Delhi- Srinagar: 25 hours on a bus sharing muslim culture- 6th May 2008

Out of 30 passengers in the bus, we were the only ones not Muslims. At the beginning it was a bit of a shock but it ended up being an enjoyable experience. The Kashmir region was in conflict years ago due to the dispute between Pakistan and India for the territory. This fact explains the still presence of the army and trenches around the region. However, they are now only for vigilance.

18 hours of bus have become 25!! This allowed to the passengers to become interested by "the 2 strangers" and started to ask us all kind of questions: Where were we from, what religion did we practice, if we were married , our age.... still more surprise they were with our answers! They couldn't believe we were 29 years old and we weren't married! also, the fact that we were travelling on our own.

During the first hours we could feel the uncertainty. However, after a few hours we both adapt to each other creating funny situations. During the 5 or 6 stops, they used to make fun of us as we didn't know what to eat or how! The most difficult proof has been when we had to drink tea with salt for breakfast! Weird taste !! It was also burning!! but they were so proud of us that we tried :-)

The trip has been very long but a good experience as we had great views of big mountains , typical rural towns and the opportunity to meet another new friend: Sameer Malik. He is a muslim boy from Kashmir who is working in Delhi and has explained us a lot of things about the muslim culture and the Kashmir traditions. He is also a big fan of Enrique Iglesias who, for our surprise, is very famous in India!!

Thanks Sameer , we hope you read this!

Note: In such a different culture with a language unknown for us it is such an advantage to be able to communicate in English with the people!