Kashmir dairy: Gulmarg, meadow of flowers

Gulmarg famous skiing paradise is at an elevation of 8,825 ft making a great place during winter.They say there is a rush of foreign crowd in the winter when there are skiing competitions organised attracting participants far and wide.Gulmarg is around a drive of 1:30 hr.

We stopped at Tanmarg to hire winter gear.We then resumed our journey to Gulmarg with all those heavy coats and boots.The drive till Tanmarg was quiet smooth but from from then on there are numerous hairpin bends through the mountain with pines making green scenary.

Predictably we were surrounded by the pony men and were told that Ponies are the best option to reach the top but we somehow managed to make them understand that we needed a cable ride than on pony.But our relief was momentary as we were surprised to see the crowd .

We booked for boarding passes online. There are two options phase one Kungdoor and phase two which is called Aparwath.It is in phase two one can play with snow just like Sonamarg. As phase two is closed time and again as per snow fall we could get tickets only to phase one which could be extended on arrival from the counter in Gulmarg.It is best to get online tickets as the queue is quite long otherwise.We walked through beautiful golf fields.

There were announcements of phase two being closed then being resumed after sometime.

After a long queue we got to the Gondola station.Gondola can accommodate 6 people in one car.

Pir Panjal and Nanga Parbat ccould be seen from here.The journey till Kangdoor was quite smooth and exciting.We could see a chair car that was not operational anymore.

View from Gondola stop phase one was real beautiful, there is a restaurant and many people selling clothes and other fancy stuffs throughout.After few clicks we set for the next phase very eagerly.we could also see the tourist who had opted for ponies also having a good time.

I must admit we had the best time in Phase two with loads of snow around and no sign of rain unlike our experience in Sonamarg.Its here that our heavy winter gear came handy, People who are not interested in exploring phase two need not go for the winter gear.We could only stay there for twenty minutes and I had difficulty in breathing and so started our descend through the Gondola back to the station.

 To touch and get the feel of snow and play around was such an experience the changing scene from green to white and to move through the soft flakes was like a wow moment.There were tourist making snow balls and throwing at each other.There were people who skiing too.Many kids were trying to make snow man too..All in all the day was something to remember and cherish.

And that's what I wore for the day, you can check it out here.