Summer Retreat Hotel Nathia Gali

... it's a good thing I'm indoors!<br>Read my book for a few hours. Discovered they had a washing machine out back and were washing my clothes now...<br>Went to the Internet cafe... said goodbye to the owner when I finished (I know he was sad to see me go), came back for dinner. Reminded Ashraf about getting me a lift to the airport tomorrow and eventually got my clothes just before falling asleep! FINALLY!

... to see what little snow there was on the mountain. For most Indians it would be the reason they come to areas like this rather than for trekking or skiing (in the winter).<br>At the top, there was still a rocky 300m or so to trek to the peak of Kongdoori so I headed up slowly. I could only walk for about 30m at a time before having to rest and catch my breath in the thin atmosphere. On the way, Indians were enjoying what little snow/ice there was and a few were riding ...

... again and Zahn grabbed me to go and sit with his sister, cousins and Catherine that I also briefly met last night.<br>I got talking to Catherine (Danish), this is actually her 4th time in Kashmir. She is friends with Imran (Dr. Qureshi's son), and has previously worked in Delhi for several months in an orphanage. She loves India and appears to be the type that just works so she can go travelling.<br>We then got into a group ...

... after which he manoeuvred me through the narrow and more busy back area which was more reminiscent of the other (north) side of the lake for a while before changing to an even busier market area. My looks of disinterest combined with 'no' nod warded off any pushy sellers.<br>Once I was back I stopped for some chai before heading to the official tourist information office. After dodging a couple of touts I spoke to a guy in the office about what options I had for things to see ...

... by the armed guard and told I cannot take anything with me except money. Bashir is waiting so I give him my bag to look after while I walk up the long flight of stone stairs leading up to the Mandir. I can hear a mixture of Hindi and Gujarati being spoken by the people I pass which makes a nice change to the Kashmiri dialect which I cannot understand.<br>It's a shame I cannot take my camera as the views over Kashmir are the most impressive I've ...

... I passed and kids asking for their picture to be taken. I could also hear the word 'Angrej' (English) said a lot as I passed.<br>A lot of buildings in the old town were expectedly old and walking around I definitely did stick out. There were no other tourists around either which made it worse.<br>We visited another couple of mosques including the Jamia Masjid and then Bashir mentioned we'd stop for tea at his friends place. I thought he meant his ...

... job. He has to stay in Srinagar as his parents are here and he is an only child. The job opportunities are poor - he has a friend qualified with an LLB who sells vegetables for a living.<br>Bashir comes back and we take off on the Shikara while having green tea and local rolls with honey. He specifically asks if I like the honey before taking me to a house where I'm given 5 different types of honey to taste before they try to make a ...

... of the officer, it was all ok in the end. We met up with one of his friends there and together with his driver(!) they took me to an amazing hilltop area with views across the whole of Abbotabad. The area was very green with beautiful flowers and trees. Abbotabad had a very English feel to it with lots of gardens and British-era buildings but it was also the main military training areas in Pakistan and from the views you could see lines of young men exercising ...

... of miles away from Britain and without a single Brit there. From there the taxi man took me to the Smugglers Bazaar on the outskirts past an Afghan refugee camp. Here I saw AK47s in every shop window and pistols being filed and assembled. After holding some gun parts my driver decided it was time to leave (the locals always know best). The next day we travelled along the Khyber Pass - the gateway into Afghanistan. The area West of Peshawar is tribal and the police have no say ...

... torrent. With all this to look forward too, it was naturally with some trepidation (and three 1.5 liter bottles of water) that I set off from Manserah. As it transpired, and not in stark contrast with previous nuggets of received wisdom, Indus Kohistan was not populated exclusively by would-be murderers. There were a couple of stone lobbing kids, and since they use the same skill to drive their cattle, and play cricket every spare second, they were capable ...