Travel Photography | India | New Delhi | Kashmir | Agra | Part IV

© 2012 Wazari Wazir | With Shikarawallah | Mr Ashraf | Dal Lake | Srinagar Kashmir

© 2012 Wazari Wazir | Travel Photography | Dal Lake | Srinagar Kashmir

Once we put our backpacks in the room, we went outside, even though we are a little bit tired after long journey from New Delhi, we are eager to explore this area especially the famous Dal Lake and further more we are hungry and need some foods. So we decided to take a walk outside of the hotel towards the boulevard, actually there is a small shop just outside the hotel selling light snack, mineral water and something alike but there were no restaurant nearby, so we have to walk further towards Dal Lake. 

We found a small food stall at the Gagribal Road, just across the road from the Shikara station where shikarawalah waiting for their passengers. Jut to let you know that the distance from our hotel to the Dal Lake is very close, less than five minutes walking and you are in front of the Dal Lake, so this place is very strategic. What I can say is that, Dal Lake is very beautiful and with the snow capped in the background really make this place a picture perfect.

There are many shikarawallah along the boulevard road and they will tray to get you into their shikara, they are quite persistent with their service but we just ignore them politely saying that this is our first day and we just like to take a walk first and then came this man name Ashraf and I just don’t know why, we felt attracted to him, yes he did offer his service but he is not really pushy and finally we decided to give him a try. Normal rate for shikara service here for one hour is Rs300 per shikara, which can accommodate four adults comfortably, but during winter, which is low season, the fees are quite cheap, most of them will offer you for Rs200 – Rs100 per hour and Ashraf did offer us for Rs100 per hour.

There are many small shops at the Dal Lake, a floating stationary shops and I can say that, there are hundred of houseboats to choose from, so if you wanted to stay in one of the houseboat here, need not to worry to booked them in advance, but  for your convenience especially if you wanted to come here with your family, then booking in advance is preferable.

We spend few hours at the Dal Lake but in term of photography, I’m not really satisfied, maybe because I didn’t get used to this kind of environment  just yet. We return back to our hotel at dusk, even though we can push our camera ISO to take a picture in low light situation but we are a little bit afraid to continue our journey, maybe because we are not comfortable just yet. Just wanted to let you know also that Ashraf took a brief stop at his house (somewhere around Dal Lake ) and offer us some hot teas, made by his wife and  later on we found that, those tea are “kahwa tea” or Kashmiri Tea and I’ve never never taste something like it before.

Before we went back to our hotel, we had made an arrangement with Ashraf to pick up us tomorrow early morning (3rd February), at the shikara station for floating vegetable markets tour.

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