Indian Border Guard

The guards wore tall hats. The guards were all of similar height and stature, tall and lean. They would do very high kicks when walking. It's quite a thing to see.

Changing of Guards Ceremony at Pakistan Border

Then we went to the train station area to locate a hotel to rest for the night and get up early for our train. Linda used her Lonely Planet guide to locate a hotel. Well, the place was crummy but we were both tired and wanted to just park our stuff and head out for the changing of guards ceremony at the Pakistan-Indian Border.

We had to take a bus to get to the border and then take a tuk-tuk like cab for the last stretch. An Indian mom and her kids took us in to take care of us by making sure we got off the right place and get onto the right cab to drop us off at the border. That was so nice of them to do that for us. My entire trip I have experienced such kindness and generosity without any strings attached. People did it out of their effortless kind regard for others. It's so natural and so amazing to experience.

I learned that before India and Pakistan split into two it was called Hindustan. On both sides of the borders where stadium bleechers like at a football stadium. There was an MC on both sides of the border who rallys the crowd on with cheers like at a pep rally. But this one was one that celebrated the past unity and peace. The place was at an all time high, people showed a lot of enthusiasm for great spirit and pride.

Toe Points For Toilet Use

Linda has an effortless way of attracting people who graces her. She came across a young Indian lady who wanted to take us to her work and show us around. I didn't see what the point was for us to see her office. I think it was more like showing us off in front of her coworkers.

She was kind to show us where the toilets were and we went. I had to tip toe. I had wished I did Ballet Toe Point. Such momentes makes me respect the Chinese system of separate slippers for the toilets. I have always understood why the Chinese did it that way but now I know, I have experienced. At the end of the toilet experience, Linda concluded for certainty that this would make it impossible for her mother to visit India.

She also showed us the dorm housing if we needed a place to stay for the night. Linda right away had an adverse physical response but gracefully and politely declined.

It was all very funny to me.

Hanging On For Dear Life

After the changing of guards ceremony I searched for Linda and Kristina. I didn't find them and decided to stand and wait for the crowd to disperse. When I finally spotted them, they were surrounded by a group of young men and that was the reason I didn't see them the first few times I searched for them. All these young men were jiggling and consumed in both the ladies. They wanted photos taken but they didn't have cameras. They insisted to be photographed by Linda and Kristina's camera.

It was quite interesting to watch the boys’ reaction to these two western girls. Their physical interaction were way more intimate than if the girls were Indian. They looked as if they took lines and movements out of old western movies and acted it all out. For a brief moment, these boys left India while they joked and freely had fun.

We somehow ended up on the back of a rickshaw facing the back. We weren’t really sitting on any seats. We hung on to a bar for our dear life. The dusty sun was setting in front of us and in between were they boys in another vehicle hanging on the sides as they waved and smiled at us, the flirting continued. Both Kristina and Linda commented that any western girl with low self esteem should come and experience this, it should cure it all. It was fun to watch and it was very cold too on the back of a rickshaw. It was so cold I couldn’t feel my fingers griping the bar. We went through lots of pot holes, my bums hurt a whole lot.

We all had dinner by the train station as we sent Kristina off to the train for a mediation retreat. Even though I ate very little for dinner, I was still feeling very terribly sick. I was experiencing indigestion. Linda and I went to the internet afterwards. When we were done, I wanted to hurl. I just went back to the hotel and laid down. I felt so sick. I think I was too cold in the morning on the bus and too cold on the back of the rickshaw. I prayed for a healing and then my hand heated up like a hot pad and I felt much better.

The Langhar

Today being a holiday, the Golden Temple was full since the entire city is on religious day off. We tried to enter the actual Golden Temple but the lines were long and after awhile of waiting and not moving forward even an inch, we decided to skip out.

We were hungry and went for the langhar. I like langhar in general. You sit in order in lines and the food just comes right to you hot. You can eat as much as you like and when you are done you take the dishes to the dish washing line.

Afterwards we went to the dish washing line and helped out with washing of dishes. It was fun to work with everyone. Try washing dishes with 50 other people for thousands at a time.

Golden Temple

The Golden Temple sits on the center of a pool of water. All the surrounding buildings are white and they make structure of a quad. The starch white makes a bright reflection of the very golden Golden Temple.

God Holiday

One of the first things we did was get train tickets at the ticket counter and sorted out our route. The man at the counter told us we when we would get onto the train and when our connecting train was and when we got off the train. We later found out that he failed to tell us it was over 24 hour train ride and we could not understand the ticket print out to ask. We didn't know any better.

We arrived at the Golden Temple on a God Holiday. We checked our bags in and shoes too. The ground was cold to walk on. I like the concept of no shoes, but on an outdoor grounds in India, I don't get the sanitary concept. As soon as you take your shoes off your feet is getting dirty by walking on the dusty ground. There is a running stream you walk on before entering the main steps. Well, the running stream is muddy with all the foot traffic. Then your feet is wet and it touches the ground and picks up more dust and now the feet is no longer dusty, with the water, it is now muddy.

Outside the main entrance was an area where a massive tea kettle was brewing chai for the masses. It reminded me of Jack and the Bean Stalk when Jack went up to the land of the Giant and everything was massive. Sweets were also in the making for the masses.

All the women walking in with heads covered and we did the same in respect with customs and culture. The Golden Temple was very golden. People prayed as they entered. Some people, men, bathed in the Holy water that encircles the Golden Temple. They do it in hopes for a Holy healing of all sorts of illness. The place was beautiful and peaceful. I really enjoy watching people pray. I like religious practices.

Steamy Frost

Linda and I got up early to head out for our bus. We had to wake up the house keeper to let us out since we were locked in by the metal gate. We walked to our pre-paid taxi driver who was standing by a bon fire on the street waiting for us along with other drivers. We later found out that there was a public bus that we could have taken instead of a taxi.

We met a lady from Estonia, her name was Kristina. She is a public conference speaker. She goes around and speaks at conferences and does some kind of training seminars. She is 30 years old and was also going to Amritsar. She is headed for a Vipassana retreat outside of Dehli after Amritsar.
We ended up staying together the whole day.

At the bus stop we took a long time to figure out where we were suppose to stand and which bus to get on. It was dark, there were no signs. I have no idea how we figured out which one to get on that was right bus because people tend to nod their head and say yeah, yeah to everything regardless if they understood what is being communicated.

On the bus, Linda picked out wich bench we would sit on. She picked one by the open window that was broken and did not shut. It was very cold to have that cold wind blow for the next 6 plus hours. I sure was glad that I did not out smart myself by having light layers thinking I'd be hot. I was so cold that I tucked my head to hid from the bone chilling wind and curled forward leaning on the back of the seats in front of me. I was so cold my feet went numb, my stomach clinched from being so cold. All the cold made me very tired and later gave me indigestion in the evening. By the end of the night I felt so sick I wanted to throw up and had trouble walking. I ended up just laying down early at night and prayed for a quick healing.

When it was day break, the bus stopped somewhere and I asked for the toilet. I was shown the open filed. Well, it was day light and one one side of the field was the train tracks with open running trains moving by very slow and on the other were shack full of chai tea stall with holes through the planks. In between was a grassy field covered in glistening frost and a few tiny bushes. In truth it wasn't much of a coverage. I went for it anyways and hot steam came through.