Description
42 dal lake
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“Where are you going now?”
The owner of the hostel I stayed in or friends I met on the trip asked.
When they went to Srinagar, nine out of ten shook their heads, and it was a place where they were given a half-sermon, not advised that it was a dangerous place. But if you can't travel to the place you want to go because of rumors and fear, wouldn't that be a bigger misfortune?
Srinagar Dal Lake, contrary to its notorious reputation, is a travel destination that truly fits the expression ‘paradise’. From a mustache man carrying fruit on a small boat, an Indian teenager carrying people to another houseboat, and a photographer setting up a small photo studio on the boat. I have entered a small society that coexists on water.
Many houseboats built in the large Dal Lake lake are lodging businesses, shops, pharmacies, and so on. My friends who have traveled to Europe often compare this place to Venice, Italy, but I've never been there, so I don't know what to say.
Living on the water was just a fantasy, but now I am in it.
beer shop
After leaving Dal Lake and buying food at the Srinagar Market, I stopped by a nearby beer shop after thinking about beer after a long time. They were secretly selling ‘Godfather’, a beer sold only in the Kashmir region, and empty plastic bottles filled with whiskey through small iron bars.
In the 21st century, in any country where alcohol is a crime, India is a country that is quite conservative with respect to mainstream culture. Perhaps because it retains the image of a traditional society, it is shameful to drink alcohol proudly in front of others. This scenery gets worse the closer you get to holy places like Varanasi or Rishkesh. However, in large cities such as Delhi, Calcutta, and Mumbai, although not as sophisticated as Seoul, there are bars and pubs that function as bars without much difference from other countries. However, buying beer at a beer shop in other regions other than large cities or capital cities is a difficult journey in itself. In particular, in this beer shop, Indians who have finished their hard work not only line up to buy beer, but also the person who pushes money near the grate first is the owner.
Here, the primitive logic that a strong person can quickly buy a lot of beer was made. The intense slam ceremony that can only be experienced at rock festivals is a mandatory rite of passage. It is a landscape that cannot be imagined in Korea. Seeing people who fell on the street drunk even in broad daylight and people who were amazed at alcohol itself, I wondered what kind of shock it would be if they came into contact with our country's nightlife culture.