| Show On Dal and Nagin lakes I The Salt Lake Tribune Sunday September T5 3 1989 Houseboating is a noble tradition in India's Kashmir Al Story and photo by Jim Budd The compound is a miniature village where women tend to their samovars and men squat over their hookahs those complex water pipes most travelers are surprised to find are actually smoked Exotic is that Kashmir is all about even more so than the rest of India No plastic googaws in these parts Srinagar is where women many of them veiled still balance earthenware pots on their heads Houseboating is a noble tradition in these parts Srinagar folk claim to be descended from Noah And then a century ago the British fleeing their Like beauty luxury is in the eye of the beholder Take noweboating in Kashmir There is much to be said for living like a rajah on a misty lake in the north of India where the snow-tippeHimalayas sparkle in the disttance But it can also touch off a longing for the central heating and fluffy-towecomforts of a Sheraton or a Holiday Inn The oddly-namehouseboat Cherry Ripe is tied up by the shore just outside Si inagar capital city of Kashmir A palatial vessel 120 feet long 16 feet at the beam she never leaves shore Kdir Doono welcomes his guests aboard with tea and cookies in the opulently furnished parlor of the Cherry Ripe while the boat boy lugs baggage aft Besides the parlor the Cherry Ripe boasts three bedrooms (each with a bath) a dining room and a kitchen (no one worries with nautical terms like galley and mess) Overstuffed sofas and armchairs along with an ornately carved walnut desk and coffee table are placed upon worn Oriental rugs Fittings arc uf Ottoman brass ebony and car ed sandalwood Walls are wainscoted the vessel itself built of cedar Mattresses seem to be some variety of hardwood Thre are some 800 houseboats on the Dal and Nagin twin lakes around which Srinagar is built The more splendid of these vessels offer hedonistic comforts including the service of a boatboy who doubles as butler cook and steward but some are more lavish than others Mr Doono's vessel is a bit special being tied up apart from most of the rest and off by a compound where his extended family lives d l I I t i i sweltering colonial settlements sought the cool delights of what was then a princely state (Kashmir turns out to be further north than Tibet) The local maharajah no doubt hoping to keep the state princely forbid these first tourists from buying land They got around his rule by building houseboats on the lakes Question is whether what charmed the Rudyard Kiplings of the 1800s will delight travelers on the edge of the 21st century The punkawallahs native boys who fanned the still air of long ago are not much of a luxury compared to air conditioning True Kashmir is cool enough that air conditioning is not really needed On the other hand the hot water bottles the boat boy tucks into the sheets fail to do much good in the wee hours of the morning Kashmiri cooking as presented aboard the Chen Ripe turns out to be lamb Sliced shredded cubed or minced but always lamb (save when it is mutton) and so spiced up as to be unrecognizable Each evening menu may be different but everything tastes the same Kashmir or Jzinmu and Kashmir to give the state its full name is about the size of Arkansas three times bigger than Switzerland Persian in flavor yet long ruled by Hindu pandits (people of letters): Nehru and his daughter Indira Ghandi were pandits from Kashmir Srinagar a city of more than is the Baghdad of a child's imagination a collection of teeming bazaars and winding streets cluttered by turbaned men veiled women and naked cows bicycles pony carts scooter rickshaws and an occasional car trapped in permanent If sr Ft4r : ir 4r 1111:1s: 444 ottits NAP - on mu- mosques strangely ezzins calling the faithful to prayer from their minarets Islam is the religion here Oriental rugs — Kashmiri carpets — are the grand souvenirs of the area works of art knotted strand by strand in the old Persian manner It takes you are