Agar Duniya me kahin Jannat hai yenhi hai yenhi hai yenhi hai..... Stands absolutely true for Kashmir. I visited Kashmir twice once after my marriage for honeymoon in July 2002 and now in May 2006. Even after visiting Kashmir twice I still feel that I should visit again. Let me write something from my first visit first and then I can write something from my latest visit. First time I visited Kashmir from Jammu after visiting Vaishno Devi. I got a package booked from Katra itself which had to&fro journey in a new Maruti van, all veg meals and stay for 5 nights 6 days in deluxe houseboat in Dal lake. That package in 2002 was for INR 10000/- The drive from Katra to Kashmir is about 8 hours / 300 km. The whole journey though tiring because of the zig zag roads through the hills but memorable. The road is very well maintained, broad and full of security. After about every 50 km someone will be checking you and your luggage. The road to Kashmir have beautiful picturesque scenery having a combination of tall pine trees, snow covered mountains, waterfalls and flowing river. On the highway from Jammu to Kashmir is the longest tunnel in Asia, the ’Jawahar Tunnel’, named after India’ first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. This year I went to Kashmir by air. Just about 5 minutes to land I started enjoying the view again and my memory started getting refreshed. I felt like I am flying over some dreamland having green plantation, white snow, water.......awesome! Lets talk about Srinagar now. After reaching Srinagar - Dal Lake, we were transferred to some house boats. In 2002 I stayed in H.B.Honolulu and this time H.B.Pagooma. That’s the way they write H.B. means houseboat. These houseboats are a real good experience to stay. They are decorated in a gorgeous manner with costly carpets, beautiful wooden carvings, kashmiri hand worked curtains, bed sheets, walnut wood furniture etc. The services offered by the hosts of these houseboats are even better than 5 star service. They treated us it’s our home and they are at our service. The shikara rides on dal lake is a royal experience. You will find hawkers trying to sell you artificial jewelery, shawls, ponchhos, dress materials while you are enjoying your shikara ride. They come on their own boats and approach you to buy something. Stuffs are good ....but be careful about the price. Even the shops are floating on Dal lake selling everything. The items to buy from Kashmir are carpets, paper machie items, artificial jewelery, wooden items & dress materials like shawl, sarees, suit pieces etc. We also did water sports on Dal lake. The sight seeing is also very beautiful like Shankaracharya Mandir, Nishaat bagh, Shalimar Bagh, Nehru Park and Hazrat Bal mosque. The whole sightseeing can be done in half day. Then comes the excursions to Gulmarg, Sonamarg & Pehalgam. They are like snow covered mountains with flowing rivers and glaciers. Gulamarg hosts snow skiing championship every year. Sonamarg on the Srinagar-Leh highway famous for its glacier. Pehalgaam has a huge golf course and lidder river and it looks like a 10 year old painted a scenery. Pehalgaam and Sonamarg are the entry point for Amarnathji yatra. Food in kashmir is yummmmmm! Specially Rogan josh, gushtaaba, tabakmaaz and rishta and in vegetarian nadroo yakhni and stuffed dum aloo and Phirni in sweets. It’s sad to see such a beautiful place is guarded by army personnel at every point. Despite all the troubles there like firing, blasts, kidnaps and whatever....Kasmir is still the Paradise on Earth and full of tourist. The camera is a must while visiting kashmir. Lets pray to god to Let Kashmir be peaceful again.