Grand Lilly Resorts Jalandhar

... by devoted Sikhs, after invoking the blessings of the Almighty, fearlessly rode the horses into the swollen stream with sparkling swords in their hands. In the chaos two younger sons of the Guru along with their grandmother, got separated. At this holy spot magnificent Gurudwara Parivar Vichhora, was built by grateful devotees of the great Guru. we stayed here for 15-20 minuts and then we started again our journey for Gurudwara Bhatha Sahib ...

Tonight we went to Havelli's restaurant. Here you pay 150 rupees to see a dance show, monkey show, a magician, ride a camel and eat for a four course dinner. So at £2 that's more than value for money and i'll certainly be going back ...

... course it turned out to be my brother and his friend, along with another french guy! Such a coincidence cos just happened to walk past them at the right time! We didn't stay long though cos had a bus to catch- a great 7 hour long bus which has brought us finally to Dharamsala. The bus was so so hot and pretty uncomfortable and crammed full of people, mainly backpackers like us but was ridiculously cheap at about 3 pounds between the 2 of us! So next stop: Dharamsala.

... 30 minutes trying to get a copy of the confirmation printed from a USB stick, we eventually came back to the photo studio and he sorted it out. I faxed off the copy, I really hope they get the booking sorted for the 6th, I need to get out of here now! We came back to Pind around 6pm and I went straight to bed. I forgot to go to the bank, but to be honest I wasn't really up to it.

... vid), it should be complete by Monday, that means I can settle up with Ismail and get out of here. There is one last thing I would like to do before I leave. Years ago we used to have our grandfathers name written above the front door to the house, I was taken down when we rebuilt the place over 15 years ago, I would like to put it back where it belongs. I'm going to see someone about it in Jalandhar on Monday. Once that's done, I will be ready to leave.

Day 199 Fri 26th May 2006 Things get too hot in Jalandhar I was up early today, after a pretty good night sleep. I took Auntie to the Guru Nanak Mission hospital this morning to get her eye's checked out. It's a charity run hospital and anyone who has been to or even drove through Jalandhar will know where it is. We reached the hospital at 9am and while auntie waited in the reception area I tried to find out how to get her checked out ...

Day 162 Wed 19th April 2006 The boy's go back to England. I spent most of last night putting more music onto my Powerbook, it was around 4am by the time I got to bed. Needless to say getting up this morning was a bit of a struggle. We had a lot to sort out today so we had no choice but to get up! We were all ready for around 11am. Gagan had come down from Pind to help out with all of the luggage, so after breakfast we went to the first port of call ...

... it apparently takes 4 people to do any job. People hover over you continuously. Waiting to put more food on your plate or refill an empty glass. They also have a hard time reconciling the word NO, no more please etc.... Conversations were very rarely done in English and everything it seemed had to be translated, but not all I'm sure. By the time we made it back in the evenings, I was dead on my feet and praying for more variety than what appeared would be the ...

Amritsar was marvellous. The atmosphere at The Golden Temple, the holiest of places for the Sikh religion, was a very magical place. Walking around, sitting, watching people pray, bathe in the 'lake'...it felt like a sacred spot. And Sikhs are so very kind! Their religion was born in reaction against the caste system, so I respect that a lot. While much of Amritsar is another dusty Indian city, there was something unique and special here, and I am so glad I went.

... the hell he was talking about, he explained very briefly that there's some kind of "mafia" amongst the local taxi drivers, who will organise the abovementioned activities should a customer wish to partake. It's sickening, and of course the increase of tourism here must be at least partly responsible. Also interesting are cultural differences between this Tibetan community and Hindu India, the most notable to me being that nearly all establishments here are run ...