M.K.Hotel Amritsar

Dec 28th: Reached Amritsar early morning on the 28th and caught hold of a 10 seater rickshaw and a decent hotel to board ourselves. We set off on our journey around Amritsar which started with a shopping spree. Most of us brought sweaters for our relatives. We went onto visit a few temples, like the Ram Tirath, Vaishno mata ( lal devi temple), Durghiana Tirath and then headed towards Wagah border. The wagah border was just so packed that it was on the verge of a stampede and ...

... I think it was some 6 meters. It was also kind of on the roof, so it felt fine there. <br>LP recommended on some restaurants not that far, and I went out, looking for this. Numerous rickshas were stopping by asking if I'd like to go to Golden Temple. I didn't feel well coming in a ricksha with 50 years old driver, it's rather embarrassing, isn't it? The restaurant wasn't found immediatly - the distances are much bigger than those I used to in the small ...

... was and should be.<br>After a while left the golden temple and made way to the site of the massacre of many Indians by the British - yes yet again the colonials were at there worst. Peaceful demo which was brutally ended by the brits firing on the crowd. Not known how many people were killed but probably a few thousand.Very disturbing to see the very deep well where people jumped in to try and save themselves. Yet again history where the britis ...

... 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. <br><br>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 ...

... the water for a minute, and then had one of the bathers snap a photo of me with the shining temple in the background. It was at this moment that it occurred to me there were no other foreigners (obvious Westerners, at least) to be seen. Just me and hundreds upon hundreds of Indians. Several times while making the rounds of the big pool I was asked by quite a few people to join them in a photo. Sometimes, that sort of thing can get annoying ...

... persistant and refuse to take no for an answer. <br><br>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 ...

... buildings, along with elegant huge fountains &amp; Persian-style gardens. I tried to imagine the splendour of it all - it wasn't difficult as so much is still here. <br><br>I moved on to the Jama Masjid - another construction by Shah Jehan and the largest mosque in India, but I wasn't impressed at all. A huge local market takes place in the grounds below the stairs, obscuring much of the view. Having climbed the steps, they insist you pay a camera charge of 200 ...

... to the border with Pakistan. Lots of children and women, which was cool. Mommy said it was good for the Pakistani's to see free women. 19th Today Janpal was feeling MUCH better, so we went shopping. We all got, except Eric and Amiji, some Punjabi Juttis (shoes), which are really comfy and mold to your feet. Eric got a Stainless Steel tea set, and we saw Baba Budha Ji's Guruduara. Aunty Ranbir bought us our Juttis and ...