08.06.10 - 21.06.10

We left the Guesthouse to make way to the mountains for our trek. We stopped at Ash's other house for a night so we could set off early the next day. It was made a fun experience as it seemed the locals had never seen a foreigner before and we were followed around and stared at by a group of around thirty people. Just in case we weren't feeling self-concious enough Ash thought it would be a fun idea to take us to a wedding, where we were given seats in the middle of a tent and several blokes continued to stare at us and even more young girls sung and danced around us. Tino loved every minute.
So we began our journey to the mountains, stopping briefly to pick up some chickens which were a bit lively so one of our guides tied all their legs together. Once we arrived and we gathered our ponies and belongings we made our way up. We had in mind a leisurely walk up a hill... we had a shock, it was bloody hard work. When we arrived at our camp we were all knackered, blistered and wet (well, just me, i fell in the river). It was all worth it though as our camp was at an amazing location: towering trees either side, a rushing river good for fishing and a snow peaked mountain in the horizon. Unfortunately the camera had run out of battery so i captured none of it. We setup the tents and got a night sleep. The chickens were a bit noisy so our guide put them in a box for the night.
A good few days were spent at our camp, the main activities included fishing, chopping wood and reading Jurassic Park to each other. Chopping wood turned out to be a bit dangerous as the axe-head kept coming off... i nearly lost my nose. After a couple of nights we began to get bored of our location when we were told we couldn't move on back down the mountain because heavy rain had flooded the rivers meaning we were stuck. A bit of a bummer as England were playing that night and we were hoping to watch it at Basecamp at the bottom of the mountain. We were not happy boys!
The day finally came when the rained stopped long enough for us to descend the mountain. There were only three pairs of wellies so i wore trainers, but five minutes in it started chucking it down and it got a tad slippy. I probably spent more time sliding down and than walking. All good fun though. We finally got to the bottom, all very wet and muddy, and we able to get our first taste of the World Cup. Happy boys! We spent a few days camping at the bottom until the weather improved enough to climb another part. Some fun was had, we managed to get a couple of bottles of whisky for my birthday (which was no easy task being an all Muslim area), they were no Glenfidditch: they came in a plastic bottle and smelled like rocket fuel. Hhmm. Our first drinks of the trip resulted in a pretty eventful night though... however i am not going in to detail.
The chickens were beginning to smell so they were decapitated and eaten. Not the luckiest birds in the World.
After four days of solid rain we made a decision to leave, as it didn't look like we were going to be climbing any more more mountains. In our time we had fun catching up with the football, playing cricket with the inbred gypsy children, and we made friends with a creepy vet who took an enfactious shine to Pete. He invited him back to his tent and commenced their friendship by removing his clothes. After this we decided to ignore the vet.
So at the moment we are back at the Guesthouse just chilling out for a few days before heading South to continue our adventure. It has been fun in Kashmir and we will miss our new friends.

01.06.10 - 07.06.10

After much hype and anticipation we had finally left for our trip! We got there via a pretty harmless flight (apart from Pete throwing up his Vodka and Orange at breakfast) and arrived in Delhi to begin our journey.
Some did question why we decided to go to India at the hottest time of their year but we put that one side... when we got out into 36 degree heat at midnight we began wonder if these people may be right. We arrived at our hostel not really knowing what to expect, when a friendly chap wearing a turban called Lucky popped out and introduced himself as the hotel manager. We settled into our rooms and we're soon introduced to his friend Omar who loves weed, and we were soon sharing spliffs with him before getting an early night.
After about an hour's sleep we awoke early to blinding 44 degree heat. As we went to get some breakfast Lucky informed us we had a free tour of Delhi as part of our stay. Swish! So we spent a few hours being driven round Delhi where we got out to see the Delhi Gate, their parliament buildings and a few kinda nice but boring buildings. When we were sick of the heat we decided to head back... but the driver dropped at us off at a tourist office to see the sights there. Hhmm, looking less swish. We got talked into booking a trip up North of India and we're pretty sure we were overcharged. Little buggers.
We got back to our rooms sick of the heat and salesman and coming down off the malaria tablets, so we got in our pants and sat under the fan for a long while, getting up for a cold shower every thirty minutes.
Another early rise so we could continue our journey up North to Kashmir as booked. We got the metro before hopping on what turned out to be the Death Bus, which raced round corners and dodged between traffic whilst we sat cramped in ridiculous heat for 14 hours. Finally we got off and our guide showed us into a jeep which we continued to travel in for another 12 hours, racing up a mountain trying to avoid the crazy road monkeys. We stopped for a pit stop and realised it's a lot less hot in Kashmir and marijuana plants grow everywhere. Glad to be out of Delhi!
Finally we arrived at our guesthouse in Syrnguar... a lovely house with a good host and a slave boy who cooks for us. We got had a lovely meal and our host, Ash, got some hash out (a common interest amongst most locals in Syrnguar incidently) and we relaxed into our new home for the next few days.
The days we went in Syrnguar have been nice and relaxed, it's a beautiful area with mountains everywhere you look and stunning lakes which we travelled across by boat. Unfortunately we couldn't go out unaccompanied as much as we might have liked because Muslims were rioting after some shop sold pants with pictures of Mecca on them, and the day after the President was visiting so there was a curfew.
We're soon off trekking in the Himalayas, quite glad to get out as there is limited things to do around the town, and as much as we like sitting in a nice house getting stoned, drinking green tea and playing poker, it is wearing a tad thin. We are glad it is going well so far! Having fun and we haven't fallen out yet... also have not even thought about swapping Tino for a cow as planned. So far so good.