Kashmir Paradise on Earth (1) - First day in Kashmir

Story on Tuesday April 8, 2014 - Morning

Delhi to Sringar

I just jump my India story dengan cerita kami di Srinagar. tak tau kenapa nak up story ni dulu.. maybe feeling tu more to Kashmir rather than nak cerita pasal Jaipur dan Agra. Senang kata kalau dah cinta lah kann. i lebih excited nak cerita pasal balik 'kampung' gitu. heee.. of coz my first time a bit  different dengan my second time in Kashmir.. this time i brought other 5 members.. Chef CiJu and our cousin, CiLi, other bloggers Miz Ella, Ayang and Kak Zu.. 

Kami gerak agak awal pagi dari Delhi.. kalau ikutkan hati dan badan memang macam tak nak bangun tau.. penat masih terasa.. tapi flight from Delhi to Srinagar agak awal.. 7.30am.. so kena ada di airport at 5.30am. 

pepagi lagi Mr Ramzan dah letakkan luggage kami dan gerak ke airport. dia memang tidur di hotel yang sama dengan kami.. kami keluar dalam pukul 4.40pagi gitu lah kurang lebih. 

Nak ke Srinagar (Kashmir) we used Indigo.. meaning we have to go to Terminal 1.. Low Cost Terminal.. different from the main Terminal... Terminal 1 is for domestic flight. 

For the ticket booking melalui Routemasters under Mr Fahad company. so 6 of us under one booking. so luggage boleh join lah kann. before goin to kashmir  total weight for our luggage je dah cecah 900 kilos. heee..if every one got 20 kg meaning total allowed is 120kg so meaning we got extra lagi dalam 30 kg.. so memang kena berhemah lah kalau shopping in Kashmir. heee...

dilayan mesra oleh jejaka Punjabi ini.. He was asked to smile.. He smiled to us sweetly. alo..looo.. aura positive terus serap gitu. heee...

yeahh.. we were already checked in.. now heading to the boarding area.. we had to go down. terus je ke area bawah.. till forgot to have some coffee or tea at this area... what a shame kann.. but the two gurls managed to go up again and bought somethings to eat.. ALHAMDULILAH.. 

still got much time till our flight to Srinagar.. so picca - picca lah kann.. 

 See... now boarding. everyone excited i guess.. but me for sure.. Balik kampung..

 sempat pulak sembang - sembang dengan mamat German tu.. 

bukti Chef CiJu terbang ke Kashmir.

Paradise on Earth really was welcoming us with this stunning view.. MASYALLAH.. Allah gave me and the rest to witness this view.. maybe for some of us this is normal.. but for  Chef CiJu this was the first time..

then this colors also amazed us. Yellow is mustard flower.. so nice from the above. 

once arrived we were welcomed by the tourism staffs. we liked artists lah gamaknya. . heee..heee everyone wanted to entertained us. but as i told the rest we needed to report ourselves at the tourist information counter..Amacam??? baru starting story  ni haahh.. semua dah senyum meleret kat kami.. rupa depa memang menawan hati.. yang mak dara pun suka. apa tah lagi anak dara.. hhhhh.. 

then this guy entertained us.. he requested some infos lah from us.. macam buat survey.. come lahh..

blur lah pulak.. tapi yang penting nampak semua manusia come kat sini. heeeee...

wanna story a bit about this mamat. heee.. dia kan masa kita kat dalam tu, masa memula sampai terus datang kat kita dan tanya tag luggage kita. busy betul dia. terus i sound kat dia, never mind, we can handle it. tapi persistent dia.. still tanya kat kita our luggage. so after finished fill up the tourist form terus kami ke luggage. Orang lain semua dah clear. tinggal kami je. masa kat situ, we noticed this man dah hangkut our luggage. aikkk.. how he knew our luggage.. or maybe our luggage semua color - color kot.. senang nak tau. or maybe memang tinggal our luggage je kat situ. Then i wonder lah kan, terus i suruh dia stop dan tanya, " hey..who are you?".. terus dia urut - urut jangut dia. heee.. rup - rupanya orang Fahad. he..hee.. haru.. takut dia agaknya bila i sergah dia macam tu.. 

once exit the airport, Mr Fahad greeted us.. I pun introduced our members.. then i was introduced to our driver.. Mustaq. nampak garang, tapi sweet kalau senyum.. come.. 

then we were transferred to the houseboat.. our first nite in Kashmir would be in the houseboat. the weather was so great today. as i was told a week ago Kashmir received a lot of rain. and only stopped on the day we arrived. MASYALLAH.. 

our shikaras were ready for us. 

dengan udara yang MASYALLAH.. so fresh.. freezing sometimes for sure. mengigit ke tulang hitam.. mencecah air di Tasik Dal. was a  meaningful moment for me.. never thot i repeated this moment for the second time.. FIRST TIME masa ni..

In the houseboat we were placed into 3 rooms. so spacious room for us. ada hot matress sekali tau. so tak lah kesejukan. tengok lah dua ekoq ni. berbahagia dapat menjejakkan kaki di Dal Lake ini.. before this asyik dengar my story je kannn.. 

since we left Delhi so early and no breakfast, then we were served with breakfast in the houseboat. i missed Bostan Gulistan food.. especially the Masalla Omelet.

ini dia the Masalla Omelet. for me sedap hanya di Kashmir. heee.. tak percaya tanya depa tu..sure agree with me. 

after breakfast we were ready to stroll around  Old Srinagar.. dulu i dah experienced that moment. 

