It's been a hot sweaty day here in Punjab! I set out of my hostel, by far the nicest I've been in so far in India. After a stop for an unidentifiable breakfast (some form of beans i think, with a very good bread!) I headed to the Jalianwala Bagh.

Jalianwala Bagh is the site of where Colonel Dyer massacred innocent civilians in the name of the British Empire 100 years ago in a turning point that signalled the escalation of the resistence to British rule. It was also one of the most brutal events in British history, for which Britain whilst having expressed regret have not yet apologised. Fishy...

I have to say, the fact half of it seemed to be under construction (it's now a memorial) took away slightly from the visit. And yet more requests for selfies...

I made one last visit to the Golden Temple to see how it is in the daytime. It is truly a stunning site though the spirituality of it was slightly detracted from by the fact my feet were burning.

Anyway, I needed a few hours to recover in the hostel from the heat. Indian cities are tiring places to be, to just walk around. You have to take them in bitesize chunks or you'll hate every second.

We then headed to the Attari border, the only bit of the India-Pakistan border that is not only safe, but also it's own tourist attraction. One thing that is abundantly clear about Punjab is that it is a very militaristic area. There were dozens of military training camps and army bases along the highway from Pathankot to Amritsar, makes sense given the highway runs parallel to the Pakistan border.

I shared the tour with a German, Stefan and a Chileno, Gustavo. We were driven to and from the border in a tuk-tuk by a good-looking local who appeared to turn the tuk-tuk, adorned with Indian flags, into a mini-disco. Further, 30km on both city and rural roads was enough to see the whole spectrum of Indian traffic craziness from swerving cows, to ploughing into dense traffic jams to dodging miscreant children.

Once we got to Attari, a godforsaken hellhole to be quite frank we were soon badgered by hoards of locals trying to sell us everything and anything, literally throwing stuff at us and even painting our hands the Indian flag.

We muscled our way through and into the big stadium, though I did have a sudden panic when it was only at this point I realised I was supposed to bring my passport. Still, the main aim was just to prove I was a foreigner so was to go in the foreigner section. Something my skin colour worked wonders for.

We did wait for a long time before the ceremony actually started. It's basically a Monty-Pythonesque dance off between the border guards of India and Pakistan. The crowds, about 50 times the size on the Indian side, go into a carnival like frenzy singing nationalist songs and repeating chants of 'Hindustan' or 'Pakistan' depending on which side of the imaginary line you lie. Both sides do the same set of dramatic, overexagerated leg movements/dances before the flag-dropping ceremony commences and the border, which sees little traffic anyway, closes. The sense of unyielding nationalism was potent on both sides.

We made our way back into Amritsar by tuk-tuk again. Amritsar seems to get even crazier at night. But Amritsar feels very safe. This has a lot to do with the dominance of the Sikh religion. And the gazillions of remittances from the millions of Punjabis dotted worldwide makes it among the more affluent Indian regions. It was exhilirating to be honest, being so close to such utter chaos.

Almost immediately as we got back to the hostel we left again for dinner, with 2 British medics travelling up from Rajasthan. We went to a very good local restaurant and had a selection of divine curries. Mushroom Masala was mixed with mostly Paneers, a sort of milky curd type thing common in Punjab but tastes lot better than it sounds. Paneers are then mixed with a variety of things. Yeah they're basically curries. I don't know a lot about food and the history of Indian cuisine but the upshot is Paneers taste nice!

So that's it! It's all going so fast! Up at 6 tomorrow for my train..gawd. Crossing the width of India almost, albeit at one of its narrowest points. Well, at least if all goes to plan!

P.s. whilst trying to find some Punjabi sweets I almost accidentally got married off to a Punjabi woman in her mid 40s...

Alavida!