My first destination of the day was Aharbal - I had no idea what was there awaiting me at Aharbal, but Google and the hotel guy recommended it, so I was headed there.
I set the destination on Google Maps - and for some reason Google tried desperately to send me off tarmac and onto some muddy village roads. But I was upto to her Siren tricks, and ignored her completely and stuck to the tar roads - like Odysseus plugging up his ears and sailing safely between Scylla and Charybdis.


‘Take the next right…right - into that charming village…try some challenging mud - why stick to those boring tar roads…come on… OK OK…take a left then! Or take a U turn…’


‘Get thee behind me, Google Maps lady!  Thou art an offence unto me!’
It was an absolutely lovely ride to Aharbal! Most visitors to the place come from Srinagar, and so this route from Shopian was empty and traffic-free - and very scenic and beautiful! I passed beautiful villages and apple orchards, and then lovely green forested roads across gentle rolling hills and mountains. What a pleasant ride early in the morning!
I reached Aharbal - and was greeted by a J&K tourism signboard welcoming me.
I followed the arrows and had a long walk down till I came to a narrow gorge with a …er…gorgeous…river running through it. Oh - this was the sparkling waters I had been welcomed to, was it? Good good…I kept walking along the path and then suddenly came upon a lovely waterfall!


Ah! This was the sparkling waters of Aharbal! Good good.
This was the Veshu river - a tributary of the Jhelum, and this waterfall was quite nice - a 25 meter drop, where the clean river water falls and foams noisily. It must have been a lovely place when it was open and wild - but now they have built a wall and fencing to keep the selfie-hunters from falling into the river and ending up floating down to the Punjab!
‘Your life is more important than a selfie!’ a big sign proclaims - which seems to indicate that selfie seekers perhaps did indeed end up in the drink!
My next stop was Anantnag - I would be leaving the Mughal road and  joining the main  Jammu Srinagar highway.  Anantnag is a big town - the capital of the district and entrance to the Pahalgam and Amarnath cave routes.
​It must have been a place of some significance because King Lalitaditya built a magnificent temple there - the Martanda Sun temple - one of the few temples to the Sun god in India.

The Martanda temple was the pinnacle of the Kashmir school of architecture, which was said to be a mingling of the various styles - Indian, Greek, Asian etc.  It was one of the largest temple complexes in India,  with a huge central temple, courtyards and was embellished with carvings and streams and a tank for bathing, facilities for devotees and pilgrims - and it  must have been a really grand spectacle in its heydays as the pinnacle of Hinduism in the Kashmir region.
The problem with tolerant and peace-loving Islam is that it can become intolerant and vicious very fast - and this happened with Shah Mir’s descendant - Sikander Shah. He became a fanatic and went all ‘Spanish Inquisition’ on the Hindus - and he spent two whole years smashing this Martanda Sun temple to smithereens because it had idols and images in it - which were anathema to Islam. He spend so much effort in smashing idols all over the place, that he was named the ‘But Shikan’ - ‘Bane of Idols’ . He even changed the name of the town from ‘Anantnag’ to ‘Islamabad’.
It was a charming old ruin. The Archeological Survey of India has been working on excavating and maintaining the ruins and now it is quite a nice place. I mean - it is a frightening sight - such wonderful art and architecture smashed so thoroughly by fanatics.. But it stands grand and imposing in its poignant state.  You can see the grand ruined temples and bits and pieces of old stone work and the occasional statue or carving that still remain over the ages.
While the buildings are broken and ruined, you can make out the plans and dimensions of the structure - the central sanctum - the ‘garbha griha’ - the courtyard lined with colonnades, the main imposing gateway, the ruins of 84 original columns, a few remaining statuettes and bas reliefs on the walls.
​After the damages of the ‘But shikan’, the structure had been severely damaged by an earthquake.
It was still early in the day and I was done with Anantnag and it was bloody pissing down with rain. I asked the people around for accommodation options and the answers did not appeal to me much. Anantnag struck me as a very businesslike town - no place for a biker tourist. The people I asked also agreed with me, and when they heard that I was planning to visit Sinthan pass, they advised me to start on that road and stay at a place called Kokernag, which apparently had a lot of nice accommodation options.

Well, OK - Kokernag it is! Tally ho!


I started riding - and some time after leaving Anantnag -  found crowds and tourist-kitsch sellers lining the road! How strange… what was this?  I stopped and look - and Lo and Behold - it was the Mughal gardens of Achabal! I had read about them, but I thought they were on the other side of Anantnag - but here they were!
WOOHOO! ACHABAL GARDEN! WOOHOO!