another invader.

Scrinagar-city, 12-05-1994. At night Scrinagar is pretty much dead as a walk around the boulevard and Dal Gate proved. Many Kashmiris have blank eyes with the only thing visible in them, the horrors and fear of the ongoing war. Mo and Lisa left the boat as well this morning planning a trip into the mountains around Scrinagar. I took a small hotel in the old part of Scrinagar town near Dal Gate. The locals in the hotel`s bar told me some gruesome stories of toture thecnics by the indian soldiers on p.o.w.s and how the Kashmiris want independence. If they ever do manage to boot the indian army out the pakistanis will march right in and they will have another - probably - even worse invader to deal with. I spent most of the day walking up to Shankaracharya Hill where there is a templewith a nice lingam symbol and lots of very nervous and trigger happy indian soldiers camping around it in tents. Amazingly most of Shankaracharya Hill was covered in thick vegetation with lots of birdlife. I even saw a weasel attacking a bulbul. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw me however. My presence probably saved the little bulbul bird`s life.The views from the hill over Dal Lake and Nagin Lake were worth the struggle of hiking up. Absolutely beautiful!