We visited Jamia Mosque. memang seronok berada di dalam masjid ni.. sejuk je.. 

so beautiful.. so blessed to see this for the second time. ALLAH..

the group with Mr Fahad Ali, our tour guide.. this ablution area ni under construction rupa - rupa nya. 

dua ruang yang menempatkan jemaah lelaki dan perempuan. satu lagi dua bahagian ini menunjukkan bahagian yang sudah dibaikpulih dan yang asal. 

belum apa - apa kami dah gulin  - gulin dahh.. seronok pijak - pijak rumput di sini. 

Sebelum keluar dapat lah memasing menyumbang serba sikit demi pmebangunan Jamia Mosque ini.. I was so happy too.. this was my second time to sit and talk with these old men. depa ni kira like ahli jemaah lah..tengok kat sini my FIRST TIME at the Jamia Mosque. 

then we went to Shah El Hamdan Mosque. so unique architecture. kebetulan masa kami sampai azan berbunyi.. tapi kami tak lah solat di sini.. perempuan sikit sangat yang bersolat di sini.. 

cantik kan.. tapi i perhatikan unsur - unsur syirik ada di sini. macam cium lantai lah, pegang benda yang tergantung tu lah.. tapi i tetap menghayati kecantikan masjid ini. some more story about this masjid tengok di SINI ye.. 

Mr Fahad Ali busy explaining about this mosque..

at the back was Jhelum River.. picca - picca..

then we went to this shop. oil shop 

i really interested with the antique bottles ni 

strolling around  the town memang senang rasa hati. heee.. sebab banyak muka come - come kat sini.. bahagia bijik mata. 

tak lupa jugak keindahan Old Srinagar ni.. perhatikan mosque dari bridge ini. so beautiful . 

picca - picca itu mesti, 

then we went to Zain ul Abiddin Tomb. 

tengok lah kat kubur pun boleh begambar sakan. heee.. gasaklah orang Mesia oii...

amboiiii.. CiLi.. kemain. dikelilingi jejaka Kashmir. depa lak malu - malu. Malaysian gurl daring gitu..

then we bought some dried food.. macam nuts, dried fruit. then we went to Almond Alcove..ingat nak tengok almond bloom.. tapi kan sayang.. 

kita gambo - gambo je lah.. setidak - tidaknya dah pegi pun tempat ni.. masa i pegi dulu, almond memang tengah berbunga sakan. wangi je.. fresh bau bunga.. i rasa sebab spring delay lah ni.. maka banyak bunga masih segan nak kembang..

tak pe.. yang penting ada tanda di Almond Alcove for us.. nampak tugu batu tu.. almond tertulis perkataan ALLAH.. masa ni perut semua orang dah berkeroncong sangat.  terus kami ke resto yang pernah i makan.. kami ke TAO Cafe.. sejuk menggigit.. 

licing food kami.. kenyang sungguh.. maybe sebab dah terlalu lapar.. kami makan bersama - sama Mr Fahad and Mustaq..

then kami berpatah balik ke houseboat.. hari dah nak malam dah.. lagipun sejuk bebeno.. 

seronok bila dah ada di sini.. ada traditional heater dalam houseboat ni.. dulu masa i di sini, tak ada lagi.. all this coz during this time the winter was so extreme cold. so it was needed.. otherwise mengigil perut lahh...since dah malam ni, we all just got ready for dinner.. food prepared by our butler.. jadi macam wong koyo gitu.. 

starter with Mushroom Soup.. sedap lah hirup pepanas ni..

sedap weiii.. Chicken apa tah. hee.. tau makan sedap je.. 

ada gak Sayur Kacang Goreng. heee.. tetiba teringat Mesia. 

Sayur Dal style deap lah.. 

Ini the best.. Tika Fish.. sedap weiii.. rangup.. 

plan beriya wanted to eat roti.. but we were served with rice.. actually we were so full after our very late lunch at TAO Cafe. tapi tak kan nak makan pukul 10 malam pulak kan.. jadi tagak je lah kan.. 

Mr Akhbar suggested this juice to us.. so we all tried lah.. murah je pun.. IDR 100 je.. sedap sangat..

dan ada dessert gak.. kami dijamu dengan Jemput - jemput Pisang.. heee.. sebenarnya masa i stayed at this houseboat in 2012, i makan jemput  - jemput. then before dinner tadi, Mr Akhbar asked me, what i like for dinner. so i told him i wanted to eat Jemput - jemput. tu yang dibuatnya..

lepas makan, ada je yang datang berjual.. all this normal if u stay at the houseboat. like entertainment lah. ye lah nak shopping keluar tu bit cold. i pun rembat lah dompet kecik - kecik ni dalam 15 ketul.. satu tu dalam IDR250 gitu kot..kira - kira  RM13. 

saje je.. i introduce si penjual dompet tu..Muhammad Amin.  come kan.. hiiii.. English pun sangat fluent.. tu yang rembat 15 bijik dompet tu. heee.. anyway.. ini lah cerita first day in Kashmir. takat ni dulu . ada banyak menunggu.. walau penat i gagahkan jua.. tak nak terbasi cerita nanti. lagipun tengah excited.. plus ada another group (couple) yang nak ke Kashmir end of this month.. dedicated to you Yanie..