Aay Kay Hotel Amritsar

... people and dogs to our platform. We had a few butt clenching minutes when we thought we had missed our train - but luckily we didnt. Amritsar was about as hot as Delhi but slightly less busy - well, less people anyway. We made our way to the guest house and our first room was in a very big old colonial style house, but as with everything in India (or so it seems) , it was quite run down.We did have a telly in our room ...

... name of the temple is Sri Haramdar Sahib , or "Place of God".<br><br>The temple complex is huge. It includes the Golden temple, two clock towers, administration buildings, a museum, and a huge kitchen complex (or Langar). <br><br>To enter, you must first remove and check your shoes and socks. You must wear a covering over your head, and cannot smoke. The before you enter, you must wade into and through a wading pond to clean your feet. Photography is approved in ...

How nice to be on an air conditioned train for 3 hours just sitting back and relaxing reading the Times of India and eating the complementary food, all for just a couple of quid. Arrived in Amritsar in the absolute heat of the day and managed to find a rickshaw to the Golden Temple. It was officially 50 degrees celsuis and even the locals looked desheveled, my poor guy had to stop twice for water on the 1.5 km ride. <br><br>At 2 I finally arrived ...

... numpties. You got the feeling they wanted to be helpful and it was sometimes reassuring to have them but they stopped us doing nearly everything we wanted to. The first night we were herded to a police compound in Dalbandin, Baluchistan where we slept on the roof under the stars and the prisoners around the courtyard watched us eating our meals, the police there were very nice. The next night we were escorted to our hotel in Quetta by a truck with a mounted ...

... driver took us with him to top his rickshaw up with petrol...<br style=""> <br style=""> <br><br>We arrived at the Golden Temple, or Harmandir Sahib, at about 8pm after slowly wandering there through the shops and things. We took off our shoes and deposited them in the... Shoe-deposit place... and headed into the temple. I'm not really sure how to describe it. The temple itself stands in the middle of a sacred lake, with a bridge heading from the edge inside. Around the ...

... about politics but when I asked where a restaurant was he seemed not to understand me.....<br><br>I vented on Barbara for a while and then thanked G-D that I have someone to vent with. We laughed it off as another dude approached us "hello HELLO!" I looked at the him and said "yes I know, I'm white! CRAZY."<br><br>Then we went back to the temple for the night ceremony which included fireworks that I heard but could not see... all was shanti shanti again.<br ...

... 8217; it had to be restored after being damaged by the army in 1984, when the Golden Temple was occupied by separatists wanting to create an independent Sikh state, ending with the army evicting them). Nearby shops outside the main complex also provide for weary, long-travelled pilgrims, while the whole extended campus is open to everyone without any checks in place at all. In, understandably, security-obsessed India generally, this liberalism comes as quite a ...

... down to sing and dance which was great fun to watch. And then, the got to take turns running down the street with an India flag. This was all the pre-gate closing fun. Once the official ceremony started, it was much more serious, with soldiers marching and kicking their legs really high. There was an MC who got the cheering going really loud, and we took turns in the different sections of the seating area to see how loud we could scream. But, many people were screaming over ...

... amongst them. Well, maybe one or two... The place has the feel of a football stadium in so far as it has massive crowds outside, you can't see any of the int**ior and th**e is only one main entrance. As I approached one of the rath** sev**e looking guards he shook his head at me. "Cov** your head" he said strictly. "Aaahh, yes" I Thought. This was mentioned ion the guidebook. I quickly ran to purchase a handk**chief from nearby and got a helpful man to ...

... Temple. We also visited Jallianwala Bach Park which marks a dark time with under British rule. Two thousand Indians were killed on 13th April 1919 under the orders of General Dyer. A peaceful protest was ...