As long as I can remember, I wanted to go to Kashmir.
I don’t know why. Maybe, it’s because my Aunt Marilyn sent me letters and pictures from her trip there. Maybe, it’s because Kashmir is my favorite song from my favorite band – Led Zeppelin. My it was nature documentaries. I really don’t remember.
I had been trekking in Nepal and the day before I was to leave Katmandu to fly to Deli and to then go on my dream trip to Lake Dal and the mountains of Kashmir. I stopped in at a nice hotel and watched international news. It had been a while.
I learned that a day before some tourist had been kidnapped in Kashmir. One of them was executed. I decide to go to Kulu-Manali near Tibet instead.
It was a 24 hour, less than Grey Hound quality, bus ride. As I sat on the less than comfortable bus, I couldn’t help but think there would be no Dal Lake. There would be none of the places I had studied and prepared to visit. There would be no Kashmir.
After about 20 hours, a rock slide delayed my arrival for a few hours, just a few hours away from my destination. I was thinking I should have taken my chances in Kashmir.
When I finally arrived in Manali, There was a market right where the bus stopped and I was able to get some DELICIOUS food and to buy a sweater (which I still wear today some 21 years later) to keep me very comfortable in the cool air of the Himalayan mountains. I found a place to stay with two other people for less than a dollar a night. Apple trees grew outside my door and water came from an underground spring. There was a hot spring to bathe at a temple 5 minute walk from my room. It was truly a beautiful place.
I sometimes wish I had gotten to Kashmir. But then I remember I got to Manali. It wasn’t Kashmir, but it was good.
BTW – I had never told my mom I had changed plans and decided not to go to Kashmir and that I went to Manali instead. She worried as she watched for news on Kashmir. You are never too old for you mom to worry about you. Call your mom.