Today we set off to explore Gulmarg. After a short walk through the pine lined paths and along the beautiful meadows of Gulmarg, we reached it's most popular attraction, the Gondola. The Gondola makes two stops - Phase 1 at 7000 feet and Phase 2 at 13000 feet.
There was some confusion regarding the tickets due to the temporary shutdown of Phase 2 for maintenance, and we made most of the waiting time by refreshing ourselves with the heavenly Kashmiri Kehwa - a hot sweetened tea laced with saffron. This easily turned out to be my most favourite beverage on the trip. Just as we were done with the Kehwa, we were informed that the Phase 2 is open after the maintenance and we finally made our way up on the Gondola.
It was a fascinating ride presenting gorgeous views of the valley, the coniferous vegetation as well as unexpected appearance of shepherd's villages of thatched huts. We went straight to Phase 2, as recommended by our guide because the tickets were time bound.
At 13,000 feet, needless to say, the views were spectacular. I don't think my vocabulary is strong enough to give it an apt description, so I won't even make an attempt. Let's just say that I went "WOW" and kept "WOW"ing for the rest of the time we were there. I would have clicked about a 100 pictures just at the top and couldn't get enough of it.
For most part of the year, the whole of Phase 2 is covered with snow. But given that we were there just before winter, we could see no snow as we entered Phase 2, at least not anywhere near the Gondola station. So when the guide asked us whether we would like to walk up to the area covered with snow, we jumped at it. Armed with rented snow boots, we walked after him for about 5 minutes and suddenly found ourselves surrounded by snow covered terrain! It was so thrilling!
There we were told that there is an opportunity to do trial skiing. Basically the snow wasn't deep enough to try out skiing on our own but we could piggy back the professional skiiers and do a "trial ski". We were a bit hesitant at first because the terrain looked pretty steep and there were boulders jutting out here and there. But then we saw an old Indian aunty in sari doing the trial ski and then we had no further excuses to make. The hubby and I signed up for it.
Honestly, the trial ski wasn't as simple as what that Indian aunty made it look like. Firstly it required us to trek down a steep terrain to get to the skiiers. Then each of us had to tag on to a skiier. And by "tag on", I mean balance on his skies with absolutely no buckles or belts or clasps. We were only to loosely hold on to his t-shirt while ensuring that our feet never came off the skis. When he picked up speed, it required all my sense of balance to stay intact. We get to do the ride two times each, where we are taken from one end of the snow covered terrain to the other. The good news is that I managed to go both ways without falling off the ski. I must also add here that the hubby did fall off on both ways, which initially made me feel like a superhero. But then, given that he wasn't doing much skiing anyway, the ski folks helped the hubby take a LOT of pictures in and around the snow area, which then ended up making me feel jealous that he has more gorgeous pictures than I do. Oh well.
Anyway, in a nutshell, the trial ski was an amazing experience. I loved the adrenalin rush, the precarious balancing act, the wind in my hair as we picked up speed, the absolute peace and quiet I experienced when I was dropped off in one corner after the first ride - all by myself with only the stark blue skies above and beautiful valley beneath me, I even loved the breathless climb down and back up from the ski area, getting my legs go deep into fresh snow! One amazing experience, indeed!
In case you are wondering what happened to the little one all this while... well, we first outsourced her babysitting to our good guide and then later she was taken over by the grandparents. By the time we completed our trial ski, she was looking a bit groggy probably from the thin oxygen and low atmospheric pressure at this altitude, so we quickly got back down to base Gulmarg, without stopping at Phase 1.
While the rest of them waited for our taxi, my dad and I walked up to the hotel first to place order for the little one's food. We trudged up the hilly terrain, walking past ponies and shepherds and relived our trekking memories from three years ago!
Back at the hotel, we had a really good lunch after which I insisted that we go and explore this little tea shop I saw on our way to Gulmarg from the airport yesterday. What was special about this tea shop was that it was perched on a cliff overlooking a stunning view of snowcapped mountains, and the spot, as informed by our driver, was called Sunshine Peak. I badly wanted to sit in that tea shop and have a cup of chai.
One not-so-nice thing about Gulmarg is that the pony owners there can be pretty aggressive. I had read about this on various travel websites before the trip and we got a dose of it ourselves. When we tried to take our vehicle out they stopped us and said that we were only allowed to take ponies within Gulmarg. When we tried to explain that we were going outside Gulmarg to Sunshine Peak which was a good 6-8 kilometres away and hence not conducive for a pony ride that late in the evening, they said well, we could do so "at our own risk". Wow. My dad immediately called up his contact, the magistrate of Gulmarg for help and before we knew it, we were driving towards Sunshine Peak complete with police protection! Brilliant!
And at Sunshine Peak, in that lovely little tea shop, I got my much desired cup of chai against some spectacular Himalayan backdrop. It was perfect!
Back in the hotel, we rested for a while, got ourselves warmed up with a hot cup of soup each and then turned in for our final night in Gulmarg.
