Grand Hotel Amritsar

... Anyway early evening decided to go back to see the Golden Temple at noght. The last night I was with the girl I went to the border with and she didn't wamt to hang around too long so had to go back.

And it was well worth it! All the buildings were lit up for Diwali and it looked beautiful. Every building was covered in lights. With them reflecting in the water in the pool it was pretty breath taking.
Amritsar, Punjab, India carole91

... was one of those rascal vans, you know the ones usually used for delivery drivers.. 8 of us got into this and hot a sweaty dont describe it... we were so SO hot in there... I think I lost my love handles!!


We got back to Amritsar by about 9.30pm and were pretty knackered so after a nights rest alongside the bed bugs..(yes they were there crawling around) we went to the temple the next day..

Its an amazing place, the temple sits in the middle of a huge pool ...

... unhappy with Hinduism and Islam, the two dominant religions of the region at the time, so he created Sikhism by combining aspects of both religions. Nowadays, Sikhs make up about 2% of India's religions.

On my second day in Armitsar I made my way to see The Golden Temple and got my first real introduction to just how severely crowded India can be. In order to enter the temple complex you have to remove and check your shoes at a massive ...

... Zindabad!" (long live India), and they sounded so psyched up and crazy. But on the Pakistan side it sounded like the guy who was leading the chant was having a hard time getting the same energy out of the substantially smaller crowd of Pakistani's, and there was of course no dance off happening on that side of the gate.

There's really not much else that can be said about Attari-- it's a small town that has been somewhat cursed by the burden of having this border closing ceremony ...

... crossing, it was like a local disco, followed by a pep rally complete with a crazy flag racing (yes racing) ceremony and then high kicks and group cheers led by a male cheerleader. Kinda the Indian version of Will Ferrel as Craig the cheerleader..." My name is Craig, I did drugs once.I am a spartan, so check me out! " Totally crazy. It was worth going, but I would not do it again...unless I could sit on the Pakistan side.

... for its strange border closing ceremony. Here lies the border with Pakistan, Wagah border, and what has become a popular spectacle and ceremony (so much so that seating areas have been built on both sides to accommodate all the visitors). I really don't know how to explain the ceremony other than being a spectacle of nationalism and pride, a seeming contest of machismo between two conflicting countries, yet performed ...

... takes it across the causeway to the Guru's bedroom, where it literally gets tucked in in a proper bed with great ceremony and locked in, only to be awoken and carried back into the temple around 6 am; a site you have to behold to believe and certainly bordering on the surreal in the perceptions of the uninitiated. Somewhat less unusual is the concept of the holy pudding that is offered to the pilgrims after worshipping in the temple. Altogether we had a marvelous time mingling ...