I’m in heaven right now. I’m here in Gulmarg in Kashmir. Can you see the mountains behind me? Can you see the horses on my other side? It is a beautiful beautiful valley. And the thing about India is there’s always something that surprises me every single day. And today, it’s that Gulmarg has the second highest gondola in the world. So what should we do? Let’s go all the way to the top and find out what the hell is at the top of this massive peak? We’re going to these mountains right behind us. Let’s go. Behind me over here is the ticket counter and there are just so many touts and guides here. And they were causing such a ruckus. They are so damn loud. And now the ticket.. took a while to get but it’s 1700 rupees or 24 dollars American. So it’s pretty cheap. And it’s a two phase gondola so you really wanna go up to Phase 2.

Don’t just go to Phase 1 because there’s nothing there. You can actually just walk up to Phase 1. And I’ve got some tips for you to deal with these guys. So if you say it means please.. no it doesn’t mean please. It means ‘don’t talk to me’. And it seems to work pretty damn good here. Come on. Let’s go. Oh man! Look where I am. This is freaking amazing. I’ve got these amazing mountains behind me over here. And then back down there, you can see all of Gulmarg. And the view of Gulmarg from up here is just stunning. It’s just a lush green beautiful valley. This is only Phase 1 far out. And you saw all those villages coming up in the gondola, right? It’s like these villager houses actually have mud and kind of grass growing on the roof.

So they look like they’re part of the environment. I guess that’s for water proofing or something. And those guys were busy farming sheep, horses and a bunch of other things living in these stunning hills. Oh my god! I am so in love with this place. God! It’s incredible. It really is incredible. Even my country New Zealand doesn’t have just something as epic and incredible as this because we don’t have the Himalayas. But India does. India has absolutely everything. And I’ll talk a bit more about why I love it so much soon but..

Just look around. If you don’t fall in love with this, there’s something wrong with you. What a fantastic idea about Jammu & Kashmir tourism. Seriously! I’m only in Phase 1 but it feels like heaven already. Damn. I’m so happy to be here. As you can see, Phase 2 gondola right here. It is going up to 4200 metres. And being that high up, the air gets really thin and it’s actually gonna be a little bit harder to breathe. Just like if you’re in Leh or Ladakh. You’re so high up and the air really thins out.

I don’t know how much better Phase 2 could be because you’re actually going into the ice and the glaciers and the snow up there. So I think it’s gonna be a totally different environment. Not a lush green beautiful valley environment in Phase 1 here. Let’s go find out, eh? So this is one common problem here in India. Some people think they are more important than others and can push in the line. It’s not uncommon for people to try and push. But luckily, I’ll be able to tell them to get lost. Okay guys. There’s kind of three things I don’t like. It’s height. And this cable car.. oh my god! The heights.. you’re going up an incredible… you’re travelling over glaciers..

you’re travelling through the clouds. Yeah, it’s creepy as hell. We’re literally on top of the mountain. I don’t like the cold. So you often.. I mean you’ve never seen me in snow, right? Except when I had to cross like Bara Lacha Pass on the way to Leh. And going back to heights… I’ve had to encounter a lot of heights in my life. So we crossed the Jula Pass, which is like the scariest place to ride your bike in the world, especially when it’s raining and it was raining for us. So yeah. Rain and cold, I don’t like. Wait. There was a third thing, right? I don’t remember what it was.

No wait, I got it. People who think they’re better than each other. Sorry, Uncle. I don’t care how much money you have. I don’t care who you are. I don’t give two ***** about what your job is. We are common men and you can’t just think you’re special and push in. Nobody else thinks you’re special. Maybe you do in your mind and maybe the people who take money from you do. But they’re just kissing your ***. The common men are number one. Don’t freaking push in or you’re gonna get what that guy got; into a nice fight. On a clear day, this would be a stunning view. But it’s okay because Phase 1 gives you that. This Phase 2 up here, it’s really for this. It’s for getting your freak on, on the snow. It’s like being back at the ticket booth now. All the other guys are just yelling And it’s about 1200 rupees to take the man powered sled. And they’re basically gonna pull you up to the top from here. Probably you can get it a bit cheaper but I feel bad for these guys having to pull everybody up Let’s chat about India for a second. So India always surprises you.

You can never finish exploring India. And that’s one thing I love about it. The diversity of India is just insane. You can’t finish it. And I’m trying to finish it. I’m trying to travel to every single state and union territory. And I’m nearly done. I’ve done 33 of 36. Just three more to go; Chattisgarh, Odisha and Lakshwadeep. And living in Delhi like I do.. you can never finish exploring Delhi either. Like the city is just freaking huge. So I never get bored here. Every day is an adventure in India. Around every corner is something that amazes you. It is so different from where I come from, a small country called New Zealand where we say it’s a diverse country but when you come to India, then you really see diversity just in Indian people alone. Sure, there’s not many foreigners here. But it’s just such a big country that you never run out of things to do. And that’s what I love.

That’s what any adventurer would love about a country they choose to live in. But it’s more than that. I love Indian culture as well. I’ve always loved Bollywood Hindi, Hindi songs and.. I mean I should say North Indian culture, I guess. And I’ve always had a lot of Indian friends. So.. yeah. And oh, of course, the food. The food is amazing. Since I was like 18 or so, I started developing this passion for India. And I don’t know where it came from. It just came and it’s just like… I mean it came from the food actually. That first time I had butter chicken, I’m like ‘I have been missing out on this for so so long’. And then it just sparked my interest and I just started eating Indian food and exploring everything Indian from then. And I just realized that I love it here and I love everything about it. And now more than that, I feel like I’m becoming part Indian, you know. I spend so much time here and I integrate into the culture, I try to so so much. And.. yeah. That’s one of the beautiful things about living in another country.

You get to become part of it and become part of the culture. And it becomes a part of you and you change and you learn things. And.. yeah. Every day is an adventure here in India. And that’s one of the reasons why I love India. Long live India! Alright. Let’s get out of here. Now the value of this place is pretty amazing though. Ah, you can see I’m puffing still. The value is great. It’s just 24$ For 1700 rupees, you get to go to the snow. And yeah. You get to go skiing or sledding or… yeah whatever, all year around. I guess during winter, it’s a lot lot better. It is cool. It’s a really really great experience and…

I know a lot of foreigners won’t expect to find this kind of beauty in India. So I love surprising them when I make one of these videos. Get your butts to India. Long live India! Oh yeah. I should talk about one more thing. So I shouldn’t really be saying Long Live India here because it’s getting political. I’m not trying to get political and when I say I’m in India right now, think of it from a tourist’s or foreigner’s perspective. They need an Indian visa to come here, okay? I’m not trying to get political. I’m not trying to take sides in the dispute of Kashmir, alright? It’s just..

yeah. This is just.. I’m talking from a foreigner’s perspective, okay? And we need more foreign tourists here. The numbers have dropped incredibly since my government and other governments have said that Kashmir Valley isn’t safe. And I made a video explaining why you shouldn’t worry so much. And why when New Zealand government says ‘Do not travel to Kashmir Valley’, that they’re not exactly right. They’re being very.. the word is.. yeah, very ‘cautious’, okay? And don’t even ask me what the solution is to the Kashmir conflict. I don’t know and I’m not gonna get involved. That’s one thing I’m gonna stay out

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