It's hot hot hot! We are hiding out in our air conditioned hotel to escape the heat which threatens to reach 48 degrees this week in Amritsar. Amritsar is the spiritual centre for the Sikh religion and is 32kms/20 miles from the Indian Pakistan border. Amritsar has a very turbulent recent history featuring the Jallianwala Bagh massacre of 1919 where hundreds of protesters died at the hands of the British army. Amritsar also suffered many atrocities during the Partition of 1947 and further attacks in 1984 when Indira Gandhi's government ordered Operation Bluestar an attempt to remove Sikh fighters from the Golden Temple hundreds of civilians were killed and the Sikh Reference Library was burned down. We are here to see the Golden Temple - Harmandir Sahib and travel out to watch the theatrical Indian Pakistan closing of the border ceremony which takes place daily at sunset. The Golden Temple attracts more visitors than the Taj Mahal - more than 100,000 on weekdays alone. Paul set out (leaving me in bed) at 5:00 am to catch the sunrise over the temple. He thought he would avoid the crowds, but he thought wrong. Hundreds of pilgrims, worshippers were there queuing to enter the temple. As you will see from the photos the temple sits at the end of a walkway in the centre of a holy lake. All who enter the complex need to wash their hands and feet and wear a covering on their head. Later in the day I joined Paul for a sunset viewing - the heat was unbearable in the auto rickshaw there. A stormy sky was building up and the wind had started to whip up so it was starting to cool when we got there. We sported our headwear - orange scarves a la Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean. Again the same queues of people, but the atmosphere was relaxed and very civilised. No pushing, no noise, people sat meditatively on the banks of the lake or queued quietly to enter the temple. The temple is on three levels with just a central atrium, the ground floor has a central area where music and singing continues all through the day. The Sikhs made offerings of food and money which were left in the centre. These offerings are used to provide the free meals cooked at the temple complex to anyone who comes along. After the offerings people sat reading or reciting hymns. No photos of the inside were permitted but there were no shrines or idols. Our final day in Amritsar was to be spent cooling in the AC room followed by the tour to the border ceremony. The Grand Hotel in Queen Street organises daily tours to the border for Rp500 per person departing at 3:30pm. The heat was unbelievable, the sweat was pouring off us. We had an AC car shared with two young Columbian medical students and another couple from Ireland. We didn't realise that the tour also took in a Hindu temple and the Golden Temple. First stop was the Mata Temple, we didn't bother as it looked like a 1970's Blackpool fun house - the outside was decorated with fibre-glass models of lions and guards. The Columbian couple said there was a path that took you round many idols and displays. We had a lolly-ice outside instead. The car then took us as far as the car park for the Wagah - Attari border, about 2kms from the border gates. Attari is on the Indian side. We had read all of the warnings about the event - pickpockets, crushing crowds and the usual melee. Already there was a crowd of several hundred crushed against the gate. A friendly young man selling postcards chatted to us and gave us advice. We held back from the crowd and lucky we did. At 5pm the gates opened and the crowd surged forward, mounted border army guys used sticks to beat the crowd and we could see them pulling children up by the arms to free them from the crush. There was another 1km walk to the stands where we were to watch the ceremony. Once the initial crowd had passed on we followed them. The road was strewn with flip-flops and training shoes, people were hunting for their missing articles all around. Men and women were then separated to go through a security check. I got a little concerned for Paul as the women's channel was moving swiftly but calmly but the men's path was mayhem. Men were struggling to keep their children safe from the crush. Metal barriers were being trampled under foot. I could not believe that this carnage was a daily event that the army are just not in control of. The security check was staffed by two women, we all piled by the dozen through a tented area with our arms in the air while the soldiers stripped people of their plastic bags and anything other than bottles of water. Thankfully I just had my umbrella and passport. By the end of the tent was a huge pile of food and other confiscated items. Paul and I rejoined at the other side and headed for entrance 3, which is reserved for VIPs and foreigners. Another more intimate security check and we arrived at the stands. The music was blaring and the Indians were dancing on the stretch up to the gate (see video). We looked over to the Pakistani side which was comparaitively empty. After several songs including "Jai Ho" (Slumdog Millionaire), the army guys got the crowd to sit back in the stands. A 'crowd warmer' was then sent in the get various sections of the crowd waving and shouting. Then there was some partiotic chanting of "Hindustan". We had a pretty good view in the VIP stand and watched as the primped and pimped up border soldiers warmed up with high kicks, stamping and flourishing hat adjusting. The soldiers then lined up. Two female soldiers were the first up. They goose-stepped up to the gate and gave a few high kicks and stamps to their 'opposing' soldiers on the Pakistani side. One by one the male soldiers did their own funny walks with high kicks, stamping and hat adjusting. The crowd chanted and cheered them on, somewhat drowning out the Pakistani crowd. The ceremony includes the opening and slamming of the gates a couple of times and the pulling down of the respective flags, which are then marched back. This 40 minute ceremony was highly entertaining, it was loud, bizarre, crazy and distinctly Indian! Wouldn't have missed it! Off on our 450km 6 hr train to New Delhi and a night of AC hotel luxury before we fly Saturday 30/6. As this is our final blog entry for this adventure a big thank you to everyone who followed us and to those special few who kept in touch and emailed or left messages - you know who you are - you helped us keep the blog alive. See you all this weekend back in the cooler UK! Take care - until our next adventure..... P&S x