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Published: July 20th 2008
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After a big sleep I get up to another cold shower.. Eee! I have to wash my hair as well... Have you tried washing your hair in cold water... Its alright for all you baldy fellas - no hair to wash the rest of us - maaaaan! 😊
Ive still got that stupid headache that I got when we 1st arrived here. It wont go away - DK reckons its the lack of caffeine. Eat breakfast - toast & jam for me - some egg thing for DK - dont know what it was but it didnt look nice...
We are staying at the back of the temple complex but cant actually see anything so we decIde to go for a walk around to see if we can find it. Yep we find it ok literally a couple of minutes away.
DK has wanted to see this since he was a kid so hes really looking forward to it. Here goes...
Straight away it has a nice feel to it,it doesnt seem manic - although to be honest Im finding Amritsar as a whole to be like that. Dont know what it is but its a nice atmosphere. As we walk
up to the entrance there it is ***THE GOLDEN TEMPLE*** Its smaller than I expected but impressive none the less. As you go in you have to give your shoes and sox to a little cloakroom type affair, walk through a water bath and cover your head before you are allowed in. I had my scarf, DK oblivious to whats going on around him tries to walk into the Temple grounds - some poor man running after him because he hasnt got his head covered - Hee - so he ends up with a nice orange scarf. Walking round the tank (water) we get a fair bit of attention ourselves - smiling and saying hello always helps 😊
The woman are so beautiful - they love their jewellery and make up. The men are still in the 70's...
Its full of Sikhs - obviously as this is their holiest temple. Im finding it all very peaceful. We get to the causeway to go to the Temple itself and decide not to go in - the queue is massive - even by our standards and you know how us Brits love a queue! Not sure if we would have been allowed
in anyway? We sit for a while watching the world go by.An old man comes and sits by us and gives us some food... I have no i what it is. DK eats his. I dont! I cant! (he tells me later it tastes like apple pie - but i dont believe him)The man was very nice anyway despite giving us awful food - he sits and chats with us for a while - his wife is at home but he introduces us to his daughter , granddaughter and great grandson...
After a while we move on and chat to a man from Canada (via Southall)his family live near Amritsar so he is on holiday here also.
Get round the rest of the temple without much happenning, I give a donation and get a bag of sugar crystals - whats that about. I tell DK they are diamonds but I dont think he believes me! We are surprised at the amount of men here who carry daggers but Im informed that it is part of their heritage as they are warriors. I cannot tell you how friendly the people are - its something special.
As we are leaving the temple
we can here a really loud banging noise - it turns out to be metal trays - anyone can go and eat free at the temple... I like that idea. We dont eat as we dont have long here so we want to see as much as possible. Have a look round the streets near the Temple - its ok actually - no hassle - no one asking for money.
We arrange for a taxi to take us to the border for the closing. Get the taxi with another 8 people so its a ittle squashed! 2 french people in the front - 4 Indians in the middle - us and 2 Austrians at the back. Our seats are facing each other which is unfortunate really as they are soo tall they take up lots of room 😊
I enjoyed the ride through the little villages and towns it reminded me of the roads to Sarnath near Varanasi.
Finally get to the border - there is a whole palava of actually getting to see the ceremony. You have to go through a couple of sets of gates and then this soldier who has just been given a whistle stands blowing it at you so everyone will stand in line - surprisingly enough nearly everyone does - Hee.
Get to the seats - woman can sit in the mens area but men cannot sit in the womans area.The men have like no room at all the woman have loads. I decide to go into the womans area and sit down - a group of woman come sit with me which is nice. I turn to see if I can see DK but no chance. The man all start chanting Hindustan!Hindustan! and on the other side of the border the men are chanting Pakistan!Pakistan!. They take it very serious I think it is just an excuse for the man to all puff their chests out and be macho.
Moving on - The ceremony starts with a man getting the crowd all giddy - MC Border I called him. Then 4 soldiers come out and start marching up and down, then another 2, MC Border gives one of the soldiers a mic - he starts screaming into it - the crowd goes wild!!!Everyone is very pleased about whats happening (my new friends told me) so after about 20 minutes of this shouting malarkey both sides start to take the flags down. They are folded up and taken back into the barracks. AND THAT IS IT! Totally bizarre.. I have no idea what that was about but hey! good fun!
Back at the taxi everyone agrees that it was daft.
Cant believe it - its started raining. Thought we had left this behind. Its cold as well. Get back to Amritsar and go for our first curry - Woohoo!!! We go to NEW PUNJABI RASOI I have guess what - yep - dahl, rice, naan. DK has jalfrazi, veg biryani and garlic naan Oh and I have ice-cream. Food was good - really enjoyed it. With a couple bottles water it comes to the grand total of 275rps! We go and get some snacks for tomorrow - Its going to be a long day!!!
And I still have a headache...
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