I have been leading luxury cultural, gastronomically focused tours throughout the subcontinent for almost 2 decades. Recently I designed a “fantasy“ program for friends to celebrate a significant birthday that ended with a lifelong dream to visit Kashmir. With an introduction to Muzzafar Andrabi from Kashmir Caravans, we totally fell on our feet with an incomparable host for 3 days. Muzza, in the most solicitous and caring of ways, with immense pride, humour and intelligence provided for us the most insightful, memorable and intense experience of the magic of this astounding paradise. He read our inquisitiveness and desire to really interact with the locals brilliantly. We had THE sweetest and most charming shikar boatman who also took us through his local village, drifted through the floating market at dawn, attended a major Sufi festival at the Hazrat Sheikh Hamza (ra) shrine, visited famous mosques, ambled with relish through the bazaars and winding lanes of the old city. The whole experience haunts me still and I cannot wait to return and with Muza’s expert guidance and deep knowledge to explore more deeply this sweetly hospitable culture and go further into the hinterland. Indeed I have already planned to include Sufi Kashmir as the prelude to my next tour of Bhutan, April 2013 and some of us are already planning a trek in the late Spring.