A Week In... Kashmir!
3rd February 2001
Well, I've just got back from five days in Kashmir (I think I accidentally said I was in Delhi rather than Kashmir... a mistake anyone could make to stop people worrying!). A very strange week!
I arrived in Delhi at 3am last Saturday and my original plan was "bum around the airport for a few hours until it's light, then get a taxi to some cheap youth hostel, find some people, and go up to Nepal". Well, there I was in Delhi airport and I just thought "sod that, I may as well get a taxi now" and so got an expensive taxi (by Indian standards) into central Delhi. I told the driver I would just wonder around by myself all night/morning and find a hotel the next day, but in the end I submitted to staying somewhere for the remainder of the morning... it was very dark, and very different to anywhere I'd been before!
So, I went into some hotel which just had one room left. It was very skanky, but I couldn't be bothered to look for anything else, so I said "yup... OK" and ended up staying their for the night.
The next day I was whisked off to a tourist office and they showed me lots of nice pictures, said some nice stuff etc., and I was foolish enough to make a rash decision like I always seem to do, and book some really expensive sight-seeing etc... more than I was intending to spend in India, but oh well, that's me. I booked some stuff in some mountains, followed by min-van'ing around all the main places, and going on a camel as well.
Well, the next day it was off into the mountains. I hadn't a clue really where I was going, but I had this niggling feeling at the back of my mind that Kashmir might be in some mountains somewhere... being the great geographer that I am. Got in the plane, and realised there were no English people there... hmm.
Arrived at the airport, and some geezer gave me a form to fill out: "Name... Passport number... blah, blah, blah... time to stay in Kashmir blah blah". Hot damn! I was in Kashmir... crap.
Well, that was a bit shocking for me. I knew I was going to some place called "Sinagar" in some mountains, but little more than that. Got out of the airport and found some bloke who was collecting me. He had a big kind of jumper on, what they all wear there. Got in his van... "was I about to be kidnapped by same mad lunatic?"... apparently not.
It was about a 45 minute journey in the van... and what a weird journey. Think about going back in time to cowboys/indians/wild-west etc., add truck loads of soldiers and that's basically what it is like. Soldiers are absolutely everywhere in Kashmir, in trucks, in cars, by the road side (every few hundred metres)... you'd be blind not to notice them.
So, after this journey through the militarised-wild-west I finally came to my hotel: a house-boat on some big lake. I went inside and it was very plush looking, whilst also being very non-English... quite cold (although with fires) and with very little electricity/lights!
Anyway, I've gotta check my emails now, so I'll make this quick. It was a mixed week - quite boring/lonely because I was the only one on the boat but also quite interesting with walks in snowy mountains and other cool stuff.
Other stuff...
2009-09-29: Emerald Acupuncture, Cambridge2008-12-16: My yearbook company
2008-10-24: Benjamin Luke Flash Gordon
2006-06-07: Mr & Mrs Jake Gordon
2006-05-08: AllYearbooks.co.uk Relaunches!
2006-04-11: Building Collapse!
2006-04-03: Getting Married
2006-01-19: Estate Angels & Drupal
2005-09-10: Hard Drive Fried
2004-12-23: US Election Ohio Recount
2004-11-19: GlobalPublicMedia.com
2004-11-03: Peak Oil Dissertation
2004-07-15: Internet Explorer vs. Mozilla Firefox: Google Zeitgeist
2004-07-13: Fahrenheit 9/11 - good, but nothing new
2004-07-10: Fahrenheight 9/11
2004-07-03: Using the Disability Discriminatin Act (UK) to force companies to provide e-books
2004-06-20: Slashdotted
2004-06-08: Mr Jake BA
2004-06-05: JakeG Limited & Degree Results
2004-05-13: Yearbook Production
2004-04-25: No Jobs & No Oil: the unsustainability of full employment and cheap energy
2004-03-14: My Own Radio Station - For Free
2004-02-24: More on Peak Oil
2004-02-24: BBC License Fee Debate on Century FM
2004-02-24: New Blog!
2004-02-23: P2P Internet TV
2004-02-18: More Bleak Predictions
2004-02-11: Jobless Figures
2004-02-05: Ski Photos Online
2004-01-27: Ski Champ!!!
2004-01-18: Interesting copyright law with tape recordings
2004-01-12: Twisted economic values
2004-01-11: As I suspected - never trust unemployment figures
2004-01-08: Sociology essay: Internet and freedom
2003-12-19: Dissertation Plan
2003-12-07: Trampolining
2003-10-16: Sociology Essays
2003-10-12: Exploring Snowdonia
2003-10-10: Wireless Networking
2003-10-07: Disabling Education System
2003-09-19: Wealth Concentration & Technological Freedom
2003-08-31: Travel Photos
2003-08-27: Boy I'm glad to be back home
2003-08-24: The Real Mexico
2003-08-24: Argh... Airport, Travel Agency... Argh!!!
