It’s a two day drive from Leh to Srinigar. After stopping for the night in Kargil, we left at 4 AM for Srinigar because the one lane road through the pass is open in each direction every other day, and we had to be going our way at a certain point by 7:30. We stopped in a town just before the road dropped down into Kashmir proper for breakfast. I was checking out the places in this Shiite town and settled on one with a poster of Iran’s ayatollah in the window. I figured this is the main road and they see all kinds of tourists, and I felt like doing my we’re-not-all-like-George-Bush thing. That worked out fine, as it always does. What I’m getting at is the inside of this restaurant had another big poster of the ayatollah, this time with a broad border advertising Kit Kat chocolate bars, like the calendar beside it with a movie star surrounded by an Ultra-Brite border. Nestle’ knows what they are doing. It seems like every time I learn something about the world, the world seems wierder and wierder. The other interesting thing was the political map of India with Jammu and Kashmir in Pakistan.
I’m staying in a houseboat on Dal Lake in Srinigar, and the boat guy is waiting for me. Tomorrow I’m starting out on a three day shakira (like a gondola) “trek” around the lakes, sloughs and rivers that typify the landscape around here. I’ll write again when I get back. Bye for now.