A strange day. First we drove to one of the many little places at the side of the road which fix damaged cars and within about 10 minutes Mukesh’s car looked as good as new apart from a small dent. We then drove a long way to see a Sunni temple which was not very interesting. It was built by someone I’ve never heard of for his wife or mother; I can’t remember who and can’t be arsed to find out. We were pressed by a bloke to spend 50 Rupees on a cup of milk and a plate of flowers to throw at a picture of said wife/mother and the bloke looked cross when I refused. I suspect he would have been even crosser if I had drunk the milk. Then we went to a park full of screaming kids from which we could hire a boat ride on a lake, but the best thing about it was a half-submerged tiny temple more than 1,000 years old. It was in a pond with some large brown carp and lotus plants, and the entrance had a weathered statue of Ganesha above it..
After returning back to the houseboat, we went on a shikara (a type of boat which sails on Srinagar’s lakes) for a glorious trip down Lake Pageen past some floating gardens of vegetables including tomatoes and long thin green aubergines. The purpose of the trip became clear when we stopped at a small canal-side factory making pottery out of a mixture of paper and rice starch. It was beautiful and we bought a nmber of items for presents. We then stopped at a shop/museum of the most delightful wood carving, including a chest of drawers which the owner’s grandfather acquired from the Maharajah of Kashmir in 1947 when he sold the contents of his palace. It was on sale for £16,000 and we resisted the urge to buy it
9th century temple at side of Manasbal Lake
Ganesh sitting above the entrance to the temple
