This continues to be an excellent theme on your blog. I mentioned on the Crime post you had recently that I was going into Kashmir, and that your common sense perspective was exactly what I needed to hear. To report back: you were right! There were protests the entire time I was in Kashmir, tear gas fired at Jammu/Kashmir Separatists, and spats between different Islamic factions. The Indian PM visited on day, which spurred even more protests.

During all of this I walked around the streets, visited markets, bought fruit, met some of the nicest people I've ever met, and ate delicious Kashmiri Wazwan.

Moral of the story agrees very much with your post here: you can walk into conflict zones and have a blast provided you keep your wits about you and don't do anything stupid.

Loved this post.