Grand Hotel Amritsar

... sign mentioning any of it. Missed tourist opportunity ;-))<br><br>So here we are in Pakistan, the country that so many people fear for at the moment, mostly because of all the negative media attention. Parents who will sleep worse, friends who think we are mad to drive through this country at all!<br><br>No Pakistani border check-point in sight for the first 87km (the official part will take place in Sust). We are driving on the famous Karakorum Highway (KKH)! And Frits ...

... trying to sleep on the trains as they're not exactly spacious or comfortable! The distance we covered is approximately the equivalent of Manchester to Moscow, nearly 2000 miles!<br> Arriving at 10pm meant we had to quickly find our hotel and then head out for some food, a couple of tasty curries (I had a Chicken Punjabi Dhaba special which was amazing!) later and we headed back to the hotel! The streets of Amritsar were eerily quiet ...

... unit on full blast, competing against the outside racket of traffic and oth** A/C units; I can hardly hear myself think nev** mind anything else.<br><br>Just as I wond** if its possible to have a hott**, loud** room a new sound em**ges. An annoying beep-beep-beep, that aft** some time I trace to a small unit hanging off the wall. Smoke detector possibly? Regardless I've had enough. I open the door to head down to reception to complain and a gentleman is stood looking at me. I ...

... the mistake of hiring one of these in Old Delhi after checking out the Jama Masjid, and we thought we'd never get on another one, but here we had been sucked into it. He started going up a hill to a bridge and we just said stop and got out. We had to convince him to just take the 50r and go instead of taking us the rest of the way. We got an auto rickshaw and, after some seriously poor navigation through some narrow alleyways, we made it to the hotel. <br><br>The whole purpose of our ...

... to a taxi driver and gotten an offer for RS$75 per person (return) to be driven there. I told them that I would be taking a much needed nap and asked them to please wake me up when they were ready to leave. Back at the dorm I lined my bed with my sheet and my pillow with my pillow case and lapsed into unconsciouness. Around 2:45 PM I woke up. The two English girls were back and said that they were just about to wake me up. We all got ready and went outside to find a taxi. We got a ...

... taken, cleaned and reissued in about the same time. Then we drank huge bowls of chai, all the fresh water we wanted, and wandered around til we were ready to leave. No hassle, no "baksheesh," just "Welcome. How can we help you? Enjoy!" Even outside the temple, free food was on offer and people everywhere were smiling, helping, and...well, just being civil. Totally not India. Did I mention we went twice?<br><br> As for the ...

... used by pilgrims for taking a spiritual dip and the square complex, an enclosure of all white and colonial styled buildings, with the lake and golden temple in the middle is possible the most peaceful place in all of India, a sacred place where silence is revered, no one tries to sell you anything, and pristine in cleanliness. Relaxing here is a breeze. In the afternoon, we headed out to Attari, a small border town ...