The Golden Temple - Amritsar

Greetings from Dharmasala - the home of the Tibetan govt in exile and also home to his holiness the Dalai Lama. Visited the latter's residence today but he wasn't in...Did see the main temple and got to witness the monks debating in the main courtyard. Very animated and entertaining. Dharmasala is also home to hundreds of backpackers and there is every imaginable western convienience. Even went to a authentic french cafe and had a scrummy omelet...

Have been here for two days now and is quite a nice change to be in the cool mountains again after the hot plains. Had yet another never-ending train ride to Amritsar from Rishikesh - but it was so worth it! More on Dharamasla in the next post.

Amritsar is home to the stunning Sikh Golden Temple. The temple is surrounded by a huge lake
full of giant goldfish and a marble walkway goes around the lake. So anyway it looks pretty damn impressive. Like Varanasi, the people watching is superb as literally truckloads of pilgrims flock here to visit this important Sikh site. Observation: In India people ride in trucks instead of cows! Back to the temple...It is also where Sikh extremists, who were wanting a separate Sikhist state occupied the temple in the 80s. Indria Ghandi, the prime minister at the time sent in the tanks and considerable damage was done to the temple. Not surprisingly she was later assassinated by her Sikh body guards a few months later. Hmm u'd think she would have fired these body guards after she ordered the tanks to be sent in, given the history of gallant fighting by the Sikhs.

Anyway, not only is there an amazing temple to visit, but u can also stay at the Golden Palace. Well, actually its not exactly a palace - is a dormitory but was air cond! Indians also stay here in the courtyards and in cheap accom. I ended up staying there for 4 days...

As well as free accom there is free food served in this massive eating hall that feeds 30,000 people a day with approx 600 at one time...Eating here was an incredible experience and it operates 24hrs a day run by a team of vollies!





Amritsar is also located a hour away from the Pakistan border. Every evening there is this border closing ceremony that can be descibed like a indian cricket game! Thousands of punters turn up to watch the biggest, best looking and most colourfully dressed guards march up, chests out, to the border, shake hands with their Pakistan collegaues then lower the flags before slamming shut the gate. A true spectacle with all the Indian singing and dancing!

I definitely got my fix of the 'real' India..Oh and on a not so great footnote - i got my camera stolen in from my room in Dharmasala. Wasn't so attached to the camera but had heaps of pics on the card...Arrrgghh! Luckily friend Natalie whom i travelled with from Amritsar had some pics i could grab...