Natural splendour, real musics, wines, wordpower
They are in varying states of repair, but many striking examples of distinctive “traditional”/“vernacular” architecture still stand in Kashmir’s capital.
Such buildings typically employ both timber and bricks in their construction, and they have proved remarkably capable of withstanding earthquakes.
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On the Indian subcontinent – especially in urban areas – one particular raptor usually “rules the skies”.
Black kites are especially abundant in Delhi and Srinagar.
Not coincidentally, black kites are generally rather more “opportunistic scavengers” than “majestic predators”.
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On this trip – whether the relevant terrain was contested, or unambiguously within India, Pakistan, or China – there was a lot of still-solid “up” to look at.
All of the world’s “7000+ metres ASL” peaks are less than 2,000 kilometres distant from Srinagar, and most of them are very much closer than that.
The pictured peaks are less than 7,000 metres above sea level, but all of them are enormously higher than is Australia’s highest peak.
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This post’s featured image is “representative” of tourists’ experience of Srinagar’s Dal Lake.
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If you get up before sunrise, and then head to somewhere well away from “your” (or anyone else’s) houseboat, it is still possible to “feel the serenity” on the waters of Srinagar’s Dal Lake.
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Australian governmental advice says “do not travel” to this destination.
A great many tourists do go there, albeit very few “Westerners”; our group aside, we saw only a handful of “Caucasians”.
Over several days in Indian-controlled Kashmir, we saw many thousands of Indian tourists..and almost as many Indian soldiers and police.
Petty corruption and “checkpoints” are a nigh-constant annoyance – and the two are inextricably entwined – but at no time did we feel “unsafe”.
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Originally, in the 17th century CE, what is now known as “Old Delhi” was Delhi – a walled, Mughal city.
Now, it is no longer walled, and occupies only a minute proportion of Delhi’s mushrooming metropolis.
As it happens, I have experienced a number of the world’s megacities. (metropolises of more than ten million humans)
In 2024, Old Delhi’s 300,000+ residents probably comprise circa one percent of Delhi’s population.
Various lists of the world’s megacities offer sometimes-ludicrously-divergent rankings and alleged population figures, but most agree that Delhi’s metropolis now has many more human residents than does the entire Australian nation.
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Spantik (aka “Golden Mountain”) soars 7027 metres above sea level.
It is rather more than three times higher than the Australian continent’s highest peak.
In the Karakoram, however, many mountains are mightier than Spantik.
Pakistan has 108 peaks that exceed 7000 metres!
We are just-returned from an unforgettable trip which began in Delhi and concluded in Beijing.
Primarily, however, it was focused on Kashmir, the Karakoram and Kashgar.
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This series final chapter reveals the identity of the “red flecks” in the preceding post’s landscape view.
There’s no finer location in which to experience the two relevant species in their natural state than Fitzgerald River National Park’s East Mount Barren.
If you wish to enjoy a natural experience of them (both species are now popular with gardeners) the only places where you can have that experience are all in or near to Fitzgerald River National Park.
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There is no such thing as “the best place on earth”.
However, there is certainly no better place on earth than Fitzgerald River National Park, if you love unspoilt coastal magnificence, and flowering plants, most especially ones that grow – naturally at least – in only one “place”.
The photo was taken near the Park’s eastern end, whilst standing atop East Mount Barren, looking west.
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