told a good six months simply to design a room-siz- e rug and easily two years to complete one Almost every home has a loom at which men will spend long hours every day Mr Doono confessed he was a weaver until his fingers became too stiff What makes Kashmir worth the trip are its people and their mode of life India to be sure is that way a land where drivers consider a good horn more essential to a safe journey than good brakes But Kashmir is special Poverty seems to be kept at least at arm's length Children are apple-cheelittle hustlers not beggars With its patient carpet knotters its men squatted over their hookahs the women preparing their samovars its girls with painted hands and rings on their toes the world seems very old in Kashmir and little changed The houseboat rather quickly be pagoda-lik- e k We decided early on that we would get around the city on foot or by public transportation My wife would keep her clutch purse tucked snugly underneath her arm at all times I would keep my wallet — sans cash — wedged in my front bluejeans pocket With smug satisfaction we set off on a balmy Saturday morning for the Paseo de la Reforma where we caught a local bus headed for lovely Chapultepec Park and its centerpiece the Museum of Anthropology Elsewhere one of Mexico City's smoothest pickpockets was beginning his day hoping fof a score Newspapers It was our first trip to Mexico and we were leaving nothing to chance We consulted our Frommers Fieldings and Fodor& We booked our hotels through a travel agent We bought phrase books and dusted off our Spanish We packed flashlights bathroom tissue antibacterial medicine and about a l year's supply of We were going to spend a weekend in Mexico City killing a few days before traveling on to Puerto Escondido and San Cristobal de las Casa& Ilminnini Hadn't we read somewhere that some of the worlds most renowned pickpockets operated in the Mexican capital? Not to worry We'd thought of everything Before our departure I'd emptied my wallet of all unnecessary credit cards keeping only my New Jersey driver's license my Mexican tourist ID and my American Express Visa and a few gasoline card which in hindsight could just as easily have stayed home too When we arrived at the Hotel Majestic on the city's historic Zocalo we deposited our passports plane tickets traveler's checks and excess pebox sos in the hotel's r high-scho- Pepto-Bismo- world-renowne- 1 d X X X We'd spent the early afternoon wandering through the cavernous chambers of the museum soberly contemplating the mysteries of the Mayans and the Aztecs the wonder of Teotihuican the shattering impact of Cortez and the Spanish conThe crowds quistadores mostly schoolchildren on class assignments seemed friendly and absorbed with the exhibits Emerging from the museum we to ask which of stopped a passer-bseveral buses we should take to the Chapultepec Metro station about a y safe-depos- it 0 t) 1 (441400"'" o 1714: ''C- - r I filL4 CLAWSON SHIELDS I A 'libt FA 74647) d e' ')Xi mile away He was short and wiry and had the air of a man who was accustomed to being stopped by confused and lost tourists Suavely he complimented me on my grasp of Spanish — which in truth was pretty lousy Pointing to an arriving bus he motioned us to follow him on board But something didn't seem right about the bus As our guide disappeared into the bus crowd I tarned to the driver to confirm the destination No he said we wanted the next bus I had a vague sense as I moved toward the door that someone was deliberately blocking my path with slight pressure to my thigh As my mind was now focused on getting off the bus before it pulled away I thought little of that odd sensation until later Chapultepec Station was a swarmhardly a suring mass of humanity what it costs when consider you prise to ride the system: 100 pesos or about 22 cents at last November's exchange rate The trip home required the use of three separate Metro lines and a change of trains at two interchange concourses each bursting at the seams with