So everywhere in India, people have wanted to take our photo, but its totally mental here in Amritsar. Walking around the temple and in the halls around the outskirts everyone wants a photo with us, i seriously feel a bit like Britney!!! Even if they don’t have a camera, they ask us to take a photo on our camera. We must have had 100 photos taken over the last two days. It’s crazy, but i kinda like my celebrity status!!
We arrived in Amritsar at 8.30am on Saturday morning after getting the night train from Delhi. We got on the wrong train at first, travelled for two hours then got kicked off at 11pm in the middle of nowhere and had to wait for our booked train, it was not fun.
The main and only real attraction here is the Golden Temple, known as the Sikh’s holiest shrine. It is so beautiful! The temple is in the middle of a huge pool, and thousands of people come to see it everyday. We arrived the day after Diwali, so i think its even busier at the moment than it would normally be.
The Golden Temple
We’re staying in the temple in the dorms which are a bit shabby, but its free, and its nice to stay with other travelers as when we’re in guest houses we don’t get to meet as many people. We did get quite a few bites last night though.
Our Bedroom
Each evening they have prayers and its crazy to see all the thousands of people sat around the marble walkway around the pool and the temple chanting and praying. It was quite magical last night sitting there with them, as the temple is lit up with fairy lights.
Anyone can stay in the temple for free, and outside our dorm room there is a huge hall where hundreds of Sadhu’s (not sure how to spell it) sleep. These are mainly old people who apparently devote there life to god, have no homes or belongings and simply travel around the country to the religious temples and festivals. They all keep chatting to us even though they don’t speak English and we have no idea what they’re saying.
Sadhus
Chillin
Today, after a nightmare trying to get a taxi (the driver wouldn’t leave without 10 people in his 6 seater taxi, me and Gilles had to share the front seat) we went to the Boarder closing ceremony in Attarri, between India and Pakistan. As with everything in India, it was totally mental, there were hundreds of Indians there with flags and banners and Pakistani’s on the other side. The guards on both the Indian and Pakistan sides of the gates both march around for a while and the ceremony ends with them handing over flags to each other (i think. we couldnt see that much, even though we had VIP seats, everyone was pushing so much.) Our Taxi got a puncture on the way home, and after the driver chnaged the tyre, we wobbled all the way back. Every road journey here, is like a lif4e threatening experience, but we made it back in one piece.
Boarder Ceremony
Were up in the morning at 5am to get the train back to Delhi and then connecting to Jaipur, so my this time tomorrow we’ll be in Rajasthan, i cant wait, it’s meant to be one of the best states to travel round.
Lots of Love to Ya’ll xxxxx