Blogs from Punjab, India, Asia

Advertisement

Asia » India » Punjab December 28th 2023

On Christmas Eve, Grace and Hattie went with Giagi to her temple and prayed with her to the different gods. She got the driver to take photos of us three, stood slightly behind each-other like prom photos, beside each shrine. She proudly told everyone that Grace was her granddaughter from England and we namaste’d our way around the temple to her friends. We were given orange painted forehead dots (like a painted bindi) and took our shoes off before entry. Bananas were scattered as offerings underneath Hanuman (the monkey god) but Giagi took it up a notch and ordered 15kg of sweets, telling us that the next day she would be ordering 20kg and the day after that 25kg! She does not mess around! Returning to the house, Hattie fell asleep (in dire need of a ... read more
The tiniest shoes and henna
Nishu’s beautiful work on Hatts
Prom pics in the Temple w Giagi

Asia » India » Punjab December 26th 2023

On our car ride to Abohar, only a meagre 8 hours, Hattie and Iksha especially felt the effects of 10 days of non stop touristing and the intense pollution we’d been breathing in. Pinky, iksha’s father, had organised a stop for us to have our lunch. We discussed if it would be worth adding this diversion to our long journey and decided to be yes men, because when was the next time we were going to be lucky enough to take a long drive like this in India!? And oh, how much we would have missed out on!!! The town had been a haven in the 18th century for merchants (Marwari) to show off their wealth through building “party houses.” Yes that’s a quote. A very dusty town near desert and sand dunes, many of these ... read more

Asia » India » Punjab December 26th 2023

After a long journey through the smoggy Punjabi roads, we arrived in Abohar at Grace’s family house which has been in the family for 70 years - built in the 50’s. The custard yellow art deco facade, frosted with white balconies and lattice gates was the only residential property on the busy main street of shops. Grace’s great grandfather - who had been the mayor of the town, and built a school and a college for the community - had built the family home. Back then, it was Abohar’s heyday - with this area being full of opulent residential housing and Grace’s family owning one of three cars in the town. This was quite the contrast to the bustling streets and heavy pollution of present day. Giagi (Grace’s grandfathers eldest brother’s wife) the matriarch of the ... read more

Asia » India » Punjab » Amritsar August 20th 2023

Dalhousie - Dharamshala / Mcleodganj - Amritsar Amritsar Day-5: Dharamshala to Amritsar. Goodbye to Himalayan Heavens and back to hustle, bustle and heat of plains! Fortunately it was only February and it was not so hot. I call it mid-season and it is the best time to go to the Himalayas. In winters, cold is a bit too much in the mountains, in summer, temperature is certainly enjoyable in hills, but when you come back, you pay back with interest! We had experienced it during the Sikkim tour. Started from Dharamshala after breakfast and reached Amritsar for late lunch. Again via Pathankot. Day-5: Evening: Visit to Gobindgadh Fort Day-6: Morning: Shopping; Afternoon/Evening: Attari Border; Dinner: Sadda Pind Day-7: Morning: Free; Afternoon: Jalianwala baug; Evening: Golden Temple Day-8: Ea... read more
106-Gobindgadh Fort-Amritsar-20230222
107-Gobindgadh Fort-Amritsar-20230222
108-Gobindgadh Fort-Amritsar-20230222

Asia » India » Punjab » Amritsar January 18th 2020

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
You won't see this sign in too many places
Inside The Golden Temple
Pilgrim Inside The Golden Temple

Asia » India » Punjab » Amritsar February 23rd 2019

In Amritsar there are two main tourist attractions. Yesterday’s Golden Temple and the India Pakistan border ceremony at Wageh. We had arranged the latter for the afternoon so as we had the morning free we set out for another walk through the old town. Camera ever to hand and lots of things to click at. This place is fascinating. Nothing ever seems to get finished. Buildings are started but the windows don’t go in. Things break and are never mended or replaced. Some of the buildings along the main street the hotel stands on are, or rather were, quite ornate but not any longer. An astonishing mess if you stand back and look at it all. There are no parking places so there are scooters lined up everywhere and you have to weave your way between ... read more
190222 Amritsar Wageh Border (263)
190222 Amritsar Wageh Border (48)
190222 Amritsar Wageh Border (12)

Asia » India » Punjab » Amritsar February 21st 2019

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
190221 Amritsar golden temple (260)
190221 Amritsar golden temple (60)
190221 Amritsar golden temple (65)

Asia » India » Punjab » Amritsar February 20th 2019

Three flights, as planned, from Manchester to Dubai, Dubai to Mumbai (both Emirates) then Varenesi local internal flight up to Amritsar. Left home at 09.00 Tuesday and arrived at the Ramada Amritsar 16.30 Wednesday... that's 5.5 hours ahead of the uk. We've left the car and the Meet and Greet at Manchester having taken a careful note and photo of the mileage as we've heard of vehicles being used by the staff while the customers are away. Security was a farce, We are delighted to see proper security checks carried out to keep us all safe but all we experienced at Manchester this time was chaos. There was so much attention given to totally innocuous and allowed items in everyone's checkin bags, about 50% of which were pulled aside and searched, that a whole gang of ... read more
190220 Amritsar (6)
190220 Amritsar (47)
190220 Amritsar (49)

Asia » India » Punjab » Amritsar September 18th 2018

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
Trying to look glamorous
A privet soldier in the Jallianwallah Bagh
Guide at the Golden Temple

Asia » India » Punjab » Amritsar July 27th 2018

A 5:40am flight sounded ok when we booked it. When it actually came to it and we worked out the alarm had to be set for 2:30am… Not sure how we’ve managed to do this to ourselves twice but it sums up this trip so far perfectly – early mornings and packed days. With all that what we want to fit in over the next 3 weeks that doesn’t really look like changing. There is just so much to see and experience. The check in queue for our flight to Mumbai was the slowest we have ever encountered… anywhere… It took an hour to process about a dozen people in front of us and we watched some tourists point out their bag had just been sent down the belt with no bag tag, followed by a ... read more
IMG_0444
IMG_0435
IMG_0439




Tot: 0.139s; Tpl: 0.006s; cc: 9; qc: 80; dbt: 0.0698s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.3mb