Hotel Lawrence Amritsar

... be another small room with a priest. Walked back down and followed people to the back of the mandir to drink from the lake water. Had a small amount trying to push thoughts of diarrhoea to the back of my mind. This is holy water after all!<br>Made my way back out and sat around the lake for a while. It wasn't long before a local guy started talking to me in Hindi about all sorts starting with my camera, it's cost, how many pictures I could take and then telling me ...

... have seen. We attended an all day festival in a monestary where monks of all ages danced and played music.<br> One of the highlights for me was visiting Dharamsala and seeing where the Dahai Lama teaches and lives.<br> Our last stop was Amritsar which is the Sikh's holiest city. We visited The Golden Temple where all the pilgrims visiting that day (and every day) were fed ...

... our tickets we went for an iced coffee to celebrate in a western style coffee shop called Cafe Coffee Day, but the coffee was overpriced and oversweet, and it was full of miserable looking westerners, so we won't be going back in a hurry.<br><br>We had a fairly relaxing day, and then took a tuktuk to the new town to try a restaurant called Surjit. There is no meat allowed around the Golden Temple, so we hadn't in fact eaten meat since Delhi. At this restaurant, which ...

... but worth seeing. Things and events have as much value as we give to them. - that's what was in my mind all the time during the ceremony. Ceremony times are 5am and 9.15pm in winter, and 4.30am and 10.15pm in summer. <br><br>It's worth seeing the temple at different times of day and worth sitting for some time to observe<br>different activity and prayers. <br><br>Not much known for tourists but also worth seeing is a Silver Temple, Sri Durgiana ...

... city about an hour away. On the bus ride there we were befriended by a really nice Indian who spoke almost perfect English and since we were running so late (as usual) he helped us out a bunch and told us there was actually a stop before the bus station that was closer to the train station. I'm not sure we would have made it there in time if he hadn't told us, and we were really thankful for this cultural kindness that always seems to show itself when we need it. <br><br>The train ...

... us and we did not want their business. He immediately took care of him. At the rickshaw stand we asked how much to the Golden Temple. A few of them jumped in and said RS$60. Our gentlemen police officer informed them that we would be paying R$40 (for all of us) and nothing more. Ahhh, I was in love with Amritsar already! We had to be dropped off about 5 minutes (on foot) from the temple because they did not allow rickshaws there. We walked...in the scorching heat to the Golden ...

... earlier, the U.S. promised over 600 million in financial aid Pakistan to help the war effort, a number they would triple within 72 hours. So, as we boreded our bus, we were mildly concerned with personal safety/judgment of two blatantly obvious American tourists and their kiwi buddy. Then we noticed something--Nearly a dozen of the men boarding the bus were Sikh soldiers. They were not in uniform, but the baggage (mostly camo ...

Welcome to Punjab - land of the Sikhs! Not so much sightseeing as reacquainting myself and introducing Rajiv to family. The last time I visited India was 14 years ago and I haven't seen some of my relatives for 25 years, so a lot of catching up to do. Rajiv got a taste of village life in India, with a real working farm. The five days in Punjab was also a bit of an overload of Punjabi speaking relatives for Rajiv. Some of my relatives spoke English ...

... our tickets in an instant. We therefore decided to avoid all this hassle and booked all of our train tickets for the next month at this counter. (the distances we would be travelling in North India were so far that bus travel was not an option). What a fantastic feeling it was to come away from the counter with all our tickets in hand. Without this context it is ***********vey what a relief that was !! [read the next "booking a train in india" blog entry from pushkar !]

I've become used to the entertaining Indian road signs urging caution and careful driving ("Better Mr. Late than late Mr."; "Drive like Hell and you will arrive there!"; and my personal favourite, "Be gentle on my curves!") but "Beware shooting stones!" was a new one to me...<br><br><br><br>Tensions were rising in Srinagar and there had been a bomb blast days before, so it seemed wise to leave town ...