Woke up to sunshine, a little too late for us in the ball game! Had eggs and chapatis for breakfast and packed up. Talked to the couple traveling with their 5-year daughter all over India. They hiked quite a distance up past Lidderwat yesterday but then had to come down because a bridge was washed out. It is amazing and daunting how adventurous they are to even think of taking a child and also how little they travel with. This is definitely not my cup of tea. Even at this novice stage of adventure travel, I prefer having a cook and people tending to me. Hey…I cook and clean at home. Creating meals over a campfire is not a vacation in my book.

Ponies and what little belongings we had on their backs, it was time to retrace the route back to Aru. The mud we slogged through on the upward journey was nothing compared to coming down. ex-Marine took another header into the mud and I just slid and slipped my way down shouting “whoa…oops…damn…” and whatever else came out of my mouth as I tried to stay on my feet.

the high mountains of the Pir Panjal and Zanskar ranges in Kashmir 

this is what Kashmir is known for – it’s unimaginable beauty
It was an easy 2-1/2 hour hike to camp in the meadow…even if it was a wet meadow. Saib’ra immediately started the tea kettle boiling and making pre-dinner snacks…View image…and the remaining chicken clucked his last cluck. This was the weather that should occur in Kashmir at this time of the year. Beautiful and sunny. We heard that it has also been raining in Srinigar for the last two days. I could just sit down and cry…not that it would do any good.

Sheila and Sula heading to Aru, Kashmir, India 

sheep in the meadows of Kashmir
Saib’ra set to work creating one of the most unbelievably starchy dinners we’ve every eaten. You would have thought that we were climbing Mount Everest tomorrow. Fried rice, roasted potatoes, spaghetti with chicken and some kind of cake balls in syrup. Who could sleep with thousands of calories in carbohydrates rumbling through the system? Up all night in extreme discomfort with a stomach distended out to Santa Claus levels and trips to the toilet tent.

ex-Marine never has trouble sleeping in tents
We began giving away most of our clothes to Sula, Saib’ra and pony boys. (They probably thought we were millionaires dispensing clothes right and left.) Then we dried the rest of our clothes on top of the tents, sopping wet airplane tickets, and everything else we had on us before just sitting outside, admiring the beauty of Kashmir. Big sigh…It is so magnificent that there are no words to adequately describe it. At least this last night will end on an upnote. Tomorrow, back to Srinigar.

ponies loaded for the way down to Aru, Kashmir 

a slough of mud in Aru, the Kashmir valleyTraveling to a particular country? Make the most of your trip with our Lonely Planet Country Guides.