argument started between our new friend and the manager of the camping site. The manager was upset about his business being swindled off. But it wasn’t too late when we realized that our friend was actually drunk and now we wern’t sure about his invitation even though he kept insisting us. We decided to stick with the camping site. As others started to leave, it was just me listening to him. After keeping quiet for sometime, I made the mistake of talking by asking about his children. All of a sudden he became grim and tears started to roll down. He couldn’t stop crying about how his son wouldn’t visit him and how lonely he had become. I felt bad as I left him. I celebrated my birthday cutting an extra large pizza with my mind still wandering amid mixed feelings.

Day 5 (Egilsstaðir – Djupivogur)

Djupivogur

This was a complete detour from our itinerary. We met some fishermen on the road who turned out to be Polish. They took us to their place of work and gave us a guided tour of the fishing factory. Then they invited us to stay at their place. Our dream of spending a night in an Icelandic home finally came true. The gracious hosts prepared fish for us and offered their homemade wine. One crazy night. The best things are often those that are not planned.

Day 6 (Djupivogur – Jökulsárlón – Skaftafell)

Jökulsárlón Glaciers

The most awaited destination on the itinerary. I call this place as the cover photo of Iceland. It was very windy when we reached there. Had a hard time holding the camera still but worth all the trouble. This place is a photographer’s paradise.

Fun fact – Die Another Day and Batman Begins were shot here.

Day 7 (Skaftafell – Vik – Skógafoss)

Vik

The rainiest part of Iceland. And not surprisingly, it was raining when we reached the Vik beach. And it was here I got my perfect shot of Puffin (the most popular bird in Iceland) after staring at its ass for ten minutes in the rain. The Vik beach is listed as one of the ten most beautiful beaches of world. And it is indeed quite beautiful in it’s own unique way. Vast stretches of black sand/pebbles with hardly any soul around. Your own private beach!!!

Night halt at Skógafoss

A business based on Trust. Amazing attitude.

The camping site was equipped with kitchen/shower facilities.

Cost – 1200 ISK

Day 8 (Skógafoss – Gulfoss – Geysir – Thingvellir)

Gullfoss

Another spectacular waterfall. Its part of the Golden circle tour. It’s a tough comparison to make between Gullfoss and Dettifoss. If Dettifoss is the ferocious warrior, then Gullfoss is the gorgeous queen.

Geysir

This is something unique and I guess can only be seen in Iceland. Hot springs erupting upto heights of 10 – 15 metres makes quite a spectacle. And yes, you have to be patient enough to catch the glimpse of these eruptions.

Night halt at Thingvellir

Free stay once again for couple of days. The cold had really started to get to me. My lips started to crack and I had this tired feeling quite often. Decided to sleep in the warm laundry room.

Day 9 (Thingvellir)

Beautiful landscapes with lava fields and moss. Lovely place to have those long peaceful walks.

Day 10, 11, 12 (Reykjavik)

The capital of Iceland. Nice place to settle down after the beautiful journey around the island. Food and liquor can be expensive. As I have mentioned in the Food and Liquor section, get your stock from lowcost supermarkets around the city. But you can still target the happy hours in the bars around the city.
List of happy hours in Reykjavik –

Flea market

It’s very close to a magnificent piece of structure known as Harpa. Good place to get Icelandic woolen sweaters and also taste the local delicacy, rotten shark. It is open only on weekends.

Icelandic Phallological museum

You have to definitely see this. It’s hilarious and very creative. Never seen anything like this anywhere. 1000 ISK well spent. 🙂

Random pics

A perfect shot by Witek. 🙂

The Lebowski Bar – Didn’t try it even though it seemed like an interesting place from outside. Not because I belonged to any of the mentioned categories but I was just too tired. 🙂

Sun Voyager waterfront

Was so tempted to go inside and ask how to immigrate

It was difficult to bid goodbye to this magical place and all I kept thinking was different ways to immigrate here. Iceland is way more beautiful than these pictures. I hope this place retains it beauty for the years to come and is not ruined by excessive tourism. Iceland makes you feel royal. The empty streets, the deserted look of the airports, the lonely vast beaches – gives you a feeling that you are only person on this planet, which makes you value yourself more. People often ask me how much did the trip cost…and I just feel like saying…14 memorable days of my life.

