27/03/2012

Last night we spoke to the receptionist about hiring a cab to see the Pakistani/India border crossing but it turns out they'd do a full package with guide where we got to see the Golden Temple and a couple of other temples before going to the border. So we decided this morning to take them up on the offer for a full day with driver/guide. Probably very expensive in their terms but taking the hassle out of sightseeing- and the driver turned out to be quite nice.
We first booked the package in reception after getting up and showering and then went for a nice enough breakfast in the hotel.
At 10:00 we met the driver and were on our way to the Golden Temple. The temple was definitely one of the highlights of our trip as we got to see their giant and mythical Chapatti machine, which took up a whole room. We also got to do the community supper, which consisted of sweet rice pudding with almonds, a curry with beans and of course chapatti! Very nice and a great experience to be sitting in a giant room with a heap of other people on long mats to be served food and eating. There was also a small plot of grass etc to see and an open prayer room.
Then we did a small donation to "pay" for our food and went into the queue to get inside the temple and queued for about an hour to see the the inside, which was very impressive with gold and a huge chandelier. It was also where all the prayer music was emanating from as there was a "band" inside consisting of a bongo-like drum, an unknown string instrument and a singer - all of them male.
Back outside we headed off after nearly three hours there and we got to see another couple of temples before heading for the border at 14:00. On the way we got into an accident as a motorbike with two men stalled just in front of us but thanks to our driver's quick braking noone was hurt. Two cops appeared out of nowhere immediately and our driver just managed to get his seat belt on before they had a look. They quickly decided that it was the motorbike's fault and waved us on - the drivers had no helmets on and stalled in front of us so they were given a severe brow beating as we passed.
As we arrived by the border we realised that we were an hour early at 15:00 and that it wasn't open yet so we had to go to a restaurant by the road side and sit and wait while having something to eat to get access to seating- so I had to get 4 Samosas of which I donated two to the driver and ate 2 myself while hoping I wouldn't regret it - though they were nice tasting. Claire also got us a couple of coffees as we were both getting tired. Just before 16:00 we went to the queue for the border and that's when absolutely mayhem/madness started. There were literally thousands of Indians coming to see this as well as a few tourists. We were all literally herded into multiple queues with the women, including Claire, separated from the men - I was in front of our guide while waiting 25 minutes before they started letting the women and children in. After a further 10 minutes it was finally the men's turn and jez that was nearly scary as that was the closest I have been to a stampede with pushing, shoving, trampling and squeezing people through the gate. Not only that but on the other side they maintained strict separation of men from the rest while women etc walked down towards the stalls - and this was vigorously enforced by military personnel on horses and with sticks. Scary shit really. Finally we, the men, were let through to security where they were giving out about my camera bag as bags not allowed but let me through after seeing contents - both Claire and I kind of knew but the guide told us not to worry - and neither of us were prepared to leave our bags or belongings behind in the car. By then I obviously lost track of Claire and guide so I walked down to the stalls myself and climbed up the stairs through pushy Indians - only 5 min later to realise my mistake, ie. that I had gotten up on the stalls with Indians but that there were separate tourist stalls if you had a passport, which I did. I was told this by the guide when he spotted me but by then it was too late as it was just too packed and people were seriously pushing and shoving for entry and advantage in terms of view to the border. So I resigned myself to the fact that I was going to spend my time there with thousands of Indians whether I wanted to or not. So I climbed my way over to the furthest corner from the border but with the most direct view and texted Claire - and finally mounted my telescopic zoom lens onto the camera for some shots. Then started the show - and jez what a show - John Cleese would seriously have something to learn from these guys for his mad walking sketch :-) All the while lots of Pro-Indian beats where played loudly while some well-known Indian was running around with a mike to stir up people while also going to the military performers to have them scream whatever they were screaming while all this funny walking business was going on. Seriously funny to watch and to see how ma... nationalistic the Indian people- as with their Pakistani counter parts on the other side. Also lots of Indian women were invited down to dance around with their kids - but apparently that was also a bit of a jibe against the Pakistani side because Pakistani women allegedly aren't allowed to dance to music; or so I'm told... So anyway in the midst of all this madness a perfectly OK looking young Indian guy literally puked his guts up right next to me, while a lot of other men were rubbing his back while it happened WTF?!) - not sure what was wrong with him but afterwards he stood up and looked perfectly OK - maybe migraine or something, but nonetheless the stink was pretty bad and everyone kind of edged away from the output and left a big empty circle there. After about half an hour of this and countless pictures and video clips on my camera it finally ended and I trotted back to the car where I met the guide and ultimately Claire. Then we were off again to another Hindu temple called the Malta Temple and consisted of long labyrinthine walkways and caves on the way to the main shrine and you walked through water ways as well and lots of mirrors were around. It took a good while to go through it and we were constantly engaged by curious Indians and spoke to quite a few of them. Afterwards, when we got to the main shrine, the hi-jacked us to the inner circle of well-off and well known men who were sitting with a guru-looking man and we were all clapping along to their music while seeing this guru distributing some kind of symbolic rupees to his fellow friends. We were also awarded huge flower necklaces, for lack of a better word, on two occasions while all this went on. Unbeknownst to us all this was televised through multiple cameras to the whole city of Amritsar!!! No warning but we spotted it and the guys next to us were laughing while telling us - needless to say we were a bit mortified!:-) After about 10 min there we finally got out of the ring and met an impatient guide as he at this stage had had a long day with us and it was nearly 20:00. So he drove us back to the hotel and we gave him the agreed Rs.2.000,- for the day plus a Rs.300,- tip because he had been the best guide we ever had while here! He even contacted the hotel again who contacted us to make sure we were happy to pay him this much of a tip. We then proceeded to order room service food and then watched the One Week with Marylin Monroe movie before finally succumbing to tiredness. We both agreed that this day was probably the best day we have had in India. And to top it off, the people here in Amritsar are really nice and friendly - definitely one of the friendliest place we have encountered!

The entrance to the Golden Temple

People busy at the Chapatti machine at the Golden Temple - in a large room outputting lots of Chapatti's - really impressive stuff

Park next to the Golden Temple

The Golden Temple

Another impressive building at the Golden Temple

A large statue on the west-side of Amritsar towards the Pakistani border

The mad-walking society on the Indian side of the Indian-Pakistani border before it all  kicks off

Prime example of the madness that befell us on both sides of the border

Here's a real Indian soldier overlooking the border where all the funny-walking was carried out

This is the temple and area where we were hijacked into the middle to sit and clap to the music with the inner circle - televised to the whole city without our knowledge