Hotel P.R. Residency Amritsar

... for photos started!
Decided to join the queue for the visit to the sacred book which is housed in the golden building - they reckon the roof has around 100kgs of gold (wouldn't be a Carole blog without these kind of details would it!) Didn't take too long to reach the building but it was very peaceful standing there listening to the singing and the people joining in, standing inline with their offerings. The book is on a throne in a room decorated ...

... we should have stands and bangra dancers in London, would make it so much more interesting.. Oh and the mighty tashes would be a sight to see too.

After such a comical night we got back to our hostel by about 9.30pm after the van carrying 8 of us but is in fact one of those rascal vans, you know the really small delivery things.. was a bit sweaty to say the least..note - health and safety doesnt exist in India! Neither do white lines on the roads ...

... along the narrow road, so we had to hustle to see the already-started ceremony. As we got close, rain started to pour down, and I was glad I had brought my poncho. At the border, there were so many people, and it was the first time I had seen such a mass gathering of Indians that was not a market or anything like that. It was really difficult to see over all the bodies in the way, and the rain did not help. We had somehow made a little bit of progress to the front on ...

... mismoodi nad seda teevad ja kuhu juuksed pannakse.
Minu ümber koguneb järjest rohkem noormehi, kes küll nime küsimisest eriti palju rohkem inglise keelt ei oska. Paar tükki oma arust ka oskab, aga mina jälle nende indian englishist suurt midagi aru ei saa. Mööduva halli habemega sikhi pilk jääb minul pidama ja ta peab vajalikuks ennast minu juurde istuma seada ja pakkuda võimalust templi kohta küsimusi küsida. Väga kena iseenesest, aga ma olen templist päris palju lugenud ja ...

A very slow and chilly bus ride + 4 hour train brought us to Amritsar and my one and only stop in the state of Punjab.

I love how every place I go is so completely different from the last.

Amritsar is Sikh town, mostly famous for its Golden Temple which is the holiest site for Sikhs. It's like Mecca where Sikhs must come to at least once in their life.

We arrived here early in the morning and after doing the usual hunt for a place to sleep ...

... In fact, it was stressful enough to warrant a return to the McDonalds for a small ice cream!

The following day I walked to the New Delhi train station and booked up all my trains for the following week. Then I took the metro to Pragmati Magan, followed by a rickshaw to Humayans's Tomb. The second emperor in the Mughal empire here, his wife Haji Begum had it built in a display of early Mughal architecture. She herself, along with Humayan and 20 others ...

... I again pointed to where the seat was dirty. He looked a bit harder and apparently still didn't see anything. After I pointed it out to him several times he finally cleaned it himself. Ragga and I discussed this for a bit. Was he pretending not to see it? Or did he not see anything wrong with the fact that there was clearly someone else's fecal matter on the toilet seat?? Or, did he just really NOT see it? If you have ever been to India you will understand why this was a ...

... and ate good wholesome organic home-grown food. We went for a short walk around Aunty's orchard. They are growing pears and the little pear fruits were all over the branches. We were told they were peaches. We saw swarms of mosquitoes in the shade. No snakes. Mommy was worried she might see some, so she was stomping the ground a lot to warn them of our presence. Eric laughs at her when she does this. 17th. We went ...

... Armistar, we found a "good value" hotel in the old city, 50m from the birth place of the Sikh religion (The Golden temple, the holiest shrine to the Sikh religion and our main reason for visiting). We tucked into a small vegetarian restaurant for dinner and devoured a couple of tasty Thalis (set meals). After the meal we headed over to the temple for sunset. We took off our shoes, cleaned our feet, and covered our heads before entering, as is the ...

... transformed heaps of recycled junk and cement into a few acres of artwork. Rather than demolish everything the council recognised the collection's artistic value and granted Nek a regular salary and a small army of workers to extend his dream. The result of probably one of India's most effective recycling projects is now a world of passages, waterfalls and figures made of concrete, scrap metal and duvets, electrical sockets, bathroom tiles, bangles,etc. The photos speak for themselves.