[
    {
        "id": 204668,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1963",
        "page_number": 149,
        "title": "RAS-1963",
        "content_text": "KASHMIR HOLIDAY\n\n133\n\ngrazing round the tents and our staff from the boat, now transformed into mountaineers, plus the owners of the ponies were all waiting to receive us. Two of the ponies had been hired to carry the ladies on the trek but in point of fact they were never used except by Gaffar and his son when their feet got sore.\n\nA large log fire was already alight outside the larger tent, hot water was waiting for the canvas baths and a three-course dinner was being cooked outside the cook's tent down-wind. This, I would add, was the normal evening routine throughout our trek, for the ponies with all our tents and supplies would pass us during the morning and everything was set up before we reached camp at night. Generally one pony stayed with us to carry the lunch and our spare clothes, and later we perched on the top two live hens that we had bought from some shepherds we met on the way. They were intended for dinner one night but we became so fond of them that they survived the expedition and came all the way back to the boat with us.\n\nThe way led along the west side of the Liddar river, past Arau, the last village before the pass, and to the foot of the great Kolahoi glacier. Here we camped, at 8,500 ft., and spent the next day exploring the pink-coloured glacier and watching life in the valley: marmots, snow pigeon, white-capped redstart, chough and Himalayan griffon. By the third evening we had reached the Yamher Pass and as it was too late to attempt the crossing we camped at the foot in a bare plateau. By now we were far above the tree line and as it was very cold we had gathered wood on the day's walk and stacked it on the top of the ponies' packs.\n\nNext day we were lucky for there was not a cloud in the sky and when we reached the top of the Yamher at 14,000 ft. the high peaks of the Himalayas stretched in a great semi-circle before us. Dead ahead, clear and glittering in the sun, was the unmistakable magnificence of Nanga Parbat (26,660 ft.) whilst to the west was the fringe of the mountains in the Hindu Kush. Eastwards lay the peaks of Ladakh and Baltistan. It was unforgettable.\n\nTo the uninitiated the only part of the whole walk which may bring a slight fluttering in the stomach is the first 500 feet of the descent from the top of the Pass. But help is always at hand",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1963.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/4m90m091v",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 204669,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1963",
        "page_number": 150,
        "title": "RAS-1963",
        "content_text": "134 \n\nCLIVE ROBINSON \n\nand one is apt to forget one's own unease in admiration of the ponies which, fully laden, negotiate the rocky path with marvellous sure-footedness. Once over, the rest of the descent into the Sind valley below is an unending joy of forest paths, strange bird calls and ever-changing mountain views. It took us the best part of two days to reach the Sind river and at our last night's camp we knew we had reached civilisation again by the noise of the watchmen beating on tin cans in an endeavour to keep the bears out of the Indian cornfields. That was the only night we chained our dog, Sally, to the camp bed. \n\nOne more day's walk along the valley to the village of Sonamarg and its military bridge over the river leading on to Leh. Here there is, or rather was, a large notice warning \"Tourists and Trekkers\" that they could go no farther. It sounded rather like the New Territories but when I enquired in the village I gathered that few tourists ever got to Sonamarg and we had been the first that year over the Yamher. We camped outside at Thajiwas (9,000 ft.) in the Valley of the Glaciers, and next day walked back into Sonamarg to catch a bus home. The drive took us about four hours and this time we had ducks and sheep with us as a variety. \n\nSo ended perhaps the most memorable holiday we have ever had. Certainly the walk is one of the best short treks it is possible to make in Kashmir. Going leisurely we had taken seven days, walked about ninety miles and reached a height of 14,000 ft. \n\nTwo days later we left the “Golden Gleam” and said goodbye to the incomparable Gaffar and his happy staff. Going up the Banihal Pass on the way home to Delhi my car developed the usual complaint of petrol-pump trouble which often happens in the more rarified atmospheres of heights over 9,000 ft. Unfortunately it did not respond to the regular Indian treatment of a wet mud-pack wrapped round the pump so, for four hours, I was compelled to remain crouched on the mudguard with my back to the way we were going in order to be in a position to apply a smart tap with a screw-driver to the ailing pump whenever it showed signs of giving up the ghost. Fortunately I had faith in my wife at the wheel as the hairpin bends on the Banihal are not particularly pleasant when seen backwards from the mudguard of a Riley! \n\nPage 150\n\nPage 151",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1963.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/4m90m091v",
        "rank": 0
    }
]