Hotel City Heart Amritsar

... going strong&#8230;fuming a bit of black smoke, but going uphill easy peasy. I am very proud and happy about this. See&#8230;this LDV is not a bad car at all ;-))<br><br>The KKH is a High (altitude) Way, but unlike the name it has no resemblance to a highway as we know it! The road has been build between 1963 -1978, and is now again under construction by China. It is more like holes with a bit of road&#8230;and the further we go the worse it gets! Now it is not the ...

... this was because of a National Holiday in India called Diwali (the festival of lights). Of course being on the train for the past two days we completely missed all the festivities, typical!<br> Our first night sleep was a terrible one, we endured much fun in the night with the local mosquito's! Quickly setting up our mosquito net didn't help either, they found their way in somehow and were buzzing around our heads as they were ...

... was that all the luggage room under the bottom bed had already been taken, so I had to throw my backpack and everything else I was carrying into my bed to stay with me for the ten hour ride. This made it quite cramped for someone as tall I am, not mentioning the fact that there is only about three feet between the bed and the ceiling, making sitting up impossible. I threw all my stuff against the wall and just used it as a very large pillow. Attendants on the AC cars ...

... Bite, with rice, butter naan, pappad, veg curry, dhal, paneer curry, raita, and curd in rosewater syrup for pudding. It cost about 1.25 each.<br><br>This morning we went back to the same place for breakfast, and we had some porridge with honey, carrots, beans and cauliflower. We are always amazed because most westerners we see here eat sandwiches all the time, while the local food is really good, much cheaper, and probably much safer as it is all cooked fresh.<br ...

... surprised, he looked bemused. That's fortunate I think-no need to go and get someone, but its no coincidence. He explains that the buzzing I have been hearing is the door bell. The door bell he has been pressing for the last 5 minutes. My room is that loud a simple knock will not suffice. Makes me laugh. He has come to tell me not to turn the hot wat** switch on that is conveniently next to the light switch; that I have accidentally been pressing. This ov**loads the pow** of the ...

... to Amritsar was to see the Golden Temple, probably the most sacred place in the world to the Sikh religion. Most people in the US have never even heard of it and I only know a few people who know any serious details about the belief This makes being an American in Amritsar very, very peculiar because how can we every actually comprehend what this place means to the average pilgrims who come here (tens of thousands daily)? We definatly don't have anywhere in the States or in the cultural ...

... named Latti for the rate of RS$75 (return). There were 4 of us. We needed 3 more to make 7. I said that since I needed to go back to the dorm to get some money that I would ask around to see if there were others who wanted to go to the border ceremony. I did. I found these two women. I took them back to the cab and we still ended up having to wait until Latti found a 7th person for our cab. We were finally off. About 1.5 hours later we arrived at the border. We had to walk for ...

... 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 ...

... on the water in the holy pool. Hundreds of Sikhs walk the route around the edge of the pool on cool, white marble floors, shaded from the intensity of the sun by the white buildings forming the outer limit of the complex. Some bathe in the holy water, others bow down to kiss the ground, yet others sit reading Sikh scriptures. The most striking are the older, extreme orthodox Sikhs in their dark ...