Enter the HEAT

  Amritsar, Punjab, India
Thursday, May 14, 2009

A very slow and chilly bus ride + 4 hour train brought us to Amritsar and my one and only stop in the state of Punjab.

I love how every place I go is so completely different from the last.

Amritsar is Sikh town, mostly famous for its Golden Temple which is the holiest site for Sikhs. It's like Mecca where Sikhs must come to at least once in their life.

We arrived here early in the morning and after doing the usual hunt for a place to sleep, rested and had a quick bite, we went to the temple just in time for sunset. The Golden Temple is, as expected, covered completely in gold and stands in the center of a holy "nectar" pool where there are many fish. The Sikhs were very welcoming, everyone smiles and says hello. We sat on the marble floor in front of the pool, listening to the soothing prayer songs that were amplified throughout the complex. I thought it was a recording but there's actually a dude inside singing it...actually there's a "band" in there and I think they may take turns. They all had very beautiful voices and it was so lovely to just sit there and watch the people go by, see them bathe in the water, bow on their knees in front of the temple, or just stare at the temple as the sun set. Very peaceful.

The Golden Temple movie

The man and the temple

The bird and temple

Temple at night

(Hey Leanne, I finally got to see a Golden Temple! not in Kyoto but still!)

The city itself is quite bustling. Everyone here is Sikh it seems so you see men in colourful turbans and women in even more colourful punjabi dresses (a long tunic and baggy pants). The streets are much cleaner but there are hardly any stop lights so driving is a bit chaotic. No sidewalks. What does India have against sidewalks? Really, with the exception of Delhi, there hasn't been one place with a sidewalk. Actually Amritsar has the first traffic lights I've seen in over month but I digress....

Amristar city

There is no smoking anywhere in and around the streets of the temple so I'm forced to hide out in my room or find a corner around the bend to smoke in, like a criminal. Quite the contrast from Manali and Kasol where you can smoke pretty much anything, anywhere, anytime.

The 2nd night we went to the border closing ceremony. Amritsar is about 30km away from the Pakistani border and it is the only border between the two countries where you can enter and exit. Now it may sound strange...no actually, it IS quite strange, but every night at sundown, the border closes and they have this crazy ceremony. I'll do my best to describe it. It was just so much fun!


First, you arrive and they have bleacher seats, like full on as if in a football stadium. Men and women are separated and they have a VIP section for foreigners and VIP's which is where we sat. In front of the "stands" is like an aisle of sorts that runs from right to left, the Pakistani border was on the far left of everyone. I could also see the Pakistani's on the other side, sitting on their bleacher seats. When we arrived we see people running on the aisle with Indian flags.

The crowd at the border closing

 
Then the music starts. Like Bollywood music k? And all these women and children get down from the stands to the aisle and start dancing like it's a wedding for about 20 minutes. Seriously, like it's a wedding. After the music stops the MC (I call him MC because his job seems to be to get the crowd going) starts yelling "Hindustan!" and the crowd shouts back "ra! ra! ra!" or something. Then you hear the Pakistani's on the other side shouting something similar. This goes on for a while. Suddenly the soldiers start marching to the other side and when they get there they start stomping. And you see the Pakistani soldiers stomp back. The crowd goes wild! They're having a full on stomp-off if ever there was one. They stop. They continue. This goes on for a while and is so hilarious I couldn't help laughing.

The boy at the border closing ceremony

Then together the soldiers lower their respective flags and everyone goes home.

The border

I took video because I just cannot describe this madness properly but all I can say is that is was so fun and crazy that it was one of my favorite experience in India so far.

Border craziness

At the border

Yesterday was election day so most places where shut down. All I did was walk around a bit, rested in the afternoon and ate. Afternoon is always rest time because the temperature sits at a not so comfortable 40 something degrees.

After much discussion, Barbara and I decided to bite the bullet and go down to Rajastan, which is the most popular state for tourists. The debate was mostly about whether or not we could hadle the heat and we both agreed that Rajastan should not be missed and we can deal with the heat so we booked our 18 hour, no a/c, sleeper class (4th class with a bed) train ride down to Jaipur.

Man those travel agents....I had a bit of a breakdown. See, there are few tourists at this time so everyone stares, people always are calling you over to the shop, or rickshaw drivers offering a ride or just random people driving by or walking by "hello, hello, hello..." and everything is "no problem" when it is, in fact, a BIG F$$^&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: "When you want to go? Sunday?"

Me : "Thursday"

Him: "There are trains Thursday, Sat, Sun"



GAAAAAA!!! I turned and looked at the ladies beside me, wrapped my hands around the pole in front of me and pretended to bang my head on it. They giggled. It made me feel better to entertain cause othewise I would have freaked on that guy.

We left and I booked it elsewhere with a guy who was able to have a 30 min discussion with me in english about politics but when I asked where a restaurant was he seemed not to understand me.....

I vented on Barbara for a while and then thanked G-D that I have someone to vent with. We laughed it off as another dude approached us "hello HELLO!" I looked at the him and said "yes I know, I'm white! CRAZY."

Then we went back to the temple for the night ceremony which included fireworks that I heard but could not see... all was shanti shanti again.

Golden Temple at night

Last temple pic!

Temple at night

Traveling is fun, no doubt but it does get difficult at times. Especially in developing countries where you stick out like a sore thumb. Sometimes, it gets too much and you have a little breakdown and then you get over it, or at least I do, quite quickly.....the sweet just ain't as sweet without the sour.



I'm heading now to catch my 18 hour no a/c train to the pink city of Jaipur, gonna see some palaces and stuff. Yay! I'm really excited!