Hotel CJ International Amritsar

... through the temple So ended sitting there for a couple of hours which wasnt a problem as I was completely loving it. I took a few photos, a couple which I think will be pretty good. Also took some short video so that you could see the lights and everything better. They have sound so you can hear the chanting as well. I will attempt to upload them but not here as this computer is pretty slow!

Eventually ...

... with us, more than often just with me as I think I might find that Im being posted as a UK Bride on the net, we shall see... very weird though.. but funny too.

We didnt have long in the temple as we had to get our train but it was an amazing place just a shame that when you get out yet again the touts are on you like flies on **** but we were heading out of town again to Jaipur so we hoped that that would be better again..

Update on the train journey and Jaipur to come..

... inside the temple complex and have to cover your head, so we bought these orange bandanas on the street and headed in. My first impression was that the temple was much smaller than I had imagined it would be. It is on a big pool of water called the Amrit Sarovar ("the pool of nectar") and you are allowed to take pictures from the encircling walkway called the Parkarma, but not inside the temple itself. It did look really amazing though, with its shining gold (it is ...

... with a huge, square pool of water in it that takes up all but the edges of the courtyard. In the center of that pool sits the aptly named Golden Temple. It was just after mid-day and the sun was shining brightly causing the gold covered temple to gleam. Supposedly, the temple is gilded with over 750 kilograms of pure gold. It certainly looked it from where I was standing.

In addition to being impressed by the architecture, I also ...

... the Grand Hotel, close to the Railway station.This relaxing garden hotel has been functionning since 1952, and has a very nice pub with Kingfisher draft.
Late afternoon people are heading to Attari, on the Indian-Pakistani border to attend the colourful border ceremony.Its so much fun to see the border guards in their nice uniforms, and to watch the Indian visitors ...

... persistant and refuse to take no for an answer.

Aside from all this, the only other thing we did with our three days in Amritsar was a visit to the Mata Temple, a Hindu "cave" temple which venerated a 20th century female Indian who worked for social rights. Once again our expectations were shattered: it wasn't a real cave at all but something that is perhaps even cooler. I guess you could call it a manmade cave but I can't think of any other way to describe it. It was something ...

... him up on the offer but that night was the first of many that I grey very ill. On the second evening i went to a local doctor and we gave me some antibiotic and paracetemol for to take down the fever but by the next day i was getting worse and the headache was unbearable. we found a hospital in the Lonely PLanet and went straight there, they took blood tests and ruled out Malaria,typhoid and Dengue and with my white blood cell count derived i had an infection of some sort so gave me a ...

... dura (marble inlay work) flower designs, a silver ceiling (most removed by the Mughals) and fabulous designs on the arches, ceiling and walls. It used to be resplendent with a solid gold ceiling and a jeweled Peacock Throne, but the Persians nicked it in 1739.

There were amazing Royal Baths (hammams). Like other buildings, they were shut, but I was able to look thro' windows at the front and back & was blown away by what I saw. It was like going back ...

... you should go. Also, we chose the temple as our accommodation and paid 100 rupees ($2) for a private and simple room. Unknown to us, at night the courtyard of the area fills with hundreds of blankets and pilgrims basically covering every square inch of the ground to gain some sleep and respite from their potentially long pilgrimage. This makes the simple act of getting from the toilet to our room an act of balance ...

... respectively, before the gates are flung open and the guards on both sides march towards one another applying John Cleese's silly walks to perfection and grimacing at one another in clear defiance. This goes on for some time, one guard at a time making the journey, psyched up by the football-crowd atmosphere until the flags are lowered in sync. Then an amiable handshake between the head guard on both sides concludes the ordeal with the gates slammed shut and the flags whisked ...