fellow IA avelers grasping for the same stale air When at last we emerged from Sloth Clawson Shields NEW ENGLANDCAPE CODPENNSYLVANIA October Ogden 13-2-3 Literary Boston splendid mansions of Newport & Rhode Island clambake Mystic Connecticut New York City & Broadway Theater Old Sturbridge Village Norman Rockwell's Stockbridge Gettysburg Amish area Philadelphia rural settings and country inns contrasted with three great cosmopolitan cities all in spectacular fall colors 8100 discount if booked by Sept it HAWAII November 11 k 51:74: lie 'IP1° 7 'Aill'A ':''' ':' ' 146 I 801483-641- underground at the Zocalo we were relieved and felt no small amount of pride We hadn't gotten lost What resourceful tourists we were! In our hotel room I now reached for my front right-sidbluejeans pocket thinking it a good time to fill up on pesos for dinner that night and for the taxi ride to the airport next morning The pocket was empty :::- 1— 01"- to000S eH41 - A 7 t: ':' t t- 4 4 '1' -- :411 t '1- - - 4- :"4f:filel:'"!e:tiiim " ' I Itti rhe elf 5 ' 0 made at the Jam and Kashmir Tourist Office at 88 Janpath New Delhi or in any of 20 other Indian cities April through October are the best months for a houseboat holiday Srinagar gets quite cold in winter Americans need a valid passport and visa to enter India Further information is available from India Tourism Offices at 3550 Wilshire Boulevard Los Angeles CA 90010 (213) 380-885- 5 Jim Budd lives in Mexico City e X X X Next morning we flew into Puerto Pacific-coas- t Escondido a tiny resort where the accepted code of behavior is to pintt alieself underneath a palm tree order something cold to drink and avoid all purposeful activity But there was the small matter of reporting those missing credit cards It was about a mile from the hotel e to the telephone office a trek along a steep dusty in town unpaved road traveled by local villagers fishmongers goats donkeys chickens and schoolchildren In the hot and congested telephone office a crowd of about seven tourists waited patiently for their calls to be put through while a dour and unhelpful woman behind the desk busily worked a bank of gray phones A fellow caller showed me how the sys laid-bac- long-distanc- toll-fre- e call When she finally spied the number I'd written she zapped me a look of numutter exasperation Toll-frebers don't work in Mexico she snapped in rapid Spanish Time for Plan B I wrote down the bank phone number with the 215 area code She dialed the number time several times over a span "lista ocupado" she repeated each time The line is busy Later that day I found a travel agent in town who was able to find American Express' Mexico City phone number Then it was back to office and another the long wait This time the number worked and I was able to report the call cost stolen card The 15000 pesos — about $615 But the bank's line was still busy and I now gave up trying Next morning my wife suggested a telegram A local map showed that the telegraph office was about three miles up the main highway at the e ' - 410111111'- training in two-minut- e -- OAHU-LAI- 7 See we'd thought of everything One mile from PCCBYU Hawaii Great swimming and body surfing at your door 4 BR 3 bath large LR Din Rm kitchen & fain room wfp garage TV AC jacuzzi Sleeps 8 adults KS Property Inc PO Box 61879 Honolulu HI 96839 or call CRUISE CRUISE THE CARIBBEAN WITH THE ORATORIO SOCIETY OF UTAH AND DANNY KRAMER OF KALL RADIO 910 AM ESCORTED FROM SALT LAKE CITY GROUP DEPT -- :- 1-- aa1 afis 411LI? t1 - 4 I 4 (74177111SLSO4c111241-1- 1 l' :441 0 og 11 r 4 li Monday September 11 12:00 Noon 3:00 pm 6:00 pm Entertainment Elegant Refreshments Live Attendance and booking will entitle you to FREE UPGRADES and Other Special Amenities Hospitality Suite at Red Lion Inn Mit Pliktee44" BEACHFRONT E 800-888-66- - -- 364-561- l Pepto-Bismo- vacation rental classified itofonb- dinyh mountains of Chiapas I knew we'd be all right We still had our flashlights bathroom tissue antibacterial medicine and a year's supply of one