Amritsar Travel Blogs | Travelogues | Travel Journals

A month long exploration of the sub-continent. I waited several years to be able to make this exploration, but it was worth it!

Hi to all!  Today is wonderfully sunny and the smog hasn't rolled in yet we are camping at Mrs. Bhandiries campsite.  We are in the Punjab now and about 32 kms from the Pakistan border.  Almost everyone here is a Sikh, so all the men wear turbans.  Our guide "Avtar" is a Sikh, and a very knowledgable one at that, and is giving us the tourists quicky version of Sikhism.  Today I (C) am feeling much better.  Yes that means that yesterday I wasn't feeling so we...

Amritsar, India took me by surprise.  I had NO IDEA how amazing this place would be - especially after almost three weeks in the quiet and relatively clean Himalayas.  After my meditation experience, I was a little concerned about jumping back into the hustle-bustle of India's city-life.  But, Amritsar is heavenly. Amritsar's is known for the famous "Golden Temple" which is a holy Sikh shrine.  From the second you first lay eyes on it, you become mezmerize...

The other attraction is Amritsar is the daily ceremonial closing of the India-Pakistan border, held after the actual closing of the immigration checkpoints.  The border is nearly equidistant between Amritsar and Lahore (on the Pakistan side). After surviving the stampede (literally), we were seated amongst the crowds on grandstands to see soldiers on both side strut their stuff and try outdo each other.  Both sides shake hand briefly before the two flags are slowly lowered at exact...

The Golden Temple at Amritar was absolutely brilliant.  As far as temples go, it wasn’t the most impressive.  Beautiful and grand, but on its own it wouldn’t have been the most memorable place I visited in India.   What made visiting the Golden Temple so memorable were the experiences I had during my short stay.    I slept in one of the large dormitory blocks set aside for Sikh pilgrims and ate in the large communal dining halls for those same pilgrims.&n...

Beautiful golden temple in amritsar,punjab state

Definitely one of the highlights of our time in India, the Golden Temple was a great place to have visited. It's such a peaceful place, where you can really feel comfortable and unhassled; the place has a really spiritual feel. The temple is the holiest shrine of Sikhism. You have to remove your shoes and cover your head. However, unlike some of the Hindu temples and the mosques which we've visited, they've laid a lovely smooth marble floor with nice carpets and matting to walk on, so i...

We arrived quite late in Amritsar and slipped gratefully into our waiting beds (with hot water bottles) at Mrs Bhandari’s Guesthouse. (I might add here that I was now officially on my boyfriend’s family holiday, staying, for the most part, in places with character – a fair cut above the backpacker digs we would normally stay in). Amritsar is well known for being home to the Golden Temple, a holy Sikh shrine, and it was here I started to learn a lot more about this religion. We caught c...

auf dem weg nach indien on our way to india

Leaving Bhubaneswar was surprisingly emotional.  I don’t know why I was surprised; after all, I spent nearly four months there.  I think it was a combination of saying goodbye to people I’ve grown to care about -- whom I may never see again -- and the normal anxiety that comes with embarking on something new.  I’ve definitely had a few “Why am I doing this (traveling) again?” moments, but I’m riding them out. Tanushree and Sabita accompanied me to the air...

Amritsar is famous for the Golden Temple which is the holiest temple in the Sikh faith. It is a beautiful temple in the middle of a lake, covered in gold and the place where the holy book of the Sikhs is kept. The lake is where the name of the city comes from. Amritsar means pond of the nectar of immortality. This city has a rich history attached to the saints and religious leaders of Sikh religion.Come morning I went straight to "Harmandir sahib"/"Darbar sahib" (golden temple). Washed myself...

My first peddle rickshaw through the dusty, smoggy, smokey streets of Amritsar was both frightening and exhilarating.  Bicycles, cars, trucks, and motorcycles overtook us with a warning horn, while others sped directly at us only to avert our certain death by mere inches  The horns, and engines, the men in turbans with dark beards talking loudly, men squatting behind boiling vats of white-milky substances, hot oil sizzling brown dough, and the rattle of the rickshaw created a cacoph...

In 2000 I started to travel around the EurAzian continent. Not in one vacation ofcourse, there is work waiting for me at home, but in leg of 6 weeks. Every journey is about 3000 km long.

A year long road trip driving from Sydney to Southampton in a BMW X5 checking out progress on the Asian Highway Project and visiting 100 world heritage sites along the way