Hi Everyone,
Tiana here, ready to give you all the 411 on our time in Amritsar; which wasn’t much… and note that most of our time spent in Amritsar was mostly free wandering on our own, but I will do my best to include everyone. Lets’ see… We were there for a total of 3 days and were lucky enough to find a decent hotel right around the corner from The Golden Temple. After pretty much starving for some hours on the train ride (who ever keeps track anymore), we all decided to try and find a bite to eat even though it was around 10:30 pm. All the restaurants were closed, so our options were street foods or a shop that might be open. It’s difficult to navigate around an area you haven’t been in before and it’s dark, but Nelle and I decided we would go around the block and see if we could at least find something to drink. We found a shop called “Lucky Refreshments”… lucky us. Before coming across this place we were telling each other how we felt Amritsar was a lot calmer compared to other places; peaceful and how it seemed a little safer… Then when we walked up to the shop, this guy kept harassing me asking where I was from, my name, and how he was single. We were ready to pay and leave, but on the way out; I tried to pass another man who was in front of me staring me down. He put his hand up to not let me pass in front of him and stepped forward. So I decided I would try to walk behind him, and as I did he rubbed his hand up my backside. I felt so violated and angry, but was so exhausted I didn’t know how to deal with the situation. Another man on the walk back was shouting inappropriate remarks at us and we just couldn’t believe all this was happening in the 20 mins we had been in Amritsar. Just when we were saying how we thought this place had such a calm and nice vibe to it. We spoke way too soon.
Besides that incident on first arrival, we had a pretty early morning the next day moving from the hotel to accommodations at the Temple. The place was full of backpackers, and pretty much a room made to burn people alive. It was poorly ventilated so it was always ridiculously hot inside. However, it was doable for the next couple days and it gave us the opportunity to meet and chat with other travelers. That day we all decided to wander around and see the city. Some went to see the temple or eat there; they served free food all day! How awesome is that. Others went shopping, to see other temples, and I went for coffee and to find some Chicken. Amritsar happened to be one of the few cities we have come across where people actually eat meat! Jeff, Trevor, Dylan and I were crazy excited. Or at least I was.
All day I had gone on a long search to find this place that served chicken, but no luck. It wasn’t until later that night that Andi and I finally got our hands on the Lonely Planet to look up a restaurant. We found this place called Aurah which was supposed to be pretty far, but we were determined. It ended up being a girl’s night out to dinner because we had convinced Nelle and Amanda to go as well. So we hopped in a rickshaw and it took us a good 30 mins to get to our destination. It was worth the drive because besides the time it took, taking a rickshaw always is a nice way to see parts of the city you may not see otherwise on foot. Also the food was amazing! We were so stoked, not only because this place was so nice and had great food (and dessert; warm and gooey fudge brownies), but there was a subway right next door! Who would have ever thought you would find a subway here, I know we didn’t. We told the boys our secret place the next day and had no choice but to go (Eli loves subway; we have photo documentation). The subs were definitely still an Indian version just like any other food not originated from India, but it fills the void.
That day some of us decided to see another temple called Mata Temple, which is a Hindu temple. It was interesting… think of at first walking into a colorful and beautiful hall and then you are directed to go up a staircase on the side to find that this temple has a fun house of mirrors, murals, and gods. You walk through caves and ankle deep water to get to the main shrine, which I believe was the huge head or mouth of Shiva..? Not sure. There was a lot of confusion on my part, but it was still an interesting experience. Later that day we also had plans to go to the Pakistan border to watch the showdown that goes on there. Or at least we thought it was… Basically it was a fancy way of closing the border gates. Both sides have members of their military marching for a good 20 or so minutes. The marches are cool I will give them that and when they all have marched their happy high kicking selves to the gates, they do a synchronized bringing down of the flag, the end. It was interesting because they do this every day and it is amazing really the volume of people that come to see this event. There were waving flags, chanting, loud music and dancing which most of the group joined in on. In the end I personally was mostly impressed by the hype and enthusiasm the people have from both sides. I think that is what made the experience.
Another cool opportunity we had was the chance to stay overnight in the temple which has been said to be a spectacular experience. The downside is that the chances you will actually get sleep is not likely. Amanda (leader), Andi, and Nelle had already done this the second night and they said it was great even without getting much sleep. I suppose we had similar experiences except… before hand they forgot to mention how the temple is never really closed. There was constantly people walking around and worshiping, all night and all morning. Then at 3 in the morning you get woken up by the people cleaning the floors of the temple. So you are forced to move to the outer areas if you want to continue sleep. The up side is they do offer you chai all night/morning as well, really good chai too. The view of the Golden Temple at all hours of the day is amazing because the way the light hits the temple every hour changes the golden gleam dramatically. However, at 3 in the morning the view is even more magical with the moonlight. The Golden temple is definitely magnificent. It makes lying on that cold marble floor and getting soaked with freezing water early in the morning the experience of a life time.
Well I think I will stop here since this covers most of the key events (besides the old school shades shopping rampage we all went on), but I hope this gives you some insight into our adventure in Amritsar. Stay Well!
T. Woods
