Blogs from Amritsar, Punjab, India, Asia

Our train from Delhi to Amritsar left on time, and it was cold and raining by the time we disembarked in Amritsar. We raced for shelter and Ginny minded the bags whilst I stepped out into the rain and tried to hail a taxi, they all seemed to disappear rather fast today. We wanted a car, not a rickshaw, but that's what we ended up in. A crazy damp ride into town followed and we were dropped at the end of a pedestrian mall, the driver pointing down the mall to where our hotel obviously was. We found it, after racing straight past it the first time, in our haste to get out of the weather. We were soon settled in our cosy rooms at Hotel City Heart, I couldn't have chosen a better location. Amritsar ... read more

We've been to India before. We've not been to the Punjab. My goodness, what an experience. The walk about last night was a taster. Today we got a full meal. A slightly later one than planned as we overslept, after our long journey with very little sleep and missed the hotel breakfast (served until 10.30 !). Our room is on the lst floor and looks onto a red corrugated roof on which heavy rain pounded a lot of the night. Hence the late sleeping. This meant we had not had any view of the city from our room so we headed up to the pool area on the roof. Pool not very inviting after all that rain but at least we could see Amritsar from above. Then down to the ground and we set off along ... read more

This is a fab place with buzz and atmosphere and our visit much helped by staying in a proper hotel with hot water, lifts and a very comfy bed! The drive was interesting through the mountains and descending into the Punjab. The evening visit was to the Golden Temple after dinner. Thousands of people - mainly Sikhs - thronging into the temple. Stunning with lights shining on the gold. Walking round the tank and temple was mesmerising as the chants are on loudspeaker. That evening people were marching round with a flag and chanting. Hundreds of people were queuing up to go inside. Outside the temple shops and hawkers as expected mainly selling Pakistani shoes, temple bangles and kulfi (yummy). The next morning we had a visit to Jallianwallah Bagh - the site of a massacre ... read more

What a full on day of contrast yesterday was. There are many monuments and statues around Amritsar, to various important people but also just because, like the ones depicting dancers we saw on the way to the Golden Temple, the primary site for Sikhism. Apart from being a stunning complex with pristine, hurt-your-eyes white marble buildings and paving surrounding the rich golden temple which sits in the middle of a lake, the whole atmosphere is quite special. People calmly go about their devotions, praying, purifying themselves in the water amongst the large crowd. No one is bothered by anyone else or by tourists taking photos. It is a very peaceful and tolerant environment. The kitchens provide thousands of free meals 24 hours a day and there are permanent and volunteer staff. We get a tour through ... read more

We started our day with a trip to the Jawlianwalla Bagh Massacre Memorial garden. situated outside the Golden Temple. The gardens were the site of an atrocity carried out by the British troops in 1919. Under the leadership of General R Dyer, the British troops opened fire on a group of unarmed peaceful demonstrators, killing over 350 men women and children and injurying many hundreds of others leaving them with life changing disability. The gardens are sombre, and dominated with the eternal flame monuments to those who lost their lives. There is also a martyr's well which is preserved as the site where many lost their lives trying to escape from the bullets. The garden also pays homage to national hero Udnam Singh, who avenged the murder of thee innocent people by the assassination of Dyer ... read more