Blogs from Amritsar, Punjab, India, Asia - page 8

The Golden Temple requires few words of description - it's a special place. Serene and spiritual without being serious and dull. ... read more

India We cross the border that we visited the night before to watch the Border Ceremony, though this time there is little dancing going on. Shame, I thought they did that just for us!!! haha. Amritsar First stop is Amritsar and Sundeep, our guide) tells us of The Golden Temple which we must surely visit. Again, we can also find beer to drink so for a while we are happy bunnies. And so off to the Golden Temple we go. You walk through the many small side streets I get my leg run over by a rickshaw driver, who seems mortified!! Mind you, it bloody well hurt too. Anyway, we stop at one small shop to sample some sweet, it was a very strange thing a bit like some hardened treacle and very very sweet. A ... read more

From haridwar our spiritual journey went further north, a 7 hour train journey later and the restraint not to yell at the screaming OCD child behind who insisted on kicking my seat as she cried later... we arrived In Amritsar late Sunday evening and checked into a hotel for the night. We were treated to a TV, but no English channels and so spent the evening watching the Star Screen Awards here in India... normally we would of switched straight off, but who's face kept on propping up as he won two awards? Only our Big in Bollywood friend Omi!!! He really has made it and we screamed his name like two adoring fans every time we saw his face... what he was saying we have no idea, but it was Omi making it really big ... read more

We are now on the Indian/Pakistan border. Our friends' Scott and Bianca introduced us to couch surfing and while in Amritsar with stayed at Mr Singh‘s farmhouse. Mr Singh’s family was originally from what is now Pakistan, but they were forced to leave after the borders were re-drawn following Indian independence. His family was compensated with this fabulous fort which he has restored. We have had a surreal time here. On our first night we were invited to join a group of men from Amritsar who had come to the farmhouse for dinner. They spoke a little English but most of the time we had very little idea what was going on. The second day we met Azad Sidhu. He lived in this area until he was 25 before immigrating to Canada. He had come back ... read more

Day 533: Monday 14th December - The Golden Temple and the Ministry of silly walks We have arrived in the Punjab, the area which spans from Central Pakistan to North-Western India. The Indian state of Punjab is dominated by the Sikh population, who form 70% of the state’s population. In India as a whole, Sikhs are only 2% of the population. Hindu’s form the majority with over 80%, Muslims account for 12%, Christians 2%, Buddhists 1%. Many of the Indians which came to Britain were from the Punjab for the Indian Civil Service and the British Indian Army in particular preferred to recruit Sikhs, which led to the migration of Sikhs into different parts of the British Empire, mainly for economic reasons. Punjab has more ex-patriots than any other Indian state, and has exported its culture ... read more