June 4 Day 109 -
We slept in and it was delicious! We quickly got organized and crossed the street to the railway station. The pedestrian walkway was a convenient way to cross the busy street but it was full of homeless people trying to sleep.
At the train station we wandered around for a bit before finding the free bus to the Golden Temple. It was arriving and took off as soon as it was loaded. There was lots of room and it got us there quickly, nice.
The area around the Golden Temple is mainly pedestrian walkways so we followed the crowd and didn't have to worry so much about being hit by vehicles.
Soon the crowd thickened and we saw a gate that everyone was going through with some shiny buildings behind it. To get there, you have to check your shoes and cover your head, yellow scarves are provided for this. Two people asked to have their pictures with us and we realized that we could spend all day doing this if we didn't start saying no.
We walked barefoot through a water trough to clean our feet and then we were in view of the temple. According to our guidebook, the water surround it is the real attraction as it is supposed to have healing powers. Men bathe in it and women can go into one of two enclosed buildings to take advantage of the powers. We took a few pictures before being told that it was not allowed (our guidebook said that it was only forbidden inside of the temple). A few people were still taking selfies, but so few that you knew most people knew better.
We walked along the outside seeing many people lying in the shade and places to drop off wet clothes, pick up your communion or get a bowl of water to drink. We kept walking until we got to the lineup for the Golden Temple itself and joined it as it slowly made its way upon the walkway into the temple proper.
The crowd was quite a squeeze as we slowly made our way forward, as the guards would raise a barrier to let people into the area into the main entrance and wait until the area was clear again. At least the walkway was covered and lined with fans blowing down from the ceiling. There were very few tourists and many people stared as if they had never seen a foreigner before. The kids were okay, but, as always, the young males were more abrasive. They would turn and stare at us and look Meg up and down until a counterstare sent them off. The ones behind me would push with their bellies and toes into you. When I leaned back into them they pushed by other people to get to the front first.
Once there, the temple was tiny but almost impossibly ornate. Musicians constantly chanted their holy book, which was piped throughout the complex. Relief musicians were on the carpet behind them and a select group sat in front of them. All of the stone and metalwork was finely done, like the best mosques and palaces in Istanbul, and had a mixture of Muslim and Hindu features. We went outside to look around us then up to the second floor, which had a balcony view to the main chamber as well as delicate paintings protected under plexiglass and many people gathered on the floor, looking down and/or praying.
The top floor was a roof with nice panoramic views and a room where people were praying to a holy man. We made our way back downstairs and exiting was much quicker than coming in.
We made our way around the temple in search of langar, the largest kitchen in the world where the Sikhs practice generosity by giving free food to everyone who shows up. We got our trays, spoons and bowls and waited to get into the main dining chamber. While we waited, a rude bunch of young males kept trying to take our pictures. I grabbed the phone off of one of them and covered their view with my tray while the people around them gave disapproving looks.
The doors opened and everyone got up and headed in to take their place on the floor on burlap strips. people came around with chaipattis, rice puddling, dahl, water, squash curry and rice. We all ate on the floor together while servers constantly walked around with their buckets and scoops, seeing if anyone wanted seconds. We got a few curious looks but people generally left us alone.
After about 20 minutes the next group got ready to come in and they quickly squeegeed the spilled food off of the floor and directed us out through a large stairway. Our dirty dishes were dropped off and we made a donation. Apparently they welcome volunteers to help with the dishes but we had tourist stuff to accomplish.
We walked back and got our shoes quite easily. We retraced our steps and Meg spotted a post office and quickly got stamps and dropped off some postcards. Taxi drivers were constantly offering us trips to the border and you couldn't address them all nicely or you'd never leave the square.
We found an overpriced but air-conditioned coffee shop and started to feel human again. We decided to stay downtown and headed to the partition museum. partition happened when Pakistan split with India and the Punjab was one of the hardest hit areas with millions dying due to ethnic violence and 40% of the city destroyed by riots.
The museum gave some good background and had many many first-person testimonials. It covered a lot of the background history of the area and could have used more detail on the politics of partition, but is still worth seeing.
Back in the heat, we looked, unsuccessfully, for a pedicure place for Meg, and then found a place selling kultcha for me. This is a local food which has oily bread stuffed with good stuff served with chickpea curry and yummy mint pickle. In spite of he heat, we managed to find our appetite and polish the treat off. Of concern was the ice in our drinks, but no ill effects were had.
Meg unsuccessfully tried to find a scarf she liked in a shop and then we decided to head back. The bus to the railway station waits until it is full before it headed out and there were still a few seats left when we showed up, on the sunny side of the bus. As we slowly baked and waited for the bus to fill, Meg struck up a conversation with a Sikh family and photos were taken, although the conversation was limited. Eventually the aisles were full of people standing and we headed out.
Back at the hotel, the AC was delicious and we hung out unril dinner. The tv was weird as there was a payment system for all movie and international news channels except Al Jazeera. The charges were small, 1-15 rupees but figuring out an Indian designed payment system was a frustration we didn't need, so Al Jazeera it was.
Dinner was in the hotel's Bottoms Up bar. The kitchen was good and the beer was cold. We shared the space with some Sikh men drinking from cold beer pumps at their table and watching a cricket match on tv. It wasn't exactly rowdy, which was good. We only saw one other foreigner at the hotel, a grumpy bearded computer guy, and most rooms were continually empty when we passed them. It really was off-season, we guessed.