2003-08-24: Cigar Smuggling
2003-08-24: Marcela in Monterrey
2003-08-24: Cuban Brawl
2003-08-24: Socialism, The Cuban Way
2003-08-22: Cuban Prostitutes
2003-08-17: I do like to change my mind...
2003-08-16: Hammock Havan
2003-08-15: Capital Village and Belizean Quirkiness
2003-08-13: Robinson Crusoe
2003-08-11: Coke snorting policeman
2003-08-10: Dreams
2003-08-08: Are you okay? My name's Jake, I'm a rescue diver, may I help you?
2003-08-01: Industrial Action
2003-07-29: Honduras
2003-07-28: Almost Dead
2003-07-25: School's out for summer!!!
2003-07-21: Yo Hablo Espanol
2003-07-20: Twin Peaks
2003-07-16: 'First Class' Chickens
2003-07-16: Opa
2003-07-16: Waterfalls And Even More Ruins
2003-07-12: Jungle Ruins
2003-07-11: Pain In The Arse
2003-07-09: Guatemala and a Cunning Plan
2003-07-08: Hammock Haven
2003-07-04: Travelling Budderinos
2003-07-03: Cuban Cigars and Beached Turtles
2003-07-01: Rambo
2003-06-29: Go West!
2003-06-27: Pyramid Funkiness
2003-06-26: Hola! Je suis en Mexico!!!
2003-06-24: Photos for all!
2003-06-24: MexiGo
2003-05-14: musicdonor.org
2003-04-01: Mr Bump
2003-03-12: So maybe I will update
2003-03-11: Should I bother updating?
2002-01-24: Derby Hall President Elections
2001-11-26: Travels 2001 Photo Album - Online!
2001-10-24: I'm still alive... and having fun!
2001-09-28: Uni Life
2001-07-15: Home Life
2001-07-15: Hi Guys, I'm Home!
2001-07-07: I Can Fly!
2001-06-24: Brisbane Photos... And I'm Back Home (kinda)
2001-06-22: The Reunion
2001-06-21: Aussie Photos Up
2001-06-20: Bungyyyyyyyyy...
2001-06-18: Mindless Stagger
2001-06-17: Freezing My Nuts Off
2001-06-12: A Browne Moon Rise on Fraser Island
2001-06-07: Learn To Fly
2001-06-03: Gagaju - Backpackers Retreat
2001-05-31: Another Change Of Plans!
2001-05-30: Back To South East Asia?!
2001-05-16: A Memento of Brisbane
2001-04-30: We All Live In A Yellow Submarine
2001-04-24: Perhenthian Islands Photos Up
2001-04-20: Aussie Life
2001-04-08: Mumma In Thailand
2001-04-06: Thai Boxing and Lady Boys
2001-04-05: Go Go Bars
2001-04-04: More India Photos Up - I'm In Bangkok
2001-04-02: Back In The Womb
2001-03-29: India Photos Up
2001-03-28: Noname
2001-03-27: Scuba Diving and Motorcycling on Koh Pha-Ngan
2001-03-25: Lady Bars
2001-03-24: Koh Samui
2001-03-24: All Washed Out
2001-03-22: Krabi
2001-03-22: Happy 5th Birthday To Me!
2001-03-20: The Island
2001-03-20: Under The Sea
2001-03-20: Such A Fantastic Time
2001-03-20: The Wedding Invitation
2001-03-12: Camping, Jungle Style
2001-03-12: Alone Again
2001-03-12: A Cave, a Snake and a Leprechaun
2001-03-12: Theme Park & KL Stuff
2001-03-12: Taman Negara National Park - arrival
2001-03-03: The Con-Job
2001-03-03: Kuala Lumpur
2001-02-26: Malaysia
2001-02-23: Night Safari, The Beach & Underwater World
2001-02-22: Time Travel
2001-02-22: Planes, Trains & Automobiles
2001-02-19: Indian Work: Child labour, wage and baksheesh
2001-02-15: Books and Weird Shit
2001-02-14: To Spew Or Not To Spew
2001-02-12: Imprisoned for 42 hours!
2001-02-09: Museums, forts, palaces and temples
2001-02-05: Horn Please
2001-02-03: A Week In... Kashmir!
2001-01-28: I'm In India!
2001-01-27: Plane in just over 4 hours!
2001-01-23: Only a few days to go
2001-01-06: Posse Page
2001-01-05: Travel Plans