So far, am loving it here in Kashmir! Tomorrow, we make our way to Pahalgam.
There was some confusion regarding the tickets due to the temporary shutdown of Phase 2 for maintenance, and we made most of the waiting time by refreshing ourselves with the heavenly Kashmiri Kehwa - a hot sweetened tea laced with saffron. This easily turned out to be my most favourite beverage on the trip. Just as we were done with the Kehwa, we were informed that the Phase 2 is open after the maintenance and we finally made our way up on the Gondola.
It was a fascinating ride presenting gorgeous views of the valley, the coniferous vegetation as well as unexpected appearance of shepherd's villages of thatched huts. We went straight to Phase 2, as recommended by our guide because the tickets were time bound.
At 13,000 feet, needless to say, the views were spectacular. I don't think my vocabulary is strong enough to give it an apt description, so I won't even make an attempt. Let's just say that I went "WOW" and kept "WOW"ing for the rest of the time we were there. I would have clicked about a 100 pictures just at the top and couldn't get enough of it.
For most part of the year, the whole of Phase 2 is covered with snow. But given that we were there just before winter, we could see no snow as we entered Phase 2, at least not anywhere near the Gondola station. So when the guide asked us whether we would like to walk up to the area covered with snow, we jumped at it. Armed with rented snow boots, we walked after him for about 5 minutes and suddenly found ourselves surrounded by snow covered terrain! It was so thrilling!
There we were told that there is an opportunity to do trial skiing. Basically the snow wasn't deep enough to try out skiing on our own but we could piggy back the professional skiiers and do a "trial ski". We were a bit hesitant at first because the terrain looked pretty steep and there were boulders jutting out here and there. But then we saw an old Indian aunty in sari doing the trial ski and then we had no further excuses to make. The hubby and I signed up for it.
Honestly, the trial ski wasn't as simple as what that Indian aunty made it look like. Firstly it required us to trek down a steep terrain to get to the skiiers. Then each of us had to tag on to a skiier. And by "tag on", I mean balance on his skies with absolutely no buckles or belts or clasps. We were only to loosely hold on to his t-shirt while ensuring that our feet never came off the skis. When he picked up speed, it required all my sense of balance to stay intact. We get to do the ride two times each, where we are taken from one end of the snow covered terrain to the other. The good news is that I managed to go both ways without falling off the ski. I must also add here that the hubby did fall off on both ways, which initially made me feel like a superhero. But then, given that he wasn't doing much skiing anyway, the ski folks helped the hubby take a LOT of pictures in and around the snow area, which then ended up making me feel jealous that he has more gorgeous pictures than I do. Oh well.
Anyway, in a nutshell, the trial ski was an amazing experience. I loved the adrenalin rush, the precarious balancing act, the wind in my hair as we picked up speed, the absolute peace and quiet I experienced when I was dropped off in one corner after the first ride - all by myself with only the stark blue skies above and beautiful valley beneath me, I even loved the breathless climb down and back up from the ski area, getting my legs go deep into fresh snow! One amazing experience, indeed!
In case you are wondering what happened to the little one all this while... well, we first outsourced her babysitting to our good guide and then later she was taken over by the grandparents. By the time we completed our trial ski, she was looking a bit groggy probably from the thin oxygen and low atmospheric pressure at this altitude, so we quickly got back down to base Gulmarg, without stopping at Phase 1.
While the rest of them waited for our taxi, my dad and I walked up to the hotel first to place order for the little one's food. We trudged up the hilly terrain, walking past ponies and shepherds and relived our trekking memories from three years ago!
Back at the hotel, we had a really good lunch after which I insisted that we go and explore this little tea shop I saw on our way to Gulmarg from the airport yesterday. What was special about this tea shop was that it was perched on a cliff overlooking a stunning view of snowcapped mountains, and the spot, as informed by our driver, was called Sunshine Peak. I badly wanted to sit in that tea shop and have a cup of chai.
One not-so-nice thing about Gulmarg is that the pony owners there can be pretty aggressive. I had read about this on various travel websites before the trip and we got a dose of it ourselves. When we tried to take our vehicle out they stopped us and said that we were only allowed to take ponies within Gulmarg. When we tried to explain that we were going outside Gulmarg to Sunshine Peak which was a good 6-8 kilometres away and hence not conducive for a pony ride that late in the evening, they said well, we could do so "at our own risk". Wow. My dad immediately called up his contact, the magistrate of Gulmarg for help and before we knew it, we were driving towards Sunshine Peak complete with police protection! Brilliant!
And at Sunshine Peak, in that lovely little tea shop, I got my much desired cup of chai against some spectacular Himalayan backdrop. It was perfect!
Back in the hotel, we rested for a while, got ourselves warmed up with a hot cup of soup each and then turned in for our final night in Gulmarg.
So far, am loving it here in Kashmir! Tomorrow, we make our way to Pahalgam.
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