On yet again another sketchy over night bus I made it to Amritsar in the Punjab province of India around noon. The whole city was buzzing with Sikh pilgrams from all over India coming to see the Golden Temple. The 2 things I had wanted to see was the Temple and the India-Pakistan Border closing ceremony. Some guy at the side of the road was selling seats in his van, so that seemed like a safe and cheap way to get there.
I got in the van with about 8 other Indian men from the air force. Actually some of the nicest Indian men I have met on the whole trip. When we got to the border it was a total gong show with people everywhere people fighting for good seats in the bandstands over looking the border. The Pakistan side had people crowded in a bandstand as well. The next half hour people on either side of the border cheered about their respective countries, then the border guards came out and did a bunch of silly walks and then after both sides had strutted up and down a bunch they shook hands lowered the flags and the border was declared closed. Very weird considering how much bad blood there is between the countries but very interesting to see everyone having fun.
On the way back I realized that I had read my plane ticket wrong for the next day and was leaving first thing in the morning not at night. I don't travel much so it was an easy mistake to make. Lucky for me the Golden Temple is open 24 hours a day. I was totally blown away by how big and gorgeous the temple was. There were people everywhere swimming in the holy water and doing a whole other set of religious rituals that were new to me again. I went back again at 430am before going to the airport and it was busy at the that time too. People sleep there and there is always free food available for everyone. Although a brief stopover it was totally worth it. The people were so warm and friendly and once again a completely different side to India.
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