Iceland – The planning and the chaos

May 22, 2014August 15, 2014 by Kaushik

This phase was one of the toughest of my life. I had decided to do something that was considered ridiculous by my family and friends.

Why ridiculous?

I come from a conservative Indian family and so does 90% of India. For us, travelling is limited to Goa, a honeymoon in Italy (if you are rich) or going on a guided tour around the city. Travelling is something that doesn’t come naturally to me or the people I know. I was at the stage of my life where the next logical things to do as per society routine were to buy a house, get married, have kids, be a good grandfather and die eventually.

So when I announced that I wanted to go to Iceland, it was madness ofcourse.

“What is this guy thinking?” “Has he completely lost it?” “Why are you wasting your hard earned money?”

Those were common responses. Even by own standards, I thought this was crazy. I questioned myself many times..’Was I really ready for this?’ This was a trip that will involve lots of ‘Firsts’.

First time outside India.
First time camping.
First time travelling without my friends/family.
First time I am going to see snow.

Inspite of the staunch opposition and lots of counseling, I decided to stick to my decision of going to Iceland. When you are staring at a picture of Iceland, every criticism falls into deaf ears.

So how it all began?

The only memory of Iceland I had was while filling the nationality column in online forms where Iceland used to pop-up while searching for India. And it all started when I came across some pictures on a website. The landscape was so mesmerizing that it was love at first sight.

The normal routine after seeing these pictures would have been to mark these places in your wish list and keep dreaming about them for the rest of your lives. But that day something unusual happened. I don’t remember whether I was drunk or sober that night but the next thing I know it was 5.30 in the morning and I had been researching non-stop about Iceland for the last 5 hours.

Fixing the budget

I had fixed a budget of 1 lakh rupees for the whole trip when I began planning. I decided that if the cost of the trip exceeds the budget, I won’t go. With the rupee value higher than Icelandic krona and Iceland unfortunately still recovering from the effects of recession, Iceland on a budget seemed possible. A rough breakup of the budget-

Flight tickets – 55k
Car rental and fuel – 15k
Stay – 15 k
Miscellaneous – 15k

Convincing friends

Now that I had made up my mind, how do I convince my friends? I explained them the budget and tempted them with pictures. Though they seemed to be excited with the plans, none of them gave me a confirmed response. I decided to make the itinerary first and then focus on convincing them.

Itinerary – the biggest headache

‘To cover the best of Iceland in 12 days’ – keeping that in mind, I started designing the itinerary. But this was not as easy as it sounded. Different sites recommended different things. Some said you can’t miss the Northern Lights, some said a visit to the Blue Lagoon is a must. I ended up with so many places that it was impossible to cover them in 12 days. Also the names of these places were a big pain to remember. Forget about remembering, you can’t even pronounce them. After 2 months of brainstorming, I had nothing to show.

Regina – the saviour

With repeated failures to design the itinerary, I finally stumbled upon Regina’s page on Virtualtourist.com. Her travel pages are like an encyclopedia for anybody travelling to Iceland. I got to see Iceland from a local’s point of view rather from a commercialized travel site. The little unknown places that only the locals would know; that’s the sort of places I want in my itinerary. With a detailed account of all the places, I finally had a guide from where I could design the itinerary. After reading her pages, I made an itinerary for 12 days covering the best places of Iceland. I sent her the itinerary and she helped me fine tune it to make it the best possible itinerary. If you are planning to travel Iceland, do check her pages:

http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/m/f4b0a/

Sorry…where is this Iceland?

This was the common response from travel agents when I inquired about tickets. Though makemytrip.com did offer the cheapest deal, I was little hesitant to book it online. This was until I found out that they also had a office in Andheri.

When to go?

This was a tricky part. After comparing prices, May seemed to be the best option because it falls in the winter (off season) and also has almost 18 hours of daylight. June – August is usually considered as the summer season and also the peak season for tourism. The differences in prices for these two seasons can be very high. The downside to travelling in winter is that many inland roads might be closed and also it is going to be extremely cold.

