..:: 662. The One With Amritsar ::..

kena cheated by the guidebook... lol. no straight train from chandigarh to amritsar. unlike what the book wrote, 1 hour by train. it is a lot faster to take the bus. in the end, we had to take an interstate bus first to jalandhar (about 2-3 hours, cost 85rs) then we took a transit bus which was surprisingly A/C (aircon) which took about 1.5-2 hours and reached around 1pm.

the bus ride was as usual exciting. when travelling in india, never sit near

1. the exit or window
2. any female/mother, especially those who look thin

cos they puke! the bus ride was so bumpy. jaron and i were sitting at the rear of the bus. when the lady approached the rear of the bus with "i-want-to-puke" face, i knew i was going to experience some drama. i tried to open the door but to no avail, then the bus conductor kept yelling in hindi (like hell i know what he meant) and left me frantically to look for other door switch. my friend just woke up in daze and another guy translated "open the window".

i looked at the gap, how can the lady reach the window without her puke landing on us? she was not in a state to move to the back seat with retractable window cos we had our luggage with us. she puked near the door in the end and the bus had to stop somewhere so that her husband could rinse away her "remains" using the water available at the street well.

then the bus conductor came up and blabbered hindi at me again. must be cursing this time, though i felt like hurling hokkien vulgarities at him since no one knew but i forgave him for his lack of common sense.

when we reached the sikh golden temple, it was "wow". we first checked into the supposedly free lodging for travellers that was within the temple. after the stay, we were supposed to give some donation in any amount. it was like a dormitory layout and the place was packed with backpackers who really travel full-time.

there was this russian guy who hitch rides all the way and has been travelling for three years and counting. yash was there to flaunt her malay with the russian who knew basic conversational malay. there was this chilean guy who is on his buddhism route and out for a few years as well. another swiss with his wife travelled overland using their bikes for 3 years too. such amazing people, impressive. as usual, awkward questions had to be endured (insiders would know :P).

the hunt for chicken king (a restaurant) failed miserably as expected. wanted to resort to hand gestures and body language to "charade" chicken king but thought they would not get it anyway. still not feeling well to eat our first meat since 1 week. loaded on oral rehydration salts and felt much better.

finally useful and friendly policeman came to our rescue as we were trying to bargain to get an auto to bring us to attari-wagah border (also know as the india-pakistan border) to see closing of the border. we were smart to get the auto at 250rs return without waiting charges.

basically we went there to sweat. the place had high security so no bags were allowed. the stadium was divided into male and female sectors. the female sector had room for movement while the male as usual was under packing order. if u are ever claustrophobic, india is not for you. guys love to put their hand on your shoulder, back as they move along. if u are seated down, most are clumsy enough to hit you with their knees, legs, whatever. quite a number of people trying to sell the ceremony dvd and not getting the hint that if we want to buy, we would have gotten it long ago. damn those houseflies.

ooo. the parade and ceremony were interesting. the footdrill that the indian soldiers do, not for the girls. such high kick, i thought they were doing gymnastic or ballet kicks. when the soldiers "face off", they looked like they were doing tap dance. damn funny. you can see them "act macho" march towards each other (india and pakistan soldiers), then suddenly raised their legs and did a little tap dance and shake hands. there was this compere who kept shouting

Bharat Mata Ki Jai! (Hail Mother India!),
Hindustan Zindabad! (Long Live India!), and
Vande Matram! (Hail to the Motherland!)

all the crowd got rowdy and started to shout and roar. before the ceremony, songs were played and you could see girls (including aunties) coming up to the area to dance. girls would carry the indian flag and run up and down like they were in olympics. jaron and i just stood there and sweat. oh no, and get pushed around.

since they loved to squeeze, i found myself some "drying agents". wiped my sweat whenever another guy tried to squeeze in front of me, since most of them surprisingly still wore long sleeves (more cloth to dry my sweat)

at night, we went back to take pictures of the golden temple. the sight is amazing... we could see people bathing in the holy pool, bodies of all shapes - gave the temple a different dimension. but the fun and interesting part was actually when we went to their dining hall for communal eating. the place was open 24hrs, serving dhal curry and chapati. it was nice seating with the rest eating. saw a cute little boy serving us water. after the meal, the temple volunteers signalled us to have some chai. inside the temple, we had to cover our heads and being guys, we were not used to covering our heads with cloth. the cloth kept coming off and we looked insane. yash was there giggling at us but found herself being giggled at by a weird man. HAHA. the guy sat beside her and had 3 big bowls of chai and still mesmerized by someone. maybe its me. lol. but i am sure i didnt look like a transgendered hijra (known as third gender, neither male nor female but mostly dressed as female). i goggled hijras and saw a picture of hijra holding a banana, lol. wth. you often see them doing their "rituals" on the train, known within us as the "claps claps", they expect you to tip them and rejecting them is bad luck. i chose to ignore them but the train is how big to "siam" them?