Quoted By:
> be me
> August 2014
> hiking in some low-altitude Himalayan mountains in Indian-administered Kashmir
> completely broke, so I can't afford a guide or porter for the duration of my excursion
> if you have a donkey carrying your back, the hike from a small town called Naranag to Gangabal Lake normally takes about five or six hours
> I was carrying all my own gear, so it took almost nine hours to get to most of the way to Gangabal and Mount Harmukh
> meet a few Greek girls, eat dinner with them and their Kashmiri guide before going to find a place to set up camp
> the guide points in one direction and says there are other people camping over near a house
> it's almost pitch-black in the mountains and I'm having to walk over these giant boulders across a river
> stumble down and hear dogs barking and running at me
> keep walking forward while throwing rocks
> see a few tents, walk forward
> hear the action of a rifle click, all of a sudden I hear screaming in Hindi and Urdu
> AK-47s are being pointed at me
> realize I just walked up to an Indian Army camp with a giant backpack on
> they realize I'm a foreign tourist after pulling out a spotlight, shake my hand, and point me on to where the other campers are
> see a Kashmiri guy, ask him where I can set up my tent
> he's really friendly since I greeted him with a hearty "salaam aleykum!" but then spits on the ground when I tell him I'm American
> I leave to set up my tent in the location he specified and then return
> thinking maybe him and his Kashmiri friend will come kill me at night
> at his tent again, he looks like he wants to kill me
> I say, "hey, bro, do you have a Qu'ran?"
> "Why you want Qu'ran?" he asks, looking suspicious
> "I'm a Muslim," I say, being completely full of shit
Cont...
