India - Kasauli to Amritsar

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DAY 8 16th January 2011
Breakfast was also a fiasco but we did eventually manage to get two bowls of cornflakes and some toast!! Anyway that was by the by because the sun was shining and it looked like it was going to be a lovely day! Views of the mountains before we got down to the plains and then a fairly uneventful journey towards Amritsar. We crossed the border into Punjab state, Rojan, our driver paying his taxes to a man in this little hole in a wall on the main road! There are a lot more Sikhs in the towns and on bikes etc and as it was the Sikhs New Year yesterday there were some huge family gatherings and everyone was out in there Sunday sari’s! We stopped for some lunch at a typically Indian bar and had some Dahr – managed a few mouthfuls – not too bad!!!
Had an unfortunate incident with a Sikh policeman who pulled Rojan over, taking his papers from him, saying he had jumped some lights and he had to pull over 50 yards down the road and then go and see him – which left us in the car hoping he would come back soon!! After about 5 minutes he came back but had been fined 300 rupees ( about £4.50 ) so he wasn’t too happy until we said we would pay his fine for him!!
Reached Amritsar about 16.00, lovely hotel, and we had a whole suite to ourselves! Luxury at last ( except if you wanted a heater you had to pay extra!!) We wanted to see the Golden temple at dusk so the hotel Receptionist arranged a taxi for us.
Wow! The pictures and photographs do not prepare you for actually seeing the Golden temple! We had to take off our shoes and socks and Chris donned an orange headscarf ( I already had my head covered – (thanks Laura and Richard for xmas prezzy) walk through a foot bath and then wash our hands before we could enter the Golden temple complex! It was completely amazing – much bigger than I expected and looked stunningly beautiful especially in the evening light. Prayers were being chanted and we walked around the whole square, which probably took about half an hour, before walking past the chanting holy men and then queuing up to enter the actual Golden Temple. Inside is very colourful, with various men sat around and raking (literally!) all the money that everyone was giving them!
Anyway, after a long day we then went back to the hotel and had a meal – another Indian meal – I had Dum Aloo – spicy sauce but if you scaped the sauce off it was actually a potato inside stuffed with some nuts and was quite edible! Chris enjoyed Chicken Boti Rara Masala – pretty spicy but I ate two bits of chicken after scraping sauce off!! Roti was nice!

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Photos

Juice stop on the way
Our driver bought us some fresh orange juice!

Comments

[tracie]

Wow
you always knew it would be wonderful, but in the evening light it looked like it was glowing! How beautiful! You must have lost loads of weight already - make sure you eat enough- even if it is just rosti!

[Laura Holbrook]

Can't see your Day 7 entry - is that the day of rest lol? The Golden Temple looks and sounds truly magnificent and good to hear the hotel is of a good standard!!