S.G. Resort Amritsar

... lining the path also discretely hid Bose speakers which were projecting the singers voices around.<br>Approaching the square temple itself (square to signify all faiths are welcome) lets you see the 100kg of gold leaf covering it and appreciate the detailed work. You cannot help but be impressed.<br>The two guards outside the temple were letting in groups of people at a time and once squeezed into the main room, along with the singers/musicians and the huge Adi ...

From Haridwar there is a direct train to Amritsar &#8211; about 7 hours, one way tickets $10. Amritsar is a highly recommend place with beautiful Golden &amp; Silver Temple &#8211; more about it on 'Timeless India'. The Golden Temple is a beautiful work of art and devotion and spending time in this peaceful complex is a precious experience. <br><br>I usually stayed at the Lucky Guest ...

India: sometimes I loved it and sometimes not. A few places I visited were simply medieval. I was surprised at how people are living high in the mountains with so little. I traveled through J and K (provinces Jammu and Kashmir). We were not far from the Chinese and Pakistan borders. We crossed some of the highest passes in the world. Six months of the year the roads are ...

... for some food and then went to bed. There was a lot of noise, both singing from the temple, which was fine, and anyway finished at about 11, and the most terrible traffic noise which was not fine and went on all night. But we were so tired we slept well anyway.<br><br>On Saturday it was Independence Day, although we weren't aware of much celebrations except possibly all the noise the previous night. But there were millions of people in the streets because of the ...

... br>Four priests inside the temple keep up a continuous chant from the Sikh holy book - <br>also many of volunteers (paid) chant continuously in small rooms around the temple.<br><br> Guru-Ka-Langar is free (donations are welcomed) community dining room- where people from all walks of life - regardless of caste, creed, nationality - sit side by side to share a meal prepare by volunteers in the communal kitchen. It's in most of gurudwars - Sikh temple. The ...

... m not sure if a lot of Westerners realize that Pakistan is in many ways Muslim India.)This partitioning, incidentally, was a disaster that cost hundreds of thousands of people their lives and displaced many more than that. It also created what must be the most bizarre border closing ceremony on the entire planet. It's no secret that India and Pakistan (both nuclear powers) hate each other. Bill Clinton once declared that border area the most dangerous in the world with mounting ...

... had seen the foreigner cash cows on the bus and immediately boarded the bus and made a beeline for us. The ticket master dude on the bus started yelling at the and telling them to get off (I imagine...as it was all in Hindi). When they wouldn't listen to him..l.he turned to us and said in English 'These men are bad men. Do not go with them'. We thanked him for his advice and told him that we wouldn't go anywhere with them. The two men exchanged murderous glares with the ticket ...

I was not even joking about this night bus from Bikner to Amritsar being the worst ride in the world. I am sure everybody has their own worst bus story, but let me tell you ours..............<br><br>With no time to shower after the heat of the desert and the rat excrement still firmly in place on our collective bodies, rushed out to the bus stand to catch a ride to Amritsar, home of the Golden Temple. Amritsar is also the ...

... Lahore museum and nearby art exhibition - the museum was fantastic with art, carvings, coins, stamps, weapons and artifacts including the famous starving Buddha statue that the boys I'd met in lumbini had encouraged me to see. The decorated Quarans were amazing with their beautiful calligraphy, I spent a couple of hours here and again had lots of people who wanted to talk and take photos. In a building nearby was an exhibition from a local art school and ...

... 3 was at lunch for the next 2 hours. Undeterred, tried agent 4, again several blocks away. This guy was efficient and his PC worked. However, when he looked up our train tickets (even when varying the dates /times etc) there were no tickets available. He said that these were booked up except for a small number of "tourist quota" tickets on these trains. He advised me to go up to the Golden Temple railway counter, which I did (another 15 minutes walk). I queued for ...