The year was 1992...

I had just celebrated my 25th birthday in Leh, the capitol of Ladakh, an alpine desert region to the east of Kashmir. Very rocky and desert colored, Ladakh might seem empty and boring to some. I found Ladakh to be completely contrary. Jagged out-crops, dangerous highways, monsterous peaks and unobstructed views of the cosmos left me realizing just how tiny we all are. It's in a place like this where if one isn't careful, months could pass while being wrapped up in veneration for that which has existed since long before us. It was in a place like this where the idea of visiting Kashmir came to be discussed and realized.

There were quite a few of us hanging out together at the time. When travelling around, those of like mind and circumstances tend to gravitate to each other and Ladakh was no exception. Why we decided to travel on to Kashmir I don't recall. Maybe it was the mystical images the name conjured up, maybe it was the sense of adventure. We all had heard the warnings coming out of Kashmir and felt confident we knew what we were getting in to. We split up into smaller groups and started to make our way to Kashmir based on financial ability. I ended up in the group that hitchhiked. None of us going had any notion just how life changing our trip would end up being.

Kashmir has been called a paradise by all who have been blessed to experience her natural beauty and friendly people, and even after surviving a late night gun and mortar battle on the way there, dealing with the army searching our houseboat and having mujihideen chase us and all foreigners out of Srinagar, I still regard Kashmir as one of the most amazing places in the world.

Because of what I experienced in my time there, I have felt compelled to let as many people as possible know about Kashmir and all that makes up this exotic and overlooked heaven on Earth. I would like to also invite anyone who has been to or is from Kashmir to share their stories and experiences. Feel free to email me any correspondence relating to Kashmir at this address and I will build and post a section for user submitted stories.

In the mean time, enjoy this site as it grows and I hope at the very least to plant a seed of interest about Kashmir and her people.