Amritsar

Ian, Solveig and I ventured towards the Golden Temple to look for a hotel. In addition to the 30 plus thousands Sikh pilgrims visiting the Temple daily, there was a national IT conference being hosted by a local institution making housing next to impossible. We almost had to resort to the free lodging provided by the Golden Temple (open to all; Sikh or not), but found a pretty nasty room that the three of us shared. Ian watched our bags (yes at this point, my backpack is sooo stuff it feels like i am carrying a dead body) while us girls went hotel hunting. This really nice guy at a restaurant had called his friend and was about to have us stay with a family. Indian hospitality is great, but you do need to draw the line at some point. If we had agreed, we would have had to eat all our meals with them and be on their schedule as far as bumming around, etc.

The temple is really pretty, a beautiful mix of Islamic and Hindu architecture, the dome is plated with 100kg of gold and is open 24 hours. The Golden Dome is supposed to represent an inverted lotus flower, pointing back to the Earth to symbolize the Sikh's concern with teh problems of the world. In addition to free lodging, they have a free kitchen that serves about 50,000 people a day; again Sikh and non Sikh followers. Of course, we couldn't pass up a free meal. It was a great experience, it runs in twenty minute shifts, the doors open, people stampede in to sit on the lines of mats, everyone sits on the floor and they have an assembly line of people bringing you trays, bowls, silverware, etc. They serve you dahl, rice and chappati. It was delicious! The efficiency was amazing.

Ian and Solveig didn’t have their Pakistani visas so as I ventured to the border the next day, the two of them went back to Rishikesh.