Dalgate

backwaterside.

and so a dull morning gave way to relentless rain. a typical highland scene in many ways: hills disappearing into cloud below the knees; dulled, muddied waters pockmarked with raindrops, the realisation that it's a day to be spent indoors. with no heating, hiding under rugs....but many males today in long cloak with firepot underneath....that kind of day....

this was as the heavy rain began...it's off to the side of the main waterway of dal lake; an area of creaky old buildings and the kind of houseboat which don't make the travel brochures...not far from where i stay in a thrown together guest house, electricity from a generator, only really after dusk - the powercut is very localised, one transformer burned out...but you know if this was on the boulevard it would be fixed already...not so different from home i would guess...

and last day in srinigar. tomorrow south. thoughts of a night in jammu and catch the early bus to darmasala...all dependent upon luck...qs it qlways seems to be on indian journeys:-) but i would like a little more warmth; a few days or a week...it intrigues me this place, after so long to see the valleys and, maybe, return to srinigar after midsummer with the hope of warmth:-)

it's a beautiful place, i like the people very much. i get the initial feeling that kashmir is as the stories would have it....more subhippyesque nonsense then..