Next stop Kashmir?

Yesterday afternoon was a little bit mental. The kids at Nishi had organised some activities for us to do and so on. They gave us prizes and I ended up with a massive piece of newspaper folded in to a paper crane, a kangaroo, a koala and a Christmas themed pluto doll. I gave the toys back to M after the kids had gone cos I didnt really see what I could do with them except put them in the back of my cupboard until I leave Japan whereupon I would throw them away. It was a bit tiring really. When I got home I ran into D from upstairs who invited me up to see his holiday shots. They were pretty interesting, it made me want to go and check it out for myself really.... add that to the list of places to go. Well, I really didn't know that much about Kashmir before, but now I know a little. He visited this town, I have unfortunately forgotten the name of it, nothing a little Googling wouldn't sort out I am sure but I am already signed in here. Anyway, we had a look at it on Google Earth and a whole bunch of this town is built over a massive lake. Some of the houses are houseboats, some are built on re-claimed land and some are on stilts, but they have encroached quite dramatically on the lake which is apparently quite shallow. D says that they live on the lake because the land is overrun with Indian soldiers who are "protecting Kashmir from Pakistani invasion" or making sure they have a good possie from which to invade Pakistan - either or you know. The trekking he did in the mountains looked really beautiful and well worth having a look at, even though it was quite expensive they got looked after 5 star style with people carrying all their equipment and cooking for them and everything. Turns out the riot that happened while he was there was about a Kashmiri who had sentenced to death by the Indian courts. The Indian soldiers are there to supress such uprisings of the people of Kashmir with a few stray bullets here and there I guess. So Kashmir is in Pakistan, China and India and they each wouldn't mind owning the whole thing of course, and the Kashmiris wouldn't mind being independant. So it's not the stablest of regions, but I'd still like to go and have a squiz.