Visiting the most holy place of the Seikhs

I have wanted to visit Amritsar since watching the Bollywood movie Bride and Prejudice many years ago. Home of the Golden temple, the most holy place for Seikhs. The are around Amritsar is farmland and it is a mere 40 minute drive to the Pakistani border. I didn't know much about Seikhs before meeting Joban, but I learned they are a very kind religion. They believe in doing what's good and right and they are very clean (which sounds weird unless you've been to India). We noticed right away how friendly they were. When we arrived at the train station we waited in line for the free bus to the Golden temple. The driver pulled us out of line, with 10 people in front of us, and squeezed us on to the full bus where there were 2 spots left available. We arrived at the complex (it's huge), covered our heads and promptly found a bed in the dorm for foreigners.....free. There was actually only one bed so Alex and I shared, and the beds were really wooden be ches with a piece of thin "mattress" on top. But we were staying at the Golden Temple....for free. It is also possible to eat for free at all Seikh temples, which I didn't know. We ate our first dinner there and it was very tasty, if a little uncomfortable to eat on the floor. They continue to serve you food until you say no more...so you have to be careful they don't walk by and fill your plate when you're not looking!

The room left something to be desired, and walking to the bathroom while every eye in the vicinity follows you is a bit unsettling but seeing the Golden Temple was an amazing experience. It is so beautiful and it feels holy. The water around it is also viewed as holy and people drink and bathe in it. We went the first night and just sat near the water, taking it all in. People come from all around the world to see this holy place and here we were staying next door.

The next day we explored the area around the temple before meeting Joban and Prabh. They took us with their friend, Arsh, to the Pakistani border and the ceremony they hold each night to close it. We arrived slightly late and it was packed. We couldn't see anything over the heads of the crowd and the sun was slanted right into our eyes, blinding any glimpse we might catch. Joban searched for a place for us but found nothing. He finally asked a soldier who let us in the VIP section where we sat right on the sidelines. Sadly, only and Alex and I were allowed in as we have foreign passports but Joband gang generously forfeited watching it. The ceremony was neat, their costumes quite different. The sun blinded us but we were able to see te end where the gate between the two could tries closes. There was a crush of people as we tried to get pictures and we slowly made our way out. We stopped to try some street food and then Joban generousky took us to an amazing Indian feast. Our last stop was dessert and a traditional India dessert, a donut like cake with syrup before they dropped us back off at the temple. We'd had such a great time and it was such a pleasure to spend time with them. I look forward to reconnecting with Joban in Calgary.

I wasn't too upset to be spending my last night in the temple. It was a great experience but I barely slept, there were mice in the room and sharing a public bathroom with India women can be an adventure. Not to mention we were stared at everywhere we went...including the toilet. We went to a memorial on our last day and became the de tre of attention. One person asked for a picture with us and all of a sudden there was a crowd. After a few minutes I walked away and politely declined any more. It's really overwhelming to be in pictures with strangers, surrounded by a crowd. I don't think I would enjoy being famous.

We let early for our train as there was no where in the temple to "hang out" and wait. We arrived and found a bench when an old man with less than a full set of teeth came over to talk to us. He was so sweet and made us a plan for our time in India. It didn't matter that we already had tickets, he knew a better way. We talked for a while and he made the guy sitting next to us write down where we should go. Soon a crowd had appeared, a crowd of men just watching and listening and closing in around us. A man came over and told them all to get lost. He told us we were VIP and should be left alone and kept safe. Unfortunately the poor old guy didn't do anything wrong so Alex went over to check on him and said he'd been really upset. His wife wasn't a very happy person and ended up yelling at him about us later, the poor guy. He still managed to secretly talk to us though when she walked away for a bit.....I'm just glad she didn't come yell at me!

We finally got on our train and I was asleep in no time. Unfortunately the night didn't stay quiet and people were really noisy so I didn't get much sleep. We arrived early in Hardiwar and searched for a way to Rishikesh.