Arrived in to Amritsar on a train that was 11 hours late, there was a fat monkey sat in the station to great us, Tom decided to try and shake its hand, the monkey decided it wasn't in a very hospitable mood and tried to take his eyes out. I don't think Tom is going to try and shake hands with a monkey ever again. Lesson learnt.

Took a cycle rickshaw in to town (meaning we had to get off and walk if there was a slight slope). Booked in to very lilac 'Lucky Hotel' and then wondered down to The Golden Temple. Tom had to buy a bandana to cover his head (see photo), then we washed our feet and made our way in with the masses. Other than the temple the whole place is pretty much white marble so it was very bright, dazzling one could say. There were thousands of people, some queuing to go inside the temple, others bathing their children in the water but most were praying. Amazing place.

On our second day in Amritsar we went to the India/Pakistan border to watch the ceremony that takes place everyday when they close it. Somehow Tom and i ended up sharing the front seat of the car on the way there, took an hour, can't say it was the most comfortable journey. Anyway.. Hundreds of people were there, we were all divided in to sections: men, women, tourists, oldies and seated in the relevant areas. The guards wear bizarre but smart outfits, red peacock like tufts stick out of their head which on most would look ridiculous but on them looked pretty good. The ceremony is a strange type of competition, both sides shout as loud as they can, then kick as high as they can, then stare each other out. The crowd loved it and danced enthusiastically in the streets. Was very entertaining!

So now on to the mountains...