Amritsar - The Golden Temple

---

Day 1 - Still in Old Delhi, we woke at 6am and headed for New Delhi train station for our 7:20am train to Amritsar. Here we met two lost souls (a young English couple) who were unable to purchase tickets to get them to the same destination as ourselves - the reason being that the ticket booth was not yet open and would not be until after the train had departed! We advised the couple to board the train without tickets and hope for the best, which turned out to be not a problem despite having to pay a little more than expected. Aboard the train we were delighted to find that we were provided with free chai and a delicious omelette breakfast accompanied by chips and peas! After six and a half hours travelling we finally rolled into Amritsar station, just 20km from the border with Pakistan. After agreeing a suitable price, we were taken by rickshaw to the mighty Golden Temple. Arriving at the Temple we went to check out the free pilgrimage accommodation - looking rather full an cramped we decided to give it a miss so instead headed out in search of a room, finding ourselves at Hotel Sher-e Punjab. Once checked in we headed to the Golden Temple, en route sending yet more wandering backpackers to our place (including the two lost souls from the train). Once within the Temple grounds, we were amazed at the the temple's architecture - a mixed blend of Hindu and Islamic styles with unique distinctions. The Golden Dome (said to be gilded with 750kg of pure gold) represents an inverted lotus flower - a symbol of Sikh devotees' aim to live a pure life. This Temple was the scene of violent Sikh-Hindu clashes in the 1980's before the Indian army intervened by massacring hundreds of Sikhs. We wandered the grounds for about an hour before heading back out in search of food and back to the room for some rest,. After chilling in the room for a few hours we headed back to see the glorious Palace at night. Once inside we were welcomed by a group of young girls who invited us to meet and sit with their family. After enjoying each others company for some time, despite the obvious language barrier, we headed over to the other side of the marble walkway where we sat and marveled at the Temple's wonder. As we sat and gazed across the lake towards the Palace the atmosphere was unearthly - from the sound of soft drumming and chanting to the thousands of pilgrims in prayer - It was as if time had stood still for that brief period in our lives, amazing!

Day 2 - With not much else to see in this town, we packed up, checked out and headed to the local bus station to catch a 7 hour government bus which was headed for our next destination - McLeod Ganj.

---