Amritsar

The bus journey to Amritsar was horrendous. Yes there was the usual driving at break neck speed, hitting your head on the roof when going over a speed bump, being moved to seats you didn’t book but this time we had the added factor of rain. Lots of rain. Outside AND inside the bus! First my bed got flooded so I moved in to Tasha and Zoe’s bed until we felt water seaping up from the mattress. Water was pouring from light fittings , windows and everything was wet with only another 10 hours to our destination.

Amritsar is not a pretty city in the Punjab state. It is busy with traffic and noise and very dirty but it does have two saving graces that make it a worthwhile trip up north. One is the daily flag lowering ceremony at the Indian/Pakistan border. Everyday thousands of people turn up, get security checked and sit on stands at the border gate to watch this unusual sight. When we arrived girls feom the crowd were dancing in the middle of the stands. Then it began, guards with strange fan like hats and uniforms marched towards the gate with their legs as high as they would go. There was a lot of bravado and testerone in the air and the crowd went wild. They looked like they were challenging Pakistan to a dance off! A microphone was held up and a guard shouted for as ping as he could manage and the marching started again. It was over quite quickly as the flags were lowered and everyone left.

The next day we went to the famous Sikh Golden Temple. The temple is in the middle of a square lake with koi carp and other fish. It is gold plated and the gleams in the sun light. The temple is open 24/7 and they also serve free food to anyone who visits. You can also stay in the temple for free. We put on the required scarf to cover our heads and walked through the footbath. We saw people bathing in the holy lake water and began to queue to get into the main temple. Everyone was
pushing and shoving and it took about 2 hours to get inside to see the ornate ceilings, chandeliers and shrines. In the evening I returned on my own. It was much calmer then with families sitting by the lake eating prasad (blessed food) and it had a sebse of calm deapite the many people. I stayed to see the sunset over the temple and watched the day turn into night. The temple looked magical with the lights turned on after dusk.