Srinigar Himalaya
Where is Srinigar?
Srinigar Himalaya is in the Kashmir valley in the foothills of the HImalaya in the northern part of India. India is shaped like a giant baseball diamond, with the Himalayan state of Jammu and Kashmir in Home Base position at the northern tip. Close to the western border of that part of India on the west are (going clockwise) Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan.
The western area of that section of the Himalaya includes the Kashmir valley, with Srinigar as its largest city; modern day tourists to Srinigar usually stay in a houseboat on Dal Lake before setting out on Himalayan treks. Most of the people in that area today are Muslim.
The eastern area includes Ladakh, where most of the people today are Tibetan Buddhists and still speak Tibetan. The area includes many ancient Buddhist gompas as well as the current summer palace of the Dalai Lama. The author and her husband trekked for a week in the Himalaya in the Kashmir area and also for a week in the Himalaya in the Ladakh area. This is a photo of the author and her husband at 16,000 feet (4877 meters) in the Ladakh area with some peaks continuing to rise 5000 feet (1524 meters) above them.
Jesus in Himalaya
The Srinigar students of the stars, who brought gifts to the infant Jesus to finance the exodus to Egypt, returned when Jesus was a teenager and trekked with him and their own teenaged sons through part of the Himalaya, including what is now called Kashmir and what is now called Ladakh.
The photo to the right shows a young apprentice monk in an ancient Buddhist gompa in Ladakh. The abbot jokingly told the author that the boy was sometimes more of a "monkey" than a monk, but that he would grow out of it. The boy reminded the abbot of himself at that young age.
Ancient Buddhist Gompas
The photo to the left shows a modern day monk working in an ancient Buddhist gompa in Ladakh.