Tuesday, the 2nd of June, 2009

08:35 pm

Dear Diary,
We woke up really early today. Guess why? To catch a flight to Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir. Dad drove us to Delhi’s newly renovated domestic airport. Our Spicejet flight took off at 12:20 and reached Srinagar at 1:50 in the afternoon.


My mom had been invited to her friend’s house in Srinagar. Asfia Auntie and Ajaz Uncle are both doctors. They have a daughter (Areeba, who is about my age) and a son (Arsh, who is 1 year younger to my sister Tuli) and the entire family comes to Kashmir every summer vacation.
Ajaz Uncle was there to pick us up at the Srinagar International Airport. We first stopped at their 3-storey house to freshen up and drop our big suitcases off. Aunt Asfia and Lali Baaji, who works at their house, greeted us warmly with some juice. Areeba showed me around the house and Tuli and Arsh started chattering.
Aunt Asfia had prepared two delicious preparations of chicken, one of them a local dish called yakhni. Then there was a good dal preparation and of course, rice.
After lunch, we all loaded up into the car with the exception of Lali Baaji who has severe motion sickness.P1020558
We are spending the night in a city called Pahalgam. We reached after one and a half hours of driving. I took many pictures on the way here. The lodge where we are staying is called Pine Cliff Lodge and belongs to Ajaz Uncle’s brother.
Late in the afternoon, I and Areeba went off with Lali Baaji’s cousin, Roofa Bhaiya (he works in Jehangir Chachu’s lodge) to see a river that flows behind the lodge. This river is called the Lidder and eventually joins into the river Jhelum. Roofa Bhaiya was really patient as we stopped to take many photos.
He rushed us inside just in time for tea with buttered white bread. Ajaz Uncle once again crammed us into the Alto and then drove off through the streets of Pahalgam to see a scenic little gorge through which the Lidder flowed. We messed about a bit in the river (we waded in up to our ankles) and took photos of passing herds of sheep and horse riders. Tuli and Arsh played together through the evening.
Soon it was time to go back to the lodge because it was getting dark. After having a filling dinner, we are all currently watching TV in one of the rooms. I am sure I won’t have nightmares because anacondas are frankly not scary…

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