Today we had bad weather so we decided to relax today, we had like 2dm of new fresh powder but compared with yesterdays blue bird and awesome condition it felt like a good day to chill. So instead of describing me doing nothing I will try to describe how it looks like and where we actually are.
Gulmarg is a small ski resort with one gondola (well it has two parts), a couple of hotels, a small tiny market, a high altitude warfare school and pretty much zero permanent citizens. The village is located 2700m above the sea level and from the village you can go either up on the mountain using the gondola or down the mountain through the woods to other small villages like Tennmarg. Gulmarg is more or less at the border to Pakistan and because of this everybody except the tourist and those working at the hotels leave Gulmarg when the sun goes down. Its about 50km to Srinigar which is the state capital of Kashmir and the state might be most recognize because of the fight between India and Pakistan about the area. To complicate the situation China claims Kashmir too and there do exist a guerrilla who fights for independence. Overall its a mess and most western government recommends that you don’t go here but in my point of view, use your common sense, be aware of whats happening around you and you will find one of the best skiing ever.
We are living at a newly built hotel (built 2007) called Zagheer Continental. Is has central heating and both shower and toilet of western standard however do not expect it to be like a hotel in Europe. Even if the hotel is only two years old it has water damage pretty much everywehere and every time the floor gets wet in the shower you get small electric shocks when you touch anything metal (like the knobs for shower). The windows are single glas and we use some sort of plastic cover to try to keep the heat inside. Central heating is nice however we loose electricity on daily basis and it gets cold pretty quick. In other words it not a luxery life style but compared with the other hotels we have a high standard, and the price for that is after some hassling and dealing €20/night for a double room including breakfast and dinner.
The area outside the hotel is big open spaces with some small hills, a couple of trees where the monkey lives and we got a nice view over the market and military school from our hotel, to the gondola its around 1km walk but with ski boots we use taxi or let the hotel drive us there.
“As-Salamu Alaykum”
-the standard welcome phrase