We were pleased to see that this night bus wasn’t as grim as some of the others and for once actually got a bit of sleep. Neelam Tours sell the tickets for Rs550 but we’d paid Rs100 commission as the bloke in Bikaner had sorted it all out for us. Even with the extra charges, it’s still good value for a 12hr journey and we actually reached Amritsar on time. The thing we hadn’t factored in was that it would be raining when we got to town. It’s only early so hopefully it’ll clear before we go sight-seeing. We’ve decided to have a treat as we’re only here one night and have another long travel day, travel night again tomorrow. We’ve checked into City Heart Hotel in the Old City and not far from the attractions. At about $40 room only we still think it’s expensive but at least it’s spotlessly clean with modern hotel amenities.
As we arrived we declared the sky had that distinctive Glossop grey to it and sure enough the Manchester style heavy drizzle set in for the day. We’d come a long way to see this temple and we weren’t going to let a drop of water stop us. Even though the hotel wasn’t far from the wonder we were pretty soggy by the time we reached the shoe deposit area. En route we purchased a couple of orange temple bandanas to cover our heads as per Sikh custom in their places of worship. You can borrow them for free but at only Rs10 a piece they make good little souvenirs too.
Even on this wet, miserable day in winter the temple was mobbed. Unfortunately some building work is being carried out in front of the main entrance so we had to plodge through cold, muddy puddles down a side street to get in. Fortunately you have to wash your feet before entering a Sikh Guruwala and they’d thoughtfully filled the troughs with warm water. The huge temple complex is set around a central pool with the Guru’s bridge leading to the Hari Mandir Sahib in the middle. This section is the most sacred part of the temple and is therefore the most opulently decorated illustrating its importance. To give you some idea; the main dome is covered with 750kg of gold.
Our feet were way too cold to contemplate joining the queue today but we planned to pop back in again the following morning. The rest of the complex is comprised of beautifully carved marble buildings. The holy pool and walkway around it are also made of marble with attractive, geometric designs inlaid upon it. Even on a dull, grim day he place was stunning and well worth the time and effort to reach. I’m sure you’re all aware of the free dining hall that feeds 10’s of 1000’s of people daily. Sikhism is renowned for its all-inclusiveness regardless of caste, colour or religion. Obviously we had to give it a try so joined the throngs neatly sat cross-legged in rows with thali plate set in front of us. I’d like to point out that we’re not free-loaders and gave what we thought was a reasonable donation. The whole process from chopping veg, preparing the dishes, handing out the thali plates, directing people where to sit, dishing up the food, sorting out the slops and dirty dishes and washing up for the whole process to start again takes a small army of people. Apparently Sikhs are encouraged to spend a week of their live their helping out but they must have a skeleton staff of regulars to ensure the whole thing works so smoothly each day.
Thoroughly soaked but having enjoyed our cultural experience we retired to our room to dry out, warm up and watch Indian test match cricket live from Chenai. Before taking in this stunningly beautiful place of worship we’d started the day in a much more sobering environment; Jalianwala Bagh Memorial Garden. If you saw David Cameron in Amritsar a couple of days before our arrival you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about. This peaceful enclave in Amritsar’s hectic old city is a memorial to the people who lost their lives in the 1919 massacre led by General Dyer. It is a necessary reminder of how utterly horrible, barbaric and intolerant human beings can be towards each other. I’ve a sneaking suspicion that things won’t improve within our life time.
The other thing we fancied doing while here was watching the Pakistan- India border closing ceremony. However, we didn’t really fancy 3hrs being squashed in a shared jeep to stand in the pouring rain to witness 10mins of pantomime posturing. Putting the kettle on and watching Tendulkar’s innings won over!
We emerged from our basement room to find the skies were still leaden but the rain had stopped. On approaching the temple we both realised that we really didn’t relish the idea of walking along a filthy street in bare feet. Somehow yesterday’s puddles hadn’t seemed so bad but I suppose we were determined to go in. Besides which this morning’s photos wouldn’t be any better than those already taken. We popped back into the memorial garden since we’d dashed through it in the rain yesterday. Not only is it a reminder as to how beastly mankind can be but it’s a green haven in the city. The parrots, bulbuls and squirrels were also enjoying a dry day.
