We are still (over) a year behind in our blog but decided posting our quick trip to Amritsar this weekend might motivate us to get our butts in gear and start on the backlog of trips we haven't motivated to blog on.
We had a four day weekend for Gandhi's birthday and Dusshera (the Hindi holiday celebrating the victory of good over evil).
In hindsight, perhaps this national holiday weekend may not have been the best time to visit the Harmandir Sahip (Golden Temple - Holiest of Sikh temples that draws over 100,000 pilgrims per day), the site of the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre (British massacre of 1,000 non-violent protesters - think movie Gandhi when they were jumping in the well), and the Wagah Border Ceremony (India-Pakistan border's only road where a well-attended, crazy ceremony takes place each evening). Needless to say, the crowds were thick, even for India and especially at the border ceremony.
After arriving too late to attend the border ceremony on Thursday evening, we headed down to the Golden Temple at 830pm to, not just experience the temple, but to see where 100,000 people are fed (free) each evening - there are some great pictures in this article that show this process.
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| Before being told the proper way to take a picture at the Temple |
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| ...After being told the proper way to take a picture by a (giant) guard. |
If you ever find yourself in Amritsar, please, for the love of God, eat at Brothers. The food was incredible and only approximately $3 USD per person. Liv enjoying her meal...
Here is a little video of us walking to, and around, the Golden Temple. Still not really feeling the whole video thing, but will keep working at it.
After a lazy start to the next day we headed back down into town. Here's a little video of the tuktuk ride which, amazingly, fit the seven of us quite comfortably.
We ended up at back near the Golden Temple at the site of the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre.
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| Just a wee crowded |
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| Bullet Holes |
Our last destination was the India - Pakistan border. There is only one road that connects the two countries and, each evening, there is a ceremonious closing of the border. Unfortunately, being a holiday weekend, it was extra crowded and Drew was the only one tall enough to get any sort of view of the happenings at the actual border; however, what we did see was frenetic and crazy. Once the ceremony started, it truly felt as if a stampede could have happened at any time.
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| Border guards need to be at least 6 feet tall |
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| "Da Border" |
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| Sunset over Pakistan |
One more short video of some of the clips from the ceremony.
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