Amritsar!

Hey guys sorry for the delay...again...there wasn't much Internet access where we were for the past week or so.well there waaasss...but not much time to get online and update.i guess you'd need to be backpacking in a totally foreign land to be able to fully understand.heh.

so anyways,continuing with our travels, we left Chandigarh to get into Amritsar and the bus ride was a long and tiresome one,the best parts about it was the one stop we had along the way (at THE MOST fabulous roadside rest stop I've ever seen, complete with a five star bathroom and restaurant that is able to rival any Indian restaurant in NZ,and a dodgem cars rink, AND a food court with candy floss and popcorn.the lights were amazing and the toilet was clean enough to eat off,albeit a little packed with Punjabi's heading along the same route), and the other nice thing about the bus was the free packaged water and a Hindi movie that was played along our ride,first one in India too.

we reached Amritsar in the evening and made our way to our room,it was a long walk but we decided to take in a few sights along the way to better understand the surroundings.we stopped for dinner at a dhaba in a little alleyway,food was good,extremely cheap too.Amritsar has the busiest streets just outside the golden temple itself,filled with all sorts of shops ranging from Punjabi clothes shops to turban and bicycle and sweet shops and a dominoes pizza shop and sword(kirpan) and other Sikh religious shops.so it was all hustle and bustle to get to the hotel.the hotel itself was pretty bad,room was under renovation and the hotel owner tried to convince us that its actual worth was about 400rupees more than the 500 we were paying for it.the entire hotel was under renovation so we couldn't do much,especially since it was pretty late when we arrived.it was a short sleep and the next morning we packed our stuff up after breakfast and headed out to find a different room.along the way a tout approached us and offered us a room for about 300 rupees,we checked it out and although is smelled like smoke,it was pretty decent,the hotel guys cleaned it for us and we went out for a walk to explore the shops.

the shops around the golden temple,which is in a huge complex about 800m - 1 km by 1km in size, sell mainly suits,jutis (Punjabi shoes), turban cloth and blankets and stuff.so we explored all that, and b the time we finished the main streets we went back to our apartment for a rest and freshen up before planning to go to the golden temple.just before we decided to go out we looked up the list of families that papa had given me before coming to India,of relatives that we have around Punjab and such.it took a while but Rachel convinced me that they wouldn't bite my head off if i did call them. so i did,the first number that i tried was the one for Massi (aunt) Beena. and when they answered it took a lot of trying to explain who i was and how i was related to them,but only because my Punjabi was crap and I'm guessing they couldn't hear very well either due to the connection.anyway all i heard was OK come over,now, and it ended up with papa's cousin(massi beena's son) coming to pick us up.he told us he'd see us in about half an hour so we quickly got ready and went downstairs to get something to eat,(as it was pretty late and we figured that they had already eaten dinner), I bought some sweets from the shop for them and stood nervously waiting outside the hotel for them. as we sat waiting Rachel mentioned how it would be funny if they came on a motorcycle to pick us up,sure enough after an hour and a half of waiting (Indian timing)...a motorcycle did come to pick us up. shit,i forgot to mention there was two of us, but then bunty, my uncle, who is very shy BTW, found us a rickshaw and set us off on our way to meet the rest of my long lost clan.although i guess we are the long lost ones to them...

meeting uncle and aunt was one of the most memorable things about India,they took us in with open arms and told us to sleep there that night,even though all our stuff was still in the hotel.they had made dinner but were waiting for us to eat with them, so we did, then spent a long while talking before going to bed in one of the most comfortable and warm beds ever.it was like being at my own grandmothers house.

after a good nights rest, we had a breakfast of rotis and sabjhi before heading out to the golden temple and to pick up our stuff(from the hotel we didn't actually use),we got the stuff, and headed for the golden temple.we left our things with one of Bunty's friends who owns a shop just outside the temple and put our shoes away and went thru the procedure of washing our feet and hands in the warm water outside(it was pretty cold in Amritsar) then we went inside,through one of the main entrances and as we stepped down the stairs to enter the compound the view that we were greeted with was one that was so powerful,just seeing the Harmandir Sahib gleaming in the sunlight is enough to bring such a profound feeling to anyone.

we took a walk around the complex,stopping at every thing that had some kind of significance,such as each Grant Sahib that was in the area,the bathing areas,( where we stepped inside the water from the pool, Amritsar, around the temple itself) washed in its water and then we went to the langar hall to see how big it was,and my was it huge.the amount of people eating there was magnificent,we had a bowl of tea and continued.around the other side of the complex, there was a procession of small kids in traditional clothes and instruments, getting ready for a parade , it was all very colourful and full of festive spirit(we later found out that it was in honour of one of the Gurus, for his birthday that day).we then went inside the actual temple in the middle of the pool,there was a long line of devotees and pilgrims but everything was pretty organised,which was quite a contrast from outside.the feeling of entering the temple was awesome,we had a quick look at all the three floors housing the main Guru Granth Sahib and then at the roof,which was plated in gold,it was very bright.I realised that the Golden Temple was much like Club med : free food and drink at anytime,constant and different forms of entertainment to keep you active such as the various celebrations going around us, a pool...and all the ambassadors i.e nihangs, with their awesome weapons. after that we left to see the other structures in the complex. we then headed out home as Bunty had made plans for us for our stay in Amritsar.

Over the next few days we did an array of things such as visited families,about 6 of them/people representing them, to be exact, we also watched the changing of the guard at the wagah border(if you don't know what that is,take a look at it on youtube,although the energy produced by the crowds watching was more fun than the actual event itself), the maharajah ranjit singh panorama(which was by far the BEST museum in all of India,plus finding out that you are related to the top generals in his army,priceless),seeing the Pind, (village) and learning about the history of my grandfathers and my grandmother,the Ram Tirath temple which was better than any amusement park I've ever been to, and SHOPPING of course,i bought a blanket for myself and Rachel got herself some cool stuff.but all that you'll see when we get home.

we didn't want to leave Amritsar but in the end we had to go.we had a good 5 days in the heart of the land of the Soldier Saints and our next stop, 7 hours away by bus, Dharamshala home of the Dalai Lama and Tibet in exile.