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After the torturous bus ride from Delhi to Manali I had around 15 hours rest in Manali before undertaking the 20 hour jeep ride to Leh. Leaving at 2am and stuck right in the back (the “boot”) the ride was cold, slow and cramped. Add to that the bone shaking potholes and miles of switchbacks and you can imagine the ride. It was amazing though, as soon as the sun rose we found ourselves amongst the mountains once again, following a swirling line through the valleys and over the passes. The scenery was so evocative of Tibet I had several flashbacks. This of course is not surprising as we were crossing the Himalaya into the Indian part of the Tibetan plateau. There was a Dutch guy, Sieto, in my jeep, he had nabbed a front seat with some timely bribery, and once we arrived in Leh we set out to find a room. It required an expensive taxi ride (no rickshaws up here) to the Changspa area, just north of town. Arriving was a bit of a shock, I had expected a quiet mountain town, full of Tibetan architecture and surrounded by desert. Changspa was full of Italian restaurants, German bakeries and English bars. It really has been discovered. Our first thought was that it seemed like a Greek holiday resort!

The opinion changed the next day however as we explored the town in the light. Suddenly all the restaurants and bars and shops were hidden behind the architecture, the reverse of the night before. We wandered around the old town, through narrow alleys and round in circles. We climbed to the Leh Palace, almost a miniature replica of the Potala but without the grace, and without the preservation. It was difficult climbing at altitude again, a couple of weeks on the plains had re-adjusted my body. In the outskirts a private party was being held between two families and we managed to stumble upon this and be invited in. We were offered Tibetan Yak butter tea, one thing from Tibet I did not miss, and watched the dancers and musicians. There was also a team of archers there and we watched them as well, though not quite so comfortably. They really were terrible archers and barely hit the target. Even at a right-angle I watched nervously. We were fed a huge plate of mutton biryiani before we left. In the evening I ventured out to buy some snacks and bumped into Troy, who I had not seen since February in Palolem, Goa. It was great to catch up and we embarked on an evening of drunken debauchery along with a whole group that assembled at our table.

View from Leh Palace

The next day I was not quite so active but still managed to explore the town a little further. I just did not get the feel for the place, it was nice but a little over-run with the tourism and, although this sounds awfully conceited, it seems that once you have seen the reality of Tibet, the places like Dharamsala, Darjeeling and Leh that have so much Tibetan influence just seem a bit false, like WaltDisneyTibet.

So without so much regret I embarked on the two day bus ride across Kashmir to Srinagar. I was sat next to a 72-year old British lady on the bus. I hope I am still travelling in places like Kashmir at 72! He night halt was at a place called Kargil, situated about 5km south of the Line Of Control with Pakistan. It was refreshing to be back in an Islamic area, something so peaceful about hearing the call to prayer after having ones ears bashed for most of the past 7 months by the scratchy devotional music emanating from the Hindu temples, or sent to sleep by the monotonous drone of “Om Mani Padme Hum” in Nepal and Tibet.

And so we arrived in Srinagar. I was adamant not to stay in a houseboat because it seemed such a tourist industry that I was trying to avoid. In the end I succumbed as it was only 200 rupees a night full board (GBP2.50). It was a good decision. The houseboat was decked out in carved walnut wood furniture, chandeliers hung from the ceiling and of course Kashmiri rugs adorned every floor and wall. I ate on the floor in the kitchen with the family, they chattering away in Kashmiri (which sounds and looks more similar to Arabic than any of the Indian languages) whilst stuffing our faces with rice, dal and meat, lots of meat, the first place in India where no meal is complete without a “meat piece”. On my first full day we took a shikara (paddle boat) out into the lake to go swimming and the next day we took the shikara round to the giant mosque in Hazratbad for the Friday service. I wandered around the grounds of the mosque, watched the prayer and tried to be as unobtrusive as possible. On the way back we had a picnic in the boat. We had bought mutton and cooked up mutton curry ate it with bread before boiling up a giant pot of tea. Just as we finished the heavens opened and we had to shelter under a bridge. As we tried to get out from under the bridge we got stuck fast on a hidden rock and we had to try to free the boat without it capsizing! To everybodies relief we managed it. I also spent a day at the Mughal gardens, very pretty but ultra-touristique with their waterfalls and flower beds. I met a family from Andra Pradesh who paid for my entry to one of the gardens, for my bus tickets and also shared their food with me, parathas and MUTTON pickles! My final day in Srinagar was spent climbing up to the Hindu temple on top of the hill overlooking Dal lake. The view was spectacular but the weather a little hazy. I have to say that if you take away the mountains from the distance then you could be looking down on the Norfolk broads. The boats are similar, the water is exactly the same. So if you want to see the beauty of Kashmir, head for Wroxham broad, it will be cheaper certainly, and maybe, but only maybe these days, safer.

Dal Lake, Srinagar

Of course during this whole time in Srinagar I was rushing home each afternoon to tune into the second Ashes test. I never knew cricket could be so exciting, I was glued to it, when the inevitable power cuts came I was distraught. Come on England!

I came down from Srinagar to Jammu yesterday and from Jammu back to Amritsar last night. This time in Amritsar I am staying in the free accommodation at the Golden temple and have availed myself of the free meals there also. Tomorrow I will be journeying into Pakistan. For those of you who were aware of my plans before to travel back overland through Afghanistan, Iran, Armenia, Turkey, etc. those have now changed. This morning I booked a flight from Delhi to Prague (on Austrian Airlines over Vienna) for the 8th September.