Srinagar Photo Dump

If Kashmir is paradise on earth, then Srinagar is fit to be its capital. It's a small jewel of a city, set around a lake encircled by high green mountains. The air is fresh and clean after driving through the haze and pollution of Delhi, Haryana, and Punjab, and the city itself is full of green spaces.

We stayed on one of the houseboats behind the main row facing the boardwalk, which meant we got a much calmer experience, and some beautiful sights right from the houseboat's front porch. Summed up: lots of birds, lotuses, and stilts.

Despite the many manifest attractions of staying on our houseboat all day, we managed to tear ourselves away to walk around the lake and see the various Mughal gardens. Summary: plants are pretty, but sunset over the lake is even better.

On a different day, we took an afternoon shikara ride through some of the backwaters of Dal Lake. Summary: this lake isn't a wide expanse of water. This lake has lanes.