Mohan International Hotel Amritsar

... ornaments! On the outside and inside! I can imagine my van all done up like that one day. As I am taking pictures of one the trucks, the guy opens the door, so I can have a look inside. He even tries to tell me that I can ride with them, as they turn the car to fill up. So enthusiastically I jump in, not telling Mira, as I am it will only take 2 seconds….that is until I find out they are turning onto the road…with no intention to turn back. Oh oh! After ...

... Anyway early evening decided to go back to see the Golden Temple at noght. The last night I was with the girl I went to the border with and she didn't wamt to hang around too long so had to go back.<br><br>And it was well worth it! All the buildings were lit up for Diwali and it looked beautiful. Every building was covered in lights. With them reflecting in the water in the pool it was pretty breath taking.<br ...

... Now this is no small thing, thousands of people go to this, everyday!! its HUGE, its mental, bangra dancers, loads of people lined in stands dancing, singing, shouting, there is a special bit for us foreigners.. which is great position as we get to see it all.<br><br>The soilders line up and basically what can only be described as a John Cleese impression, they skip, kick and hop down the road to the Pakistan gate and throw their leg as high as either their balls or trouser ...

... drinking water, a washing machine, guards standing outside 24 hours a day, and a shower. But the best parts were that it was a way to bring the small number of foreigners who visit Amritsar into one place so it was so easy to meet people and it was totally FREE! A donation was recommended, but it was so cool to be in a place like this with luxuries such as a washing machine and have them not even demand money. Another really good feature was that it was right next door ...

... by some dedicated people praying. Eventually we arrive at the centre to see and hear sitar players playing some sikh music. IT was unfortunate we couldn't take any pics and we were being usher through very quickly too so didn't get to take it all in! Well worth the visit, our drivers really enjoyed themselves, stating the obvious as they have very little english... "Temple" "Gate" "Pakistan" "India" ... I'm not getting frustrated with them at ...

... of Indians killed by the British. My own little Vietnam. Now I und**stood why the local would make their fing**s into the shape of a gun and say "bang bang" ev**ytime I said "I'm English don't you know". I received a few funny looks from the Indians as I made my tour of duty. I ent**tained myself by returning their stares and giving them the Pet** Kay fing** as I scratched my nose. Indians do like to stare almost as much as they like to ask: your age, job and if you are married ...

... people to meet were the Sikhs who immediatly started explaining things to us about the complex, and who would ask us to take pictures with their families afterwards. From everyone there was an immense pride of religion that seems so uncommon sometimes back home. <br><br>When the sun set the Temple went into the process of it's nightly ritual. In Sikhism there is a line of 10 human gurus who all appointed one another before their deaths, but the 10th guru appointed the Guru Granth Sahib ...

My arrival in Delhi was a fairly dramatic affair as I made my way to what I thought would be a reasonable room to rent. The Lonely Planet made no reference to the place being the disgustingly filthy place it turned out to be, with really smelly odours and no windows in some of the rooms. The sheets hadn't been changed for weeks and the bathrooms were appalling. What was of more surprise was how many backpackers were staying in them!! I toured and viewed the rooms of ...

... Mommy went right to bed and felt much better the next morning. Aunty has three houses. One in Amritsar, one is Punjvard (the one we stayed at and the one she winters in) and one in Delhi, where she spends her summers. The house in Punjvard is a former Misal house (there were twelve total,) which means the owner (our great uncle's grandfather) was appointed by Maharaja Ranjit Singh to govern the area. Janpal; Amritsar ...

... a young Indian's journey to Toronto, it seemed quite fitting as we will be moving to Ontario after our trip...hopefully ours trip is less challenging than his (update: Arik finished the book and loved it!). On the train we shared our bench with another Canadian backpacker who is also a Photo Journalist for the Province news paper in Vancouver, small world eh? Our 2nd class ticket cost a beautiful $2.50 and for the next 7 hours we watched India ...