	Prices	Climate	Daylight	Advantage
Summer (June – Aug)	Expensive	Bearable temperatures	Average 20-22 hours	Maximum time to travel with more daylight hours
Winter (September – April)	Relatively cheaper	Extremely cold	4 – 12	Chance to see the Northern Lights. Christmas and New year is a great time to be in Rejkyavik but the prices are higher during this time.
Winter (May)	Relatively cheaper	Still cold	18 hours	Maximum time to travel with more daylight hours at cheaper prices than June – Aug

For instance, a rental car that will cost you 50 euros in the winter season, will cost 80 in the summer.

Temperatures in °F

Source – http://goscandinavia.about.com/od/icelan1/ss/weathericeland.htm

Going solo

It didn’t came as surprise when my friends backed out eventually. I realized that it’s not fair to blame them as this was my dream and only I can achieve it. I started reading different experiences of solo travellers but was still nervous about travelling alone.

The Team

After lots of searching, I finally met Witold Rybski from Poland on Virtaltourist.com. He and his wife, Agata, had posted a request to share a car for a 10 day trip. We connected and luckily he liked my itinerary too. The flight tickets had already touched 65k; 10k more than 2 weeks before. I didn’t wait for their confirmation and booked the tickets. But fortunately they confirmed and everything slowly started to fall in place. With one seat still to be filled, I connected with Marie from Canada just 2 weeks before the trip on couchsurfing. Finally, the team was formed. Three continents coming together for one destination. I think travelling without my friends was a blessing in disguise; this was going to be a great learning experience. Travelling with regular backpackers and the joy of listening to their backpacking experiences – priceless.

The criticism and the obstacles

As the day of my departure started nearing, the obstacles also became more fierce. The criticism started getting more aggressive. So-called friends ridiculed me by telling not to spoil India’s name there. I started to wonder who these people are..Brand ambassadors of India? It’s really amazing that in situations like these you realize who your real friends are. For my family, the biggest concern was not the money but my relatives’ reactions. They wanted me to get married first and then go such places. The criticism started motivating me further. Maybe I wanted to prove a point that travelling is not just for the rich. But the obstacles just kept creeping up.

The biggest obstacle was Visa. The Visa requirement stated hotel reservations for the entire trip and IT-returns for the last 3 years. As staying in hotels was not my plan, I was completely clueless on how to work this out. Also. I had never filed my tax returns ever and now I was left rushing to my former employers for Form-16 and other documents. Then if that was not enough to demotivate me, they also wanted me to have a minimum bank balance of 1 lakh rupees. It seemed like the entire world was trying hard to stop me from going. All I want is to visit a beautiful place on my planet. Is it too much to ask for? Was travelling really for the rich?

Visa – The last bridge

With no hotel reservations and the flight return ticket already booked, I went ahead and submitted my application. I was at a high risk of losing all my savings if something went wrong here.

I still remember that moment with the Visa officer and her blank look when she saw my application. She asked me to wait for 5 minutes and went inside to consult with her senior. Those five minutes seemed like ages and my heart was beating rapidly. I suddenly went into flashback. Am I going to lose my flight money? Was this a stupid decision afterall? I was already imagining my family ready to show off their ‘Told you so’ look. Finally the Visa officer came back with a tense face and I became more tense. She looked at me and said, “You are lucky. He has accepted your application.” Those words will always remain with me forever. I felt like kissing her but I was rather in shock and still not sure of what the fuck just happened. Am I really going to Iceland? I went outside and sat at the Marine Drive looking over the sea. As I lit up a cigarette for this moment of celebration, only one thought kept popping in my head over and over again.

Am I really going to Iceland? Am I really going to Iceland?

Hell yeah…Iceland baby!!! Here I come!!!

Explore The Unexplored

Author: Kaushik

Unexplored Kashmir – Bangus Valley

Unexplored Kashmir – Kokernag, Verinag, Aharbal

Unexplored Kashmir – Martand Sun Temple, Achabal Garden, Warwan Valley

Unexplored Kashmir – Aru, Lidderwat Valley

Exploring Paradise on Earth: Lesser Known Kashmir – Introduction

In Iceland – The Land of Fire and Ice

Iceland – The planning and the chaos