location Uhi Hosted by: Enid Tartikoff of Royal -- "S4 It soundA like good advice to me My wallet and credit cards had vanished into the Mexico City smog But as we headed south toward the long-distanc- e Unlimited computer hours All : 1- Frommer-Fielding-Fod- 2-c- ar People NEED -- I other end of town The walk was long and arduous through sticky humid heat air and unrelenting In the office I struggled in Spanish to communicate my needs fill out the forms write my message and pay the bill That done there was only one remaining worry Would the loss of my Mexican tourist card cause a hassle? adDidn't vise travelers never to part with it? Would the authorities allow me to leave the country without it? No se preocupe! No se preocupe!" a customs representative insisted later that week at the Mexico City airport before we changed planes for San Cristobal Translation: Don't worry be hap-B- tem worked: jot down the number (in my case an American Express 800 number and a Meridian Bank number in Reading Pa) in the logbook and wait The woman behind the desk eventually places the TO - - ": 4 0 Jr iMMMIIMOMMEINAMINIIIMEIMO 17-2- '''' f Houseboat stays in Kashmir are included in a number of package programs offered by such tour operators as Four Winds Journeyworld Jet Trek Flag and I ligh Adventure travel agents have all the details While packages usually are considerably less expensive arrangements can be made independently taking Indian Airlines from New Delhi to Srinagar a 400 mile trip that takes about an hour round trip fare is $150 Houseboat bookings may be A Division of MorrisAsk Mr Foster Travel DONT MISS THE BOAT! BEST PRICE EVER!! 8 1990 MARCH -- 0 1 o'er their hookahs those complex water pipes used for smoking comes a home There are days when simply staying aboard seems idyllic relaxing over some paperback on the veranda perhaps haggling for flowers or fruits and nuts from one of the vendors who paddles up marveling at the sunrise and the sunset Meals become almost tasteful and the Moslem hosts are kind enough always to provide plenty of beer Maybe the plumbing is not the best and the lamps do flicker but there are enough touches of luxury that you hate to think about going home I "' : 17w-fi-ef' Srinagar men squat Eve Celebration Musical Dinner Show at Lawrence Welk Village San Diego's Sea World and Harbor Cruise Dining Aboard paddle Wheeler Reuben E Lee Guided Tour of Tijuana Guided Tour of Hollywood Tour of NBC Huntington Library Sizzling Steaks and Sawdust Covered Floors at the Northwoods World's Largest Aircraft "The Spruce Goose" the Elegant Queen Mary 01 c r 2 ROSE PARADENEW YEAR'S HOLIDAY December Featuring reserved seats at the World Famous Rose Parade Disney's New Year's f' N A tiq o Phone Joan Hopkins cruise the old Hawaiian way plus 2 nights free on Waikiki Special savings at 1988 prices This price also applies to our Dec 16 sailing which may be extended over the Christmas Holiday Call for details! 1 ) Nk IV - r ' ji tN '4 14 ' - N 'tk fq lot ':'f' kk 414 t fl' 4 4 - r 404"- - ' Aye' 1 ' 4 0 '‘'4 liNi 1" : Beautiful new facilities Excellent placement record inter-islan- d 1 0dot 1 eihog 9 'r : - Logan oalDef110021190 Orem I ci s 14 P No 0:- - to::411 7 0( $- TIM Evening Mary Ellen Eiggren Escorted Tours: xe Ii ' )4 FALL CLASSES ' ' CALL FOR FREE BROCHURES r r f t THE JUNE MORRIS SCHOOL OF TRAVEL ' Am' TOLL FREE: In UTAH Outside UTAH LONG DISTANCE t: t --t 0 A I MMMIIE V ILIII1Z0 44r 58314038 ' ' ' ee V — 1 1-- ' '''' '' 0 4 ''''rni:''' : By Harry M Gould ! " s 11 i are the Monuments '''d'''Ir'' '140 iir P- '' o -- S r 1 roes"-7- 0144 - ilk 1i ' ) s " halfa-milli- gridlock mlr 474444v44-‘4744-- 4 in Mexico were ready for anything except First-timer- s Knight-Ridde- -1- :i fait gribut MAUR IT N11414 IWANTEAPSi--iI1 '2374000 Cruse Line LIJ RSVP to confirm time I C " ' At ''' 'tft '' FT--1 5 ' 1 ' - 6 - - :t!lt 2'i I !- - i - hll'f'''''" A - ' IpAmmor ormorymvrommnnomewmorartfatoremeouvwwwwwfor The Most Trusted Name in Travel IMArginonommomoonaman - 1 I 0 (7) j |
