Nov 21st & 22nd Nov= travelled to Amritsar. 5sam bus to Amritsar arrived at 10.30am. Natasha & myself headed on a local government bus early to Amritsar. The journey wasn’t too bad, quite bumpy but we managed to get some sleep, I had my trusty eye mask so that helped! On arrival to Amritsar we knew we were back in real India again, with lots of noise & people trying to get us taxi’s, rickshaws etc. We hopped into a cycle rickshaw straight to the Golden Temple; I had read that there was not a lot else to do in Amritsar apart from head to the Golden Temple. On arrival I couldn’t believe how many people were around, Indian people who were on pilgrimages to the temple. It says in the rough guide that the ultimate pilgrimage for a sikh is to come to the Golden Temple at least once in their life time. I felt quite primaliedged to be there when some people had clearly been travelling for a long time & they were overwhelmed. Anyone is able to come & visit the temple & eat for free & stay there on a donation basis. The authenticity of the place was incredible, with the sounds of the prayers & the chanting that was played right around the temple through speakers on every corner, it felt almost magical. The temple itself is surrounded by what is believed to be holy water, so you see men all around bathing in the water. There were no women bathing as this would not be proper etiquette but I did see women drinking the holy water once we visited the temple. We looked at the water & saw huge big orange fish in it & thought there is no way I would be drinking the water!
We made our way to a room where westerners can stay, it was a small room without windows that had about 15 beds in, it was nice & warm which made a change from the cold in Dharmasala. There was something very cosey about the place & it certainly was when it came to the eve the place was full. Me & Natasha offered to share a bed so that one of our beds could go to a Spanish couple that had arrived. Again I felt privaledged to have a bed at all when at night you see hundreds of Indian pilgrims who sleep on the floor in a court yard with nothing but a blanket to cover them. We dropped our stuff & then made our way to the food hall, they serve food to continuously to thousands & thousands of people. Its incredible you go into the hall & join the lines of people sat in rows & then people come round with huge buckets of dhal, beautiful coconut rice etc. They then come again & again to offer you more food. Afterwards you took your plate to the people washing up, it was amazing the sound of the clattering of the plates all day & night. We checked out the kitchens which had the biggest pots & pans you could ever imagine. Outside there are large groups of people peeling & chopping onion & garlic & other veg throughout the day. We joined a group & helped with the Seva (selfless service), it was great to joiin in & meet the friendly Sikhs even if we couldn’t communicate very well, most didn’t speak English or very little. When we got our cameras out all the men & women, who interestingly didn’t mix in their groups, all women together & all men together, all wanted photos of themselves. It was really funny but cute that they just wanted to see themselves in a photo. Mixing with the people who the Golden temple meant so much too, really made ithe whole experience, along with the atmosphere of the place. Even though there was a lot of people due to it been a Saturday, you could not help feel moved by the place.
We went to bed around 9pm as we were exhausted from the early start & travelling, now my patience were tested during the night. The last experience of sleeping in a dorm was at Tushita, where we were silent. I really appreciated the silence at bedtime because in this dorm there were so many people that it was to be expected that I would be disturbed from my sleep. Although I didn’t sleep that well, it didn’t deter me from getting up at 6am to go & queue to get into view the temple inside. It took an hour to queue but for once in my life I actually enjoyed the quue. I got to watch the sun coming up around the temple & experience the morning prayers & chants, where everyone in the queue joined in, there was an amazing atmosphere.
Once in the temple, we didn’t take an offering like everyone else as we didn’t know what to do with it! However we saw the live musicians (playing harmoniams, tablas, sittars etc) that basically must sit & play all day, incredible. There were also people sat in various alcoves reading prayers. People on the edge of the temple waters drank the holy water! I have to say the Golden Temple really was beautiful & well worth the long journey there. After we came out I sat on one edge of the water & did a mindfulness meditation. Although at that time in the morning it was cold, it was really nice to sit quietly. We then attracted a lot of attention & had indidans that wanted their photo taken with us, its so funny what a tourist attraction we were, despite been infront of this amazing building! I really loved the whole experience & would definitely go again. We headed back to Dharmasala on what we thought was a 11am bus, which turned out to be 12.15 but oh well, more waiting! The bus trip back wasn’t quite as smooth & we got stuck in loads of traffic (trucks everywhere!), we got back to Dharmasala around 8pm! We did have the usual chai stop on the bus where I braved it & tried some somosas from a street stall, they were lovely! I was grateful for the stop but couldn’t understand why on a 6-8 hr journey you stop either after 45mins or at the end of the journey on the way back , with only 45mins to go! Oh well that’s just India, nothing makes sense & yet in its own way everything makes sense!
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