Amritsar

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Amritsar for me, is the one place I have always wanted to visit, especially for the Golden Temple.
Its not a particularly nice city but its not as busy as other places we have been. We stayed at the Mk Sood guesthouse, which is probably thy cleanest place I've stayed so far.
The Golden Temple is one of the main reasons I came to India, I remember seeing a programme on it when I was Akid and have wanted to see it ever since. Its a religious bulding, sacred to the Sikhs. You must take off your shoes before entering and both men and women must keep their heads covered. Its an absolutely beautiful place, but as a tourist I did feel out of place amongst these thousands of Sikhs who had made a pilgrimage to this place, Most of them however looked at me curiously and smiled. It did move me to tears and Ive not felt like that in any other place in India, mainly because its somewhere I have wanted to visit for so long. The kitchens here serve food free of charge to everyone regardless of your religion, dishing out meals for up to 33,000 people a day. And the Golden Temple complex also offers dorms free of charge to travellers.
In the afternoon we went to the wagah/attarri border to see the closing of the border ceremony. Its basically a duel betwwen Pakistan and India to see who can shout the loudest and longest, and can kick their legs in the air the highest. Thousands of people packed the Indian side of the border, with less than 20 on the Pakistani side--didnt seem like much of a contest as Pakistans roars were drowned out by the screaming Indian crowd.
The guards dressed flamboyently, desperately
tried to out do one another stomping and stamping around the place like little children, looked like they were playing slow chasing--where you try and catch someone by walking as fast as you can. A definite must see I havent laughed that long in ages.

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