[pf] some light relief: the 5 MacClements in Kashmir in 1988

· I've just sent this to GV-NZ. It started with a comment from someone on
GV-NZ, directly to me, saying she had visited Srinagar in 1985, before it
no longer was possible for tourists to visit. And when were we there?
Following my earlier letter containing:

· It reminds me of our excursion every morning (in Srinagar Kashmir), to
the local baker where the oven was a hole in the ground lined with certain
rocks (pre-heated by a fire, in the early hours), and you often had to wait
in line with other customers while the baker's assistant lifted the
finished loaves out. Lovely bread. Highly valued.

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http://www.emucities.com/emu/misc/davd/Kashmir1988.html#top
  is:

· All five of us were in India 3 July - 29 October 1988, after preparing
ourselves with weeks in Port Douglas Queensland, then (via Singapore)
Melaka Malaysia.

· The children were 10-11, 15, 16 so we spent at least 3 weeks in each
place so they could (i) do Correspondence School, and (ii) wander around
and get to know the place and the people.

· After weeks in Shimla, and weeks in Leh, we took a bus down the Indus
valley to Srinagar, via overnight at Kargil and a wait for a convoy to form
right after Drass. Arrived 20 August: "a Dal Lake houseboat owner persuaded
us thatDal Lake was better than Nagin Lake because of the disturbances and
curfews. “Can only get to Nagin by shikara during curfew, and even that
isn't altogether safe”" He lied, we found out later. "B, P, and G went for
a walk to GPO and to get drinks, at noon. _All_ shops closed, only a few
tourists and soldiers around."

· After some bad experiences with that first houseboat owner, we stayed at
the Tibetian (sic) Guest House, and had some meals at the Lhasa restaurant.
Banks were still closed. G had swum in Dal Lake and got very sick with
enteritis - I took him to the SMG Hospital for treatment (re-hydration) and
overnight. P (age 15) followed a group of teenagers who started to pick up
_stones_. p freaked out because of recent reports of stone-throwing by
rioters. The teenagers then started throwing the stones - at apple trees
(to knock down the apples)!

· Aziz Shera, who I had initially made arrangements with, to live in their
houseboat on Nagin Lake, came around to see us at the guesthouse. So we
moved to Bilqees, the Shera Brothers' houseboat, and finally started
enjoying living in Srinagar. Good meals, the use of a shikara (G & I sailed
a little, using a spread raincoat), good view of the snow-capped mountains
(to the SW, from memory) after a storm, and no trouble from rioters.

· From 6 Sept to 13 Sept, B did a solo trip to Dalhousie, Dharamsala and
Delhi, while the rest of us did school-work. 18 - 23 Sept: G took his Form
6 exams - some OK, some very much not.

· That storm 24 Sept: Srinagar - Jammu road blocked by slips and
landslides. Stayed in the guest-house while waiting for the way out from
the Kashmir Valley to open. 28 Sept: "this is a _serious_ flood with
hundreds _dead_ and tens of thousands homeless in Punjab, Haryana and
Himachal Pradesh." 
  The younger children re-started shoolwork.

· 4 October: D set off for Manali, starting by bus then trekking from the
bridge-out between Anantnag and Kokarnag. Stayed overnight at Daksum at the
eastern edge of Kashmir valley.

· Cutting two long stories short {one: me carrying 23 kg pack up over
Sint(h)an Top (12,400 ft ASL) and walking ~100 km in two long days (the
first person out of Kashmir by land, I think); the other: the rest of the
family carrying _very_ heavy luggage several times to the long-distance bus
station}, we went our several ways from Srinagar to Manali in the Kulu
valley, meeting on 13 October.

· Yes, our 1988 trip to northern and western India was memorable!

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sent on to PF by David.
(David MacClement) davd@ihug.co.nz 
http://www.geocities.com/davd.geo/index.html#top
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