One more Part of Heaven: Sonmarg

अगर फिरदौस बर मे झमिनस्त,
हमिनस्तु हमिनस्तु हमिनस्त…
These lines were written by the famous Persian poet Firdaus, after his visit to Kashmir. The meaning of these lines is: If There is Heaven on Earth, It is here, It is here, It is here….
I’m sure you too will feel the same when u visit Kashmir, specially while going to Sonmarg. Sonmarg means Valley of Gold or Golden Valley.

Actually this place is nothing but a valley full of snow. It is called so because this valley is in the eastern side of Kashmir hence when the sun rays fall on the snow the whole valley glows like gold.
Ok, first I’ll tell u about the road trip from Srinagar to Sonmarg & after that I’ll tell you about Sonmarg….
So… the road from Srinagar to Sonmarg is almost 90 km long… Going through kashmiri villages, small climbing of Himalaya (not on ur foot of course… :P), passing through beautiful river Chenab u reach to Sonmarg… The whole way is really picturesque. U really feel like u r in heaven. The pictures over here show the beauty of this route.
Now, Sonmarg, as I told earlier, it’s a valley, a gorgeous valley carved by the river Sindh. It is famous for various adventures like Trekking, sledging, alpine skiing etc. But what we enjoyed the most is sledging over here… It’s really amazing thing I ever did.
What exactly Sledging is:
U r made to seat on a plaque of wood & they slide u from the slope & let u slide….
It was really fun…
& when we were playing with the snow (as it was something unusual for all of us), it started raining (the rain contained both water as well as snow flacks), which later on turned in heavy storm & rain I mentioned in my previous post. Actually though it was a bit frightening, we all enjoyed the weather that day…

A tip before u go for sledging:
Be sure for sledge rates. Ask twice & don’t take distance granted. What u feel "told" might be six time more than that!!