We ended up in Srinagar 2 days after arriving in Delhi. This was never part of the plan - we hoped to get a train to the hills of the east (Shimla), but the floods had seen to the train lines being cut, and at that time over 52 people were missing. Apparently refugees were arriving to the main cities suffering from water bourne diseases, although we didn't see this ourselves. So, anyway, we were highjacked by a travel company in Delhi and ended up on a plane the following morning. (We were very cross about this, and would advise any travellers visiting India to avoid any travel agents in Dehli. If you must use them, write down what you want before you go in, and make sure you leave ONLY having bought that which is written down - also, pay cash not credit card.) Our travel agents actually lied to us about where the plane was going, and we had no way of knowing this until collecting the tickets on the morning of the flight. As I said, we would never have planned to go to Kashmir, a Civil War zone since 2000. There is a currently a kind of uneasy peace, with direct fighting now rare. However, less than a week after we left the area, 2 car bombs went off in Jammu, and a Government Minister's car was involved in 'incident' on a mountain pass. - There was confusion about wheather the army had opened fire on the car, by mistake. A so-called 'friendly fire' incident, perhaps??

However, Kashmir has been off the tourist track recently, and is relatively undeveloped. There were very few backpackers in the area, and all that we met had been unfortunate enough to encounter the same travel agent as us! We stayed in a boat house floating on the side of a lake, in an idealic spot. The story goes that foreigners were forbidden to live permanently in the area. The British Settlers responded by having boats built so they could move from place to place around the lake! We benefitted from staying in relative luxary, and were surprised to find that we could just ring a bell, and a guy would pop up with a pot of Kashmirie Tea - very nice, but sweet. What is all this luxary about.We are backpackers, remember.

We enjoyed a boat ride through the lilly pads of the lake, and Jim took many bird photos from the paddled craft. Many water bourne sales men tried to intrude on the tranquillity, but thankfully they did back off before I got really cross.

But, we were really in the area of some trekking. We really wanted to see a little of the Himalayas, and joined DAvid (from Spain) for a 4 night trek. On the road travelling up to the trek there had been a soldier every 500m, and our first camp was effectively a troop camp and road check point. Were they there for our safety, of for another, more sinister reason?

We had 4 ponies - the ones in the photo, 2 pony men and a 'guide'- in the loosest sense of the word. We walked to over 4000m, and altitude was a factor, causing headaches and lack of appetite. It was very cold in the camp after the sun went down, and we certainly wished we'd not sent our warm sleeping bags home from Darwin! DAvid was fully kitted out, as he had another 4 months of trekking to go. He was heading into Nepal and maybe Tibet before Christmas with a trusty Lonely Planet guide of walks that it was possible to orgainse independently. We hoped that he'd be able to meet up with other like minded travellers later.

We marvelled at the scenery, the sharp crags and the hanging glaciers. The mountain passes were probably similar to the passes in the Lakes maybe 100 years ago. The local people use the passes for transport. They all have ponies, and it seemed as if we'd hit the time of year when people were on the move to their winter pastures. On our main day of walking we left camp to return later, and traversed the col to find a Lake, a significant distance down the other side. When our 'guide' shared the lunch that we'd carried, rather than eat the bread that he'd brought, we wondered a little. On the previous day it had rained. The guide was wearing a full length white cotton robe (Islamic style - well, it was a Friday) and Jim had lent him a plastic poncho that we always carried for emergencies - not exactly mountain gear, but better than hypothermia. Anyway, after the lake, we ventured into a habitation for tea. The guide bartered the bread that he was carrying for boiling water. - We'd brought tea with us. The lady of the 'house' was very pleasant, and we were allowed to sit on the foam matting where her family would sleep, while we took in the surroundings. Imagine a poorly built drystone in a rectangular shape to just above knee height. On top of the wall, blue tarpaulin secured in a triangular tent shape. The open fire was lit, and the smoke billowing around before finding the open door to flow out.

There is no question that these foot hill are very beautiful, and we'd have loved to have been able to spend longer in the area. We had been so put off at the begining.

Life was so simple in the mountains, and we could have quite happily seen out the last 2 weeks of our adventure there. People were curious, and apart from the boys who decided to throw stones at me from the cliff above, most were firendly. One group of women even wanted painkillers (asprin) in exchange for a few photos! However, due to the hard sell of the travel agent in Delhi we are destined to see much more of India, and certainly finish our tour of the world tired! It is good in a way, we are going to cover a lot of ground and see much of Rajasthan.