[
    {
        "id": 204664,
        "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": 145,
        "title": "RAS-1963",
        "content_text": "131\n\nKASHMIR HOLIDAY\n\nCLIVE ROBINSON, M.B.E.*\n\nFrom Delhi to Srinagar by road is about 570 miles and it takes all of two days hard driving to get there. About twice as long, in fact, as the journey by air from Hong Kong. Indeed, for those who fly to Europe on leave and pass through Delhi on the way, the extra flying time to get to Kashmir is only about four and a half hours. And provided a few simple arrangements are made beforehand Kashmir is still one of the most rewarding places in the world for a holiday.\n\nThough there are good hotels in Srinagar it is more fun to hire one's own house-boat and have it taken, before arrival, to one of the lakes such as Nagin or Dal that lie close to the town. Fringed with the stately chenar trees and with the high peaks of the Himalayas in the distance all of them are equally perfect in their setting.\n\nHouse-boats vary in size according to the number of people who want to live in them. A small one will consist of an entrance verandah with steps leading from the water, a dining and sitting-room and two bedrooms and bathrooms. Aft of the house-boat and connected by a narrow plank lies the cook-boat where the owner and his staff live and where all the meals are prepared.\n\nThe owner, by the way, is a kind of major-domo well practiced in the art of looking after visitors and who, from long experience, knows all the answers. These Kashmiri boat owners vie with each other in the comforts they provide and nowhere in the world, I imagine, is one likely to find such luxury. With Persian carpets on the floors; gaily upholstered sofas and easy chairs; desks, tables and sideboards all made from the highly-polished local woods and silver candlesticks in the dining-room; it is hard to imagine one is in a floating home high up in the Himalayas.\n\nOutside the living-rooms a narrow passage leads along one side of the boat to the bedrooms and a staircase to the roof and flower garden. Here, in the company of countless little Indian kingfishers, one usually breakfasts and sits out before dinner to watch the evening sun setting over the Himalayas.\n\n*The author is Deputy Representative of the British Council in Hong Kong,",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1963.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/4m90m091v",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 204665,
        "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": 146,
        "title": "RAS-1963",
        "content_text": "132\n\nCLIVE ROBINSON\n\nHouse-boats are usually moored by the lakeside and it is possible to walk ashore into the fields across a plank. But one's chief means of transport is the shikhara which arrives each morning and remains until one has finished with it at night. A shikhara is the Rolls-Royce of gondolas full of soft cushions and gaily patterned pillows — and its crew of two young and cheerful Kashmiri is at your disposal all day to paddle swiftly and silently through the lotus-covered waterways to wherever you choose to go. On long expeditions, such as to Ganderbal three hours away, a crew of four is necessary especially if the day is hot.\n\nEach morning the tradesmen arrive by water: the postman, butcher, chemist, grocer and the florist. The latter, a picture with his boat covered from stem to stern in all the brilliant colours of the Valley's flowers. Hard for the ladies to resist! Later come the famous Srinagar dealers, also by boat. \"Mr. Butterfly\" with his exotically embroidered men's pyjamas and his exquisite sets of ladies' underwear; \"Suffering Moses\", renowned for his papier mâché ware; and, perhaps hardest of all to refuse, \"Subhana the Worst\". It was in Subhana's shop, after a large Persian lunch, that I once spent more money in one afternoon than (I trust) I am ever likely to do again.\n\nNagin, where we moored in \"Golden Gleam\", has a large house-boat, in the centre of the lake, from which one bathes or water-skis. And out of the lake the narrow water channels lead past floating gardens, orchards and meadows to Nishat Bagh and Jehangir's famous Gardens of Shalimar where we picnicked one afternoon sitting on Persian rugs and drinking tea out of a lovely samovar.\n\nBut it is wise to remember that the lotus-existence of life on a house-boat in Kashmir is an insidious one and each day it is harder to break the spell. The visitor is wise who says at the beginning how long it is to last and, if he is fond of mountains and the country, plans his expedition at an early date.\n\nThe local bus, complete with Kashmiris and their retinues of hens and pigs, took us to Pahalgam at the foot of the high mountains and there we found our camp already pitched.\n\nIt was by a stream at the end of the Liddar valley and within a stone's throw of the Prime Minister's summer lodge. Eight ponies were\n\nI",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1963.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/4m90m091v",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 204666,
        "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": 147,
        "title": "RAS-1963",
        "content_text": "1519.\n\nA typical large size Kashmir House-boat moored in Residency Ghat, Srinagar.",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1963.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/4m90m091v",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 208859,
        "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-1980",
        "page_number": 21,
        "title": "RAS-1980",
        "content_text": "been teaching at Wah Yan since 1960. The other was given by myself, and I spoke on “Chinese and Western medicine: compatible or antagonistic?\" My data was gathered during a three-year research project into the medical system of Hong Kong conducted at Hong Kong University's Centre of Asian Studies. In February Mr. Patrick Lau spoke on \"Rural Architecture in Hong Kong\". He is the author of a book on the subject, based on a series of survey studies and published jointly by the Government Information Services and the Hong Kong Tourist Association.\n\nIn February Dr. Norman Ko, Reader in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Hong Kong, gave a talk on \"Underwater Photography and some Observations of Marine Life in Hong Kong\". Finally, in March, there were two talks: one given by Mr. Nigel Cameron, a well-known locally-based historian and art critic, and author of many books and essays, on \"The K'ang-Hsi Emperor (1662-1722)\". The other was given by Professor Winston Wan Lo on the work of his late father, Lo Hsiang-lin, who was Professor of Chinese at the University of Hong Kong. Winston Lo is himself a professor of History at Florida State University. Future talks are in the process of being arranged, and you will already have received advanced notice of two, possibly three talks for April.\n\nTours Abroad\n\nIn April 1979 Dr. Shaw led a trip to Darjeeling and Sikkim, and in July another to Srinagar and Ladakh or “Little Tibet\". Members on the latter trip were particularly fortunate in that, by a harsh 3 a.m. start, they were able to witness and record the most interesting part of the final day's ceremonies in the annual masked dance festival at Hemis Monastery near Leh. Our Society is, of course, a non-profit-making organization, and Dr. Shaw was able to make a refund of $240 to each participant on the Sikkim trip, although a nominal loss was made on that to Srinagar and Ladakh. At the end of this week, a group of 19 members will leave for the Kingdom of Bhutan, the last of the forbidden kingdoms opening its doors to a select group of visitors. Again, they will be led by Dr. Shaw. In the absence of any response from China International Travel Service in Peking concerning our proposals for visits to China by groups of members of the Society, no further representations were made during the past year. Members will, of course, know they can now, as individuals, join a number of tours operating from Hong Kong.",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1980.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207",
        "rank": 0
    }
]