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4 nights in Amritsar, staying at Mrs Bhandari Guesthouse.

We originally meant to spend only 3 nights here but everyone has come down with a tummy bug of one form or another, so we stayed an extra night. Some people just have he runs and tummy cramps, and other people have had full-on vomiting and the works. We had a big truck clean while in Amritsar so hopefully our squeaky clean truck will help us with hygiene issues since we don't think we've all eaten something dodgy.

Amritsar is a great place to spend a few days especially after the restrictions of Pakistan. Most of the time was spent lazing around, swimming in the pool or trying to get a go on the one internet computer to get back in touch with everyone. As Shane was quite ill and I was a bit dodgy off and on, we didnt't get to see everything in town but we did get a chance to see the Golden Temple.

The temple is the centre of the Sikh faith and we had to take our shoes off and leave them in a special cloakroom-type shoe room and cover our heads (boys included). We also had to wash our feet before we were allowed into the complex. The temple is a three-story construction in the middle of a large lake. The bottom level is covered in inlaid marble and the top stories gold leaf. The floors all around the complex are marble as well, which was nice and cool on bare feet early in the day but after a while it was a bit hot. We did line up with the faithful and cross the causeway to the temple. You can't take photos inside but basically there were lots of people sitting around praying and reading, and a few priests playing instruments and keeping up a continuous chant from their holy book. The book itself is what the temple houses, and it is put to bed each night and brought out in the morning in ceremony.

The shopping in Amritsar is also pretty good and some of the girls got Punjabi suits made for them. I ended up just buying a top and pants ready-made. We all got dressed up one night and went out for dinner at the Crystal Restaurant, a modern place that has European, Indian and Chinese food. I had a great curry and finished off with some of Shane's sizzling chocolate brownie (YUM!).

We didn't get to see the border ceremony after all that where the Pakistani and Indian guards march around in funny ways and shout at each other, but it did involve an hour's rickshaw ride in the hottest part of the afternoon (and the weather websites predicted 47-49 degrees) so I don't think we missed much.

We stayed in Mrs. Bhandari's Guesthouse in the Cantonment area, which is a beautiful hotel in an old wealthy family's house. Most people camped in the old tennis court area but we took an airconditioned room. We thought we needed a bit of luxury after just over 2 weeks in the desert.

So far, India is good fun and it's nice to have our freedom back, although it is hard work in the heat, making sure you don't get ripped off by a rickshaw driver. Transport by rickshaw is great fun though!