The Mountains Won't Remember Me : Kashmir Diaries Part 4

Day 4(9 May 2012):

We drove to Gulmarg from Srinagar, it was about 51 kilometres from Srinagar. There was a 16 hole golf course, it was so so huge and it is the world's biggest at 8000 ft. Gulmarg means meadow of flowers. To reach the mountain top, we took the gondola (cable car), there were two-phase one was 2.5 kilometres and it was somewhere in the mid of the mountain and there was the second phase and you will get to the top. We went up to the first phase known as Kongdori at 10,800 ft. It was just a new and exciting experience, it felt like floating in between the mountains. We reached the first stage of the gondola station. There was less snow in comparison to Sonmarg and there were more green patches. But we still enjoyed the top so much, made a snowman had a lot of fun. I don't really remember a lot about Gulmarg but it was a splendid place too. 

We returned back to Srinagar and we visited Jawaharlal Nehru memorial botanical garden,

it again had a lot of great flowers and greenery. Cold and sunny weather was perfect for plants. We explored the park enjoyed a lot. 

This evening we packed our stuff and shifted to a houseboat on Dal Lake. We reached the houseboat by a shikara. The houseboat was all wooden, it was warm and cosy. From the window, I could see I was surrounded by water. 

This evening we also explored the local market in Srinagar, they again had some amazing stuff, we bought gifts for family and friends. We had a wonderful dinner, for some reason I always had Maggi for breakfast all these days, I guess it was tasty and warm, I don't know if that makes sense, but I enjoyed having something different for dinner.

Then we spent the rest of that night on a houseboat, it was a first-time experience on a houseboat and was so lovely and memorable.