Amritsar

During our travels we've been on some long hauls but everything paled in comparison to the 35 hour (1845 km's) trip from Mumbai to Amritsar. Two consecutive nights on a sleeper class train left us feeling pretty sorry for ourselves but in a cooler climate.

Amritsar is home to the Golden Temple, the spiritual and cultural center of the Sikh religion. If you're unsure what a Sikh looks like they normally sport turbans. The two most famous Sikhs we can think of are Harbhajan Singh and Monty Panesar - cricketers. We had heard you could stay with the Sikhs at the temple so off we went.

We found beds in the foreigners dorm and went to check out the temple. Normally we have to pay 30-40 times the locals rate to see anything in India so it was great that everyone can enter the temple for free. Note that all visitors must cover their hair and that the sun was blinding us!


Staying with the Sikhs blew us away. Each day thousands of people arrive stacked on the back of trucks like battery hens. Everyone is given shelter and access to washing facilities and the free canteen runs 24 hours a day. The entire system is funded by donations and manned by volunteers, talk about making things accessible to the people.

Keen to chow down with our fellow pilgrims we went and lined up at the canteen where we were given trays and mugs. Entering the dining hall the first thing that struck us was the lack of tables and chairs.


Everyone sits in rows and volunteers walk around with buckets of food which they dish up to the masses. Fascinated by the entire situation we wondered how they cleaned up spillages until we saw the man below.


The temple at night time is beautiful. It's not as hot and there are less people around making it the perfect time to go inside.


Amritsar is also very close to Wagah the only road border crossing between Pakistan and India. Sometimes called the Berlin wall of Asia every evening it plays host to the most ridiculous border closing ceremony you are likely to see. On one side hundreds of screaming Pakistani's chant "PAKISTAN" only to be met by a chorus of "HINDUSTAN" from the Indian contingent.

Described as chauvinism at its most camp and a display of carefully choreographed contempt words can't really describe it so its a good thing there is a video. The one below is well worth the four minutes it takes to watch it.



Random Fact: Every year the Golden Temple attracts more visitors than the better known Taj Mahal.

Highlights:
- Being off the train
- Sikh hospitality and organisation skills. If all of India was run with Sikh efficiency India would be a much easier place
- Watching how excited the other pilgrims are to be at the temple. For some it is a trip of a lifetime so everyone is in a good mood

Lessons Learned:
- If you are foreigner wanting to stay in the temple you absolutely must stay in the dedicated foreigner room. No if's, mights or maybes, this is a must.
- Showers are communal and some of the Indians (men) show an unsettling amount of interesting in you cleaning yourself...
- Arrive in Wagah well before dusk to ensure you get a good spot to view the closing

Mumbai

Sporting summer tans and sand in all the hard to reach places it was time to see what Mumbai (formerly Bombay) is all about. The city is heralded as the economic Powerhouse of India and rightly so as it is responsible for producing 40% of the country’s GDP (according to our guide book). If you understand how a city of only 16 million people in a country that is 1.2 billion strong is capable of doing this then you’ve passed India 101.

Colaba is the tourist area in Mumbai and that’s where we based ourselves. It also happens to be a very nice location, clean wide nicely sealed streets, green trees, no rickshaws (they are banned from central city areas) and no general disgusting-ness which too often typifies large collections of Indian dwellings.

With only a short time to look around we battled the intense heat for the umpteenth time and in the process ran the risk of being potential terror targets by spending the day taking in the main sights. The Gateway of India was particularly cool as you can see below.


The India Gate was built by the English and as their last platoon left India in 1948. They marched through the gate whilst possibly singing ‘God Save The Queen’ into their awaiting ship where they may have casually sipped tea and nibbled on club sandwiches and scones as they sailed off into the sunset eagerly anticipating a Sunday Roast back in the motherland.

In many ways Mumbai is leading the way for the other Indian cities to follow. One example of this is the recent horn honking ban that was imposed in the central city. During the ban 36,000 motorists were fined for unnecessary honking. An amazing statistic, but if you’ve spent some time in India you’ll know all about the locals love of the horn.


Down an alleyway we spied something almost as unnatural as cows living on beaches. We saw three cats feeding on only Rajjy knows what whilst two impossibly large rats hovered about like hyenas. Who would have thought that natural enemies such as Tom and Jerry could co-exist seemingly peacefully, only in India


Desperate for more tourist activities we decided to scrape the barrel by dining at Leopold’s. Leopold’s is a long standing icon in Mumbai but it’s been tarnished for us by reading the book Shantaram – as it should have also done for any others that have taken the time to read the book.

Random Fact: Bollywood is based in Mumbai. Any foreigner wondering the streets will likely be asked to be an extra in a movie - great idea if you've got a day to kill

Highlights:
- McDonalds at the train station. Running late to our train and starving from no dinner the golden arches were like an oasis in a greasy, spicy, curry filled desert.
- Possibly discovering where Indian television commercials are filmed. For months now we’ve wondered where the clean, wide, modern and well sealed streets are that they used in commercials. We now know that Mumbai is a possibility but our money is still on them being filmed abroad.
- Cut throat shaves for $0.80 NZD. These guys are all around India but before you expose your throat to a stranger you must evaluate his skill with the blade- Dan went first… Mumbai had the goods and left us as smooth as a hard training Teddybear

Lessons Learned:
- Every city has its unique junk that people try to sell to you. Mumbai has large balloons shaped like bowling pins. If you buy one, blow it up to make sure it is in fact a large one
- Following the terror attacks guards are now positioned in key strategic points. Every single one of these guys looked they were ready to lay their life on the line… for some more sleep…
- Don’t watch the movie ‘The Watchers’. It is absolutely terrible.