Amritsar - Indo-Paki Border and the Golden Temple

Two days ago we were in Amritsar... We met Aditi's Uncle (Muna Muma) and we took the 7:20 am train out of Delhi (there is NO traffic that early on the morning, give our crazy experiences with traffic it was very surprising)... fearing motion sickness I took a gravel and slept the entire time to Armitsar... we arrived in Amritsar at 1pm.

The Aid to the General (Sandeep) and several other military officials picked us up at the train station and took to us to the Military Base Guest House (IT HAD HOT WATER!!! My first hot shower since I got to India!).

When we got there we had vodka and Sprite and chips (which by the way taste freaking amazing and I don't even like sour cream and onion... which they call "American" style). Then we had lunch at 3pm... a huge feast a very yummy Indian food... In India you drink first and then have food... you don't really eat and drink together... which can make things interesting.

After lunch we headed out the India - Pakistan Boarder. We had a jeep with a flashing light on it so we drove literally right up to the border (where most people have to talk about 500 meters to the boarder), we got out walked about 25 feet to our reserved seating (someone even guarded our jeep!) We got to walk behind the main area and see the guarded areas and see the Pakistan guards up close (no worries Mom, they are actually pretty friendly considering!) and we got our photos taken with the Indian Horses and guards guarding the boarder.

We totally kicked Pakistan's butt... we had way more people cheering (it was Sunday so India has more people where Fridays, Pakistan usually has a good crowd). Basically the ceremony is to lower the flags (think changing of the guard) but tons of Bravo and thousands yelling "INDIA IS THE BEST!" I took LOADS of photos but of course the camera dies when I have a change to upload them all!

After the Border Ceremony we went back to the Military Base to grab some warm clothes and headed off to the golden temple... words can not even describe the scene it was beautiful beyond description and there were SO many worshipers. I can't download the photos but this is very similar to what it looked like.



Till the next time (in like 2 minutes when I write the next bit...)