Srinagar and Dal Lake
Our next stop was Srinagar and its leisurely houseboats on Dal Lake. We’d heard these houseboats were amazing, and our reservation at Royal Lodge did not disappoint; the rooms were luxuriously outfitted with plush rugs, ornate furniture, shiny chandeliers… and even wifi! Our hosts, a family who’d lived on the lake for multiple generations, were also very kind. They were quick to offer us tea and travel advice, and our stay there was very comfortable.
The highlights of our time in Srinagar included a walk to a few different mogul gardens, a shikara ride on the lake itself, and one of the best meals I’ve ever eaten.
First, the gardens. The scenery around the lake was beautiful. Surrounding the lake were mountains covered in forests, and among the trees were a series of pristine mogul gardens. We walked to a few of these for a relaxing afternoon of exploring. When we got to the first garden, we found a peaceful bench near a lake. It was peaceful, that is, for all of ten minutes until a group of elementary school children arrived. Some of the girls figured out Sarah could speak Hindi, and amidst fits of giggles, they chatted with her and took pictures.
The next stop was a smaller garden that had a steep flight of steps leading up to it. There was also a spring-fed fountain, some flowering shrubs, and a chained-off lawn with plenty of signs which read, “Do not sit on grass.” Behind that pitiful chain, a few dozen Indian tourists were picnicking on the grass. Sarah and I shrugged at each other and then ducked under the chain to join the people enjoying on the lawn. My experience in India has been that there are a few rules, though not many, and even those few rules are more like suggestions or the “guidelines” in Pirates of the Carribean. Take traffic “lanes” for example; people generally drive on the left side of the road, but we’ve motorcycled enough that we’ve come to expect trucks and buses to invade our lane when there are sharp curves, potholes, or just unusual driver whims.
Our next highlight was going on a shikara ride around Dal Lake. Shikaras are sight-seeing boats that have comfortable cushioned seats for the riders, a canopied roof overhead, and a paddler navigating from the rear. This set up left Sarah and I feeling sheepish at first, because we felt silly being ferried around like pharaohs up the Nile; all that was missing was a servant with a big feather fan. Thankfully, our guide soon put us at ease; he was a nice, older man named Gulam who has been a tour guide for most of his life. When he was younger, he took tourists on treks all over north India. He recognized that we felt awkward, and soon he produced another oar so that Sarah and I could take turns paddling with him. We felt a lot better with something to do, some way to help, and the paddling was a good way to pass the time as well.
The lake itself was beautiful, and in many different ways. We ended up taking a two hour ride, and because Sarah and I helped out with the paddling, we actually got to see more than most tourists do in that amount of time. We rowed past crops planted in the lake’s shallows, men fishing, houses built on huge floating islands of dirt, thin canals and river-alleys, and more seaweed than you can shake an oar at (because trust me, the seaweed got stuck to our oars every second or third stroke!).
About an hour into our trip, we came to the opposite shore where there was at a gorgeous white mosque. Sarah and I got out to walk around, and we picked up some cookies from a bakery for the three of us to share on the ride back; apparently Gulam had a similar idea, because when we got back to the shikara, he took us over to someone he knew to have tea. On the way back, we took a different route, and we got to pass some shops with beautiful fabric on display as well as some very cool bridges. All in all, it was a wonderful afternoon.
The final highlight of our Srinagar chapter was a meal: Kashmiri wazwan. The traditional dinner is a forty (40!) course meal, which is supposed to be eaten in a specific order. I don’t think most restaurants actually serve all forty courses — nor do I think our stomachs could have handled all of that food — but we got a thirteen-course feast that was utterly delicious. I simply cannot do the meal justice with words. Each dish, from the spicy meatballs to the salty potatoes to the steamed subzi to the tender chicken, was cooked perfectly. There was a nice variety of tastes that somehow all fit together, and by the end we were both pleasantly stuffed. If you’re ever ever around Kashmir, I could not recommend this meal highly enough.