Hotel Sita Niwas Amritsar

... India, customs is closing soon. So after drinking our tea, we race inside. The Pakistani officials run with us, stamping our passports, filling out the carnet the passage etc. Only 5 min. to get through the gate&#8230;.but it is too late. Even 10x please does not change the fact that we do nót have a diplomat passport and are too late to cross over to the Indian side. The only option is to stay at the border till the next morning. <br><br>Not planned, but our last ...

... snaps, unfortunately there was a breeze so the standard photo of golden building reflected in the pool was not perfect - too many ripples on the water!<br><br>Took a walk around the pool (the pool of immortality given nectar as it is known) to have a look at all the other buildings. The Harmandir (the golden building) is only one of many buildings in the complex.<br>I was still the only white person there so there was lots of curiosity and yes the ...

... at times but this really was.. but in all fairness the owner was friendly and its only a bed for the night.. <br><br>So when we had cooled down we ventured out again, found a guy offering to take us to the Attari border, which is where they have the famous closing of the border ceremony between India and Pakistan. Now this is a HUGE deal up there, there were literally thousands of people there cheering, dancing, waving flags, saluting.. all in preparation ...

... open border between India and Pakistan closes, and there is a big, elaborate, ridiculous ceremony that people go and watch. The border is such a tourist attraction that they have actually set up bleachers near the gate. And we had thought that with it being India's day of independence, today's ceremony would be an even bigger spectacle than usual. So we found some other people from the foreigner room who were going, created a large group for bargaining power, and found ...

... hatted soldiers to face off with each other for what seems like an eternithy. that may be on account of the swealtering heat, the pictures will tell that story when i eventually get them up.<br><br>from a spectator point of view, the ceremony is comparable to being on hill 16, except instead of shoutin at the ref, you're shoutin at another country!! haven't time to write more runnin outa money!!

... room. The process of doing this was unbelievably chaotic and the lines just to get to the window weren't fun. Once that was done you then needed to wash your feet in a filthy pool of water directly in front of the entrance that hundreds of others were using. There is no doubt in my mind that my feet came out of that water dirtier than when they went into it. <br><br>Once you enter the complex you find yourself in a massive high walled ...

... 45 minutes. Then the real ceremony began: on either side of the gate the soldiers march in different formations and kick their feet really really high-- our guidebook accuratley compares it to Monty Python's silly walks skit. One notable thing about this is that while the soldiers are marching, each country takes turns making everyone shout things out of nationalistic pride. On the India side there had to be at least 500 people, and they were all yelling at the top of their lungs ...

... br>I moved on to the Red Fort - a colossus built to the west of the Yamuna River by Emperor Shah Jehan. With a 2km circumference and wall heights between 18m and 33m, it's a huge &amp; impressive looking area. There's a 10m deep moat &amp; the original wooden drawbridges. Similar to that of Agra, it had a Diwan-I Am public audience hall, except this had a restored marble throne with inlaid precious stones. The Diwan-i-Khas private audience hall was beautiful, with ...

... book and this is broadcast around the temple complex by loudspeakers. ... 18th Today Janpal was feeling better, he was even able to eat a little breakfast. We went to the Punjab Border crossing with Pakistan, and saw the ceremony for the closing. It was quite the production. As the guide book describes it, "the guards kick so high it seems they will concuss themselves." There is much posturing, and there is even a ...

... in the night we would witness the ceremony of moving the book from the temple to a separate building on the edge of the lake in a chariot like structure, while worshipers crowded around (see pic). Most of our time inside the complex was actually spent posing for pictures and shaking hands. If one Indian started talking to us a crowd of 20 or 30 people would form to listen to whatever we were saying. The bolder Indians would come up for a hand ...