Sita Continental Hotel Amritsar

... long live Hindustan!" the soldiers take the field and the main border closing ceremony begins. Extravagantly uniformed soldiers from both sides matching in a very exaggerated fashion, great high kicks, thumping their chest - all in a display of coordinated machismo aimed across the border. It is a very bizarre sight, part comic opera, part political rally and not a little camp ...

... the mandir and talking about religion in general. He made me take a picture of himself and then got someone to take both of us.
I said my goodbyes after a while and walked to the exit passing the old gnarled Beri tree which was planted around 450 years ago by the temples first high priest and is believed to have special powers.
After getting my bag and shoes, I headed back to the hotel, chilled in my room watching TV and ordered an ice cream before heading to bed.

From Haridwar there is a direct train to Amritsar – about 7 hours, one way tickets $10. Amritsar is a highly recommend place with beautiful Golden & Silver Temple – 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.

I usually stayed at the Lucky Guest ...

... checked our shoes, acquired head covering and entered the main location of the Sikh religion. It is a beautiful palace and the lake and inner courtyard are amazing. As we were in awe at the spectacle, and a young Indian boy approaches us...I assume that he will ask if we want a tour or what we think of the palace...but I was wrong.

He asked ...

... 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.

Once you enter the complex you find yourself in a massive high walled ...

... of the complex, there are various rooms where you are allowed to sleep for three nights for free, and there is a dining hall where you are allowed free food and water any time of day any time of year. They have stalls depositing bowls of water (triple filtered, so we felt confident drinking it) and there are always people kneeling in prayer facing the temple. There are also areas in which there are people bathing. Culturally, the temple is the most significant place of ...

... Zindabad!" (long live India), and they sounded so psyched up and crazy. But on the Pakistan side it sounded like the guy who was leading the chant was having a hard time getting the same energy out of the substantially smaller crowd of Pakistani's, and there was of course no dance off happening on that side of the gate.

There's really not much else that can be said about Attari-- it's a small town that has been somewhat cursed by the burden of having this border closing ceremony ...

... amp;N problem!

Case in point, at the travel agent yesterday, I'm trying to figure out which city would be best to go to. Now, I myself am a travel agent (or was) so I'm trying to be patient. Keep in mind that this guy does actually speak english.

Me: "How long does it take to get there?"

Him: "It's 1000km away"

Me: "How LONG does it take to get there?"

or

Me: "What time does the train leave on Thursday?"

Him ...

... dura (marble inlay work) flower designs, a silver ceiling (most removed by the Mughals) and fabulous designs on the arches, ceiling and walls. It used to be resplendent with a solid gold ceiling and a jeweled Peacock Throne, but the Persians nicked it in 1739.

There were amazing Royal Baths (hammams). Like other buildings, they were shut, but I was able to look thro' windows at the front and back & was blown away by what I saw. It was like going back ...

... for its strange border closing ceremony. Here lies the border with Pakistan, Wagah border, and what has become a popular spectacle and ceremony (so much so that seating areas have been built on both sides to accommodate all the visitors). I really don't know how to explain the ceremony other than being a spectacle of nationalism and pride, a seeming contest of machismo between two conflicting countries, yet performed ...