We had another solid sleep in our nice cool room.
We slept in and it was delicious! We quickly got organized and crossed the street to the railway station. The pedestrian walkway was a convenient way to cross the busy street but it was full of homeless people trying to sleep.
At the train station we wandered around for a bit before finding the free bus to the Golden Temple. It was arriving and took off as soon as it was loaded. There was lots of room and it got us there quickly, nice.
The area around the Golden Temple is mainly pedestrian walkways so we followed the crowd and didn't have to worry so much about being hit by vehicles.
 |
| One of the few pictures taken before being told that we couldn't take pictures. |
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| An old, faded glory kinda house. |
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| On the bus heading back, soaked with sweat. |
We walked barefoot through a water trough to clean our feet and then we were in view of the temple. According to our guidebook, the water surround it is the real attraction as it is supposed to have healing powers. Men bathe in it and women can go into one of two enclosed buildings to take advantage of the powers. We took a few pictures before being told that it was not allowed (our guidebook said that it was only forbidden inside of the temple). A few people were still taking selfies, but so few that you knew most people knew better.
We walked along the outside seeing many people lying in the shade and places to drop off wet clothes, pick up your communion or get a bowl of water to drink. We kept walking until we got to the lineup for the Golden Temple itself and joined it as it slowly made its way upon the walkway into the temple proper.
The crowd was quite a squeeze as we slowly made our way forward, as the guards would raise a barrier to let people into the area into the main entrance and wait until the area was clear again. At least the walkway was covered and lined with fans blowing down from the ceiling. There were very few tourists and many people stared as if they had never seen a foreigner before. The kids were okay, but, as always, the young males were more abrasive. They would turn and stare at us and look Meg up and down until a counterstare sent them off. The ones behind me would push with their bellies and toes into you. When I leaned back into them they pushed by other people to get to the front first.
Once there, the temple was tiny but almost impossibly ornate. Musicians constantly chanted their holy book, which was piped throughout the complex. Relief musicians were on the carpet behind them and a select group sat in front of them. All of the stone and metalwork was finely done, like the best mosques and palaces in Istanbul, and had a mixture of Muslim and Hindu features. We went outside to look around us then up to the second floor, which had a balcony view to the main chamber as well as delicate paintings protected under plexiglass and many people gathered on the floor, looking down and/or praying.
The top floor was a roof with nice panoramic views and a room where people were praying to a holy man. We made our way back downstairs and exiting was much quicker than coming in.
We made our way around the temple in search of langar, the largest kitchen in the world where the Sikhs practice generosity by giving free food to everyone who shows up. We got our trays, spoons and bowls and waited to get into the main dining chamber. While we waited, a rude bunch of young males kept trying to take our pictures. I grabbed the phone off of one of them and covered their view with my tray while the people around them gave disapproving looks.
The doors opened and everyone got up and headed in to take their place on the floor on burlap strips. people came around with chaipattis, rice puddling, dahl, water, squash curry and rice. We all ate on the floor together while servers constantly walked around with their buckets and scoops, seeing if anyone wanted seconds. We got a few curious looks but people generally left us alone.
After about 20 minutes the next group got ready to come in and they quickly squeegeed the spilled food off of the floor and directed us out through a large stairway. Our dirty dishes were dropped off and we made a donation. Apparently they welcome volunteers to help with the dishes but we had tourist stuff to accomplish.
We walked back and got our shoes quite easily. We retraced our steps and Meg spotted a post office and quickly got stamps and dropped off some postcards. Taxi drivers were constantly offering us trips to the border and you couldn't address them all nicely or you'd never leave the square.
We found an overpriced but air-conditioned coffee shop and started to feel human again. We decided to stay downtown and headed to the partition museum. partition happened when Pakistan split with India and the Punjab was one of the hardest hit areas with millions dying due to ethnic violence and 40% of the city destroyed by riots.
The museum gave some good background and had many many first-person testimonials. It covered a lot of the background history of the area and could have used more detail on the politics of partition, but is still worth seeing.
Back in the heat, we looked, unsuccessfully, for a pedicure place for Meg, and then found a place selling kultcha for me. This is a local food which has oily bread stuffed with good stuff served with chickpea curry and yummy mint pickle. In spite of he heat, we managed to find our appetite and polish the treat off. Of concern was the ice in our drinks, but no ill effects were had.
Meg unsuccessfully tried to find a scarf she liked in a shop and then we decided to head back. The bus to the railway station waits until it is full before it headed out and there were still a few seats left when we showed up, on the sunny side of the bus. As we slowly baked and waited for the bus to fill, Meg struck up a conversation with a Sikh family and photos were taken, although the conversation was limited. Eventually the aisles were full of people standing and we headed out.
Back at the hotel, the AC was delicious and we hung out unril dinner. The tv was weird as there was a payment system for all movie and international news channels except Al Jazeera. The charges were small, 1-15 rupees but figuring out an Indian designed payment system was a frustration we didn't need, so Al Jazeera it was.
Dinner was in the hotel's Bottoms Up bar. The kitchen was good and the beer was cold. We shared the space with some Sikh men drinking from cold beer pumps at their table and watching a cricket match on tv. It wasn't exactly rowdy, which was good. We only saw one other foreigner at the hotel, a grumpy bearded computer guy, and most rooms were continually empty when we passed them. It really was off-season, we guessed.
We had another solid sleep in our nice cool room.
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