Beak's at the Border

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Well we had our bathe in the Ganges - rather pleasant and then got an overnight train to Amritsar which was also quite pleasant. Just slept really...

Checked into a hotel near The Golden Temple and then had a wander around the temple. Pretty impressive and we even had some free curry and chapati's too. Sat on the floor in this massive dining hall which was pretty cool. (didn't have to wash up either!)

We had to keep going back to the hotel for water as amazingly the only day we have in Amritsar and there's a blooming strike on! All the shops were closed. It was strangely quiet for a change.

After the alcoholic dryness of Haridwar we were on a serious quest for Kingfisher. There was no booze in the temple area and the strike certainly didn't help matters and so our mission hit new lows (or highs...). A helpful hotel owner arranged a cycle rickshaw for us to hunt down shops that would illegaly sell us booze! We found one with a load of blokes hanging around and after a few knowing nods and winks we were the proud owners of 2 cold bottles - cool! We had to drink them on the street, keeping them out of sight of police and the Akal Takht priests (they get everywhere!). We sat with our knew friends, quite scared and surrounded by thousands of flies but we had beer and that's all that mattered...

We had arranged a shared taxi/jeep for the evening to take us to the India/Pakistan border (about 30kms away) where they have a flamboyant gate closing ceremony everyday. They managed to cram 11 adults and 3 children into a smallish jeep thing so in hindsight we should have paid the extra and got a cab - it wasn't much fun especially with no aircon. We arrived a bit early and so had time for a cheeky couple of cans. Only the strong Kingfisher was available but we struggled through - no glasses so we had straws - classy! The border ceremony was good fun and we were told to sit in the vip area which gave us a better view and more room.

Upon our return we managed to find a hotel that sold draught Kingfisher so for a change we had some. Then it was off to beddy-bys for another early start back to Delhi.

And we've had word from Bikaner - the camels are ok after having our sweaty, hairy arses on their humps...

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Photos

Cheeky beer
Even though all the shops were closed due to a strike, we still managed to procure some booze!

Pakistan/Indian border
The daily ceremony at the border - lots of chanting kind-hearted abuse!