In spite of Stein’s lifelong attachment to Mohand Marg, it was impossible to stay there in the cold months of winter. Hence he had to move down. And again he chose his dwelling accommodations in and around the most scenic quarters of Srinagar - the Dal and Nagin Lakes. Here Stein selected his camping ground on the slopes of the Zabarvan Range that circled the Dal Lake. The camp sites here were, the Ishbar quarter and Zeithyeir slopes. Around the Nagin Lake he enjoyed camping at the Nagin Bagh. Sometime his tents were pitched in the heart of the city at Chinar Bagh. But for the coldest months of the winter Stein moved into larger and warmer houses like the Kaplas Villa, in the Gupkar locality, the Dal view cottage named Almond Cottage and at times the lodge of Raja Daya Krishen Kaul at the Nagin quarters. While both the Kaplas Villa and the Almond Cottage were retreats of royal courtesy, yet the former was distinctly a more privileged accommodation since it sometime was occupied by Prince Hari Singh, the then heir to the Kashmir Throne and his tutor Major F.W. K. Barr who subsequently also became the Resident of Kashmir.

Among the houses of his local correspondents Stein visited during his stay in Srinagar included those of Pandit Nityanad and Pandit Shyamsunder Lal Dhar. Occasionally Stein also used bungalows of his European friends stationed in Srinagar.

Pandit Nityanand’s House, Srinagar Frequented By Aurel Stein (1896 – 1936) Nityanand Shastri Library Collection		Camp in old garden, Dal Lake, Srinagar
These included that of the Christian Missionary doctors Arthur and Ernest Neve’s home in the Dragjun locality, and C.E. Tyndale Biscoe’s house at Sheikh Bagh. And when protocol and hospitality demanded Stein spent a couple of nights as the guest of British authorities in Kashmir. Kashmir Settlement Commissioner Walter Talbot’s house and the Residency at Gulmarg are name-worthy to recall. But despite their civilized surroundings, however, Aurel Stein clung to the belief that his ties to such conventional accommodations were no more than those of a bird of ‘ passage to a feeding ground.’ Mountains and the deserts alone gave him the enjoyment and solitude of unencumbered life as a ‘confirmed monogamist’

“You and I have run in double harness on many occasions. It was at the 1885 Congress that I first met you and it was at that congress that the Linguistic Survey received its first impetus so that our friendship and the linguistic survey of India began together. "Then when the KCIE’s came your name and mine were in the same gazette and we have often wished that in the intervals you could have provided a Lady Stein to walk alongside of Lady Grierson. But then what would have become of Central Asia. You chose her for a bride with the blessings of your patron saint Husuan Tsang and you are a confirmed monogamist.” - George Grierson.

Dal Cottage Kaplas villa, Srinagar

(in a letter dated July 10, 1928, by Sir George Grierson to Sir Aurel Stein ) Stein Mss 82, Bodleian Library, Oxford. “I much enjoyed your happy allusions to Central Asia as a substitute bride. I only wish, I could rejoin her.” - Aurel Stein. in a letter dated August 19, 1928 , by Sir Aurel Stein to Sir George Grierson ) Stein Mss 82, Bodleian Library, Oxford .

Aurel Stein with his dog-Dash on the stairs of Almond Cottage, Dal, Srinagar