Konni & Matt - Perpetual Travellers: 23 May

South Asia
Republic of Incredible India, the world's biggest democrazy
Jammu & Kashmir
Jammu
Hotel Shubam +911912578651

Adequate double room for INR 600.- or US$ 13.60 per night.

Beer: 650-ml bottles of chilled Kingfisher Premium Lager (c. 4.8 % alc./vol.) for INR 72.- or US$ 1.50 per large bottle and Kingfisher Strong (c. 7.8 % alc./vol.) for INR 72.- or US$ 1.50 per large bottle in any of the many wine shops in town.

Click below for an interactive road map of the Hotel Shubam in Jammu and for directions:

N 32° 43.66' E 074° 51.74'

Ticking off the rather anaemic "must-see" sights of the once graceful old town Jammu, nowadays the winter capital of Jammu & Kashmir (...and a bit of a craphole): (i) the 1857 CE Raghunath Temple with its seven shrines and gold plated interiors, (ii) the 1883 CE Rambiresvar Temple with a 75-m high tower, and (iii) the old Bahu Fort, perched on a hilltop overlooking the Tawi River and manned with an impressive garrison of pertinacious beggars, remarkable cripples and slimy touts who altogether lie in ambush and wait for the unsuspecting visitor from far and wide.

Taking a worn and bollocksed P.K. Vaid Bus, fully fitted with all sorts of protective charms and muti, chillies and lemons on strings being the most innocent ones, from Jammu’s Indira Chowk to Bhadarwah upon Neeru (c. 200 km, 8 hours, INR 150.- per person), a valley of bewitching natural beauty and panoramic vistas, and for the first time in Asia, spotting real snow (on the Ashapathi Mountains which loom over the Bhadarwah Valley).