The restaurant we’d spied for breakfast we still shut so we went for a wander. Other than the temple and the garden Amritsar has little else on offer. Or as Steve put it: “Aside from the temple and the gardens, Amritsar is a dump.” How can a city with such a wondrous and famous temple allow the rest of the conurbation to be so dirty, dishevelled and derelict? Luckily our aimless wanderings led us to a side entrance to the temple where we could deposit our shoes and walk straight in. We duly did and to our delight the sun began winning its battle over the cloud coverage. The queue over guru’s bridge was still immense so we were forced to give it a miss again as we didn’t have the luxury of time. We’d enjoyed the golden temple in the gloom but this morning it looked particularly splendid. Patches of blue sky had formed and the sun was glinting upon the golden domes which in turn looked like they were glowing. We did another circuit of the holy pool to ensure we enjoyed this marvellous place of worship from all angles.
We were not mighty peckish so retrieved our shoes and went to see in Punjabi Rosai was finally open. Yep, and a masala dosai set us up very nicely for the 7hr train journey to Delhi. Once again encountered tuc-tuc drivers trying to rip us off and this one even had the cheek to lie about how much he charges Indians. We got him down to a more acceptable Rs100 and reached the station with plenty of time to spare. We were happy to bag window seats and up until half way through the journey the train was far from full. The main junction of Ambala saw the carriages filling to capacity but only in terms of seats being full; people weren’t dancing in the ailses. I’m sure I’ve said it before but the Indian rail network is so fabulously extensive offering a great service that I hope he gets the injection of cash it needs soon. This fantastic company should only be moving in one direction – upwards and ever improving facilities.
We reached Chandi Chowk (Old Delhi station) bang on time having passed through some agriculturally green but otherwise uninspiring countryside. Despite the lack of basic sanitation and, the seemingly insurmountable plastic littering problem India faces, the journey’s bird life was quite prolific. Plus we saw some rhesus macaques and a working elephant. Once again we had a number of hours to spare in between trains but as luck would have it this gap perfectly coincided with the City v Chelsea game. On paper we had plenty of time but in practice we’d forgotten to factor in the sheer multitudes of people living in this unnaturally huge city.
To ease traffic congestion an extensive Metro system has been installed; no mean feat in just a few years. Physically getting transported from A to B is obviously quicker but the whole process isn’t as slick as it could be. We had to queue along with hundreds to purchase our journey tokens. They’ve gone to huge expense to put in this vital system so why not spend a little extra to put in ticket machines? Steve had decided that Connaught Place would be a quieter option than the backpacker area. But oh how things have changed and we emerged from the Metro station to find a wall of people. Connaught Place has been transformed from crumbling, colonial charm to an energetic, expensive shopping arcade for Delhi’s elite. It was lovely to see the curved Victorian parade having been restored and it’s a reflection of the great progress India is making.
Anyway, by now we were late for kick-off even though we’d disembarked 1hr 30mins ago! The first place we tried had football but no beer, the second had beer but no football but we hit third time lucky. The Host Restaurant looked way out of our league but we had little choice. Yes the beer was expensive but when converted into Malaysian ringgit it seemed reasonable! City played well and secured a vital 3 points so the expenditure was irrelevant to Steve!
Once again the train departed and arrived on time so we reached Ramnagar at about 5 o’clock in the morning. We’d tried contacting Corbett Motel but never received a reply. It sounded like the best of the budget bunch so we went to track it down. We knew it was close to the train station but didn’t know in which direction to proceed. Here’s my final Lonely Planet rant for this trip: the book swings from being worse than useless to a complete work of fiction. Whoever wrote it obviously took a liking for the bhang lassie and ended up viewing the place through Lennon style rose-tinted spectacles. Suffice it to say we went the wrong way and by the time we’d walked some distance we admitted defeat. A tuc-tuc ride later and we were finally in the right place.
