Amritsar, India

Two blog days in a row- don't get too use to this, I just wanted to get caught up before I head to the land o' Dalai Lama. I've had a few questions from people asking if communicating has been difficult here, and I just wanted to say that most everyone speaks at least a little bit of English, especially in the touristy towns, so no, there hasn't been much of a language barrier. Sometimes the Indian accent is hard to understand, but with a little body language and the use of hand gestures, I can usually figure out what is being said. Back in Jaisalmer there was an older guy standing outside of his shop and he motioned me over to show me something. His English wasn't great and my Hindi is non-existent, so there was a little trouble understanding what he wanted to show me. He was holding an x-ray up to the sun and kept pointing at it, so I was like, "ohh, did you break a bone?" And I keep looking and trying to get him to tell me what happened, and he starts pointing to the x-ray again laughing. I'm still not getting it, so I look a little more closely, make some comments like "wow, look at those ribs, you really should eat some more sandwiches, hahaha," but not sure if he got any of that. Finally, some of his buddies come over with their mini mugs of chai and point PAST the x-ray, right at the sun, and so I finally figured it out- he handed me the x-ray and I got to see a gorgeous partial eclipse. I think the whole episode of figuring that out took 10 minutes, but it was worth it. And it was so funny because once they realized that I knew they were showing me the eclipse they got all excited and starting clapping. That has happened before and I have to say, I love being applauded for such simples achievements. feels great. Not as great as my new nickname up here in the northern states, though. When anyone up here asks me where I am from and I say "America" they say, "ohhhh Miss America." Obviously, this is not a reference to the pageant for them, but whatever, I'm still Miss America. And I really felt like Miss America the other day in Jodhpur because there was some sort of holiday on Sunday, I have no idea which one, but everyone was dressed up and babies and kids had thick black eyeliner on their lower eyelids and there was a huge parade. The parade looked like any parade back home with horses and decorated floats and people walking down the road playing drums and other instruments, and I was just in a rickshaw trying to get to the bus station when we ended up in the parade for a couple minutes. I wasn't sure if I should start waving or not, but before it got too awkward we made a turn and headed away from the party. So, anyway, now I am in Amritsar, which was a 12 hour overnight bus ride from Bikaner. Got dumped into a strange town at 530am, still dark out and COLD and misty. This is where a little trust has to happen because I have no idea where I am and I have to rely on whoever happens to be offering a ride to take me to some random hotel. There were only a couple old guys with their bicycle rickshaws where the bus stopped, so I just picked one and he safely delivered me to a great hotel called, "Tourist Guest House." Very creative. And, no it really isn't great. I love showing up in a new town in the dark, it is kind of mysterious that way and then after I take a couple hours nap, I get to go explore in some daylight. There are really only 2 things to see in Amritsar. The main sight is the Golden Temple. This temple is considered to be the holiest shrine and most significant place of worship for Sikhs. Go here if you want to learn more about Sikhism, cause I really don't want to write about it... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikhs
I kind of wish I had a book or guide at the temple because I had NO idea what was going on, I just kind of wandered around and did what I was told. First of all, no shoes. There are kiosks all over where you can leave your shoes safely and claim them later. So, I'm barefoot and start to enter the first open, marble archway leading to the temple area and I have to walk through a pool of warm, shallow water to cleanse the feet. Then I am turned around by a guard because I have to cover my hair. So, I go back to the main entrance and grab one of the orange "loaner" scarves to wrap around my head. The actual golden temple is absolutely beautiful, but so is the whole marble structure around it, with several clock towers. I could tell right away this was a very holy place and Sikhs were very serious about being there. I have run into lots of tourists who visited the temple, but yesterday I was the only foreigner I saw- which got me lots of stares and some people even kind of laughed at me. I just observed for awhile, watched everyone kneel at the entrance, say prayers. Then I walked around the man-made lake toward the walkway that leads to the temple, which is in the middle of the water. I had to wait in a long line to get in, and this is where some people were laughing at me, probably because it is obvious I am not a Sikh and I happened to be the only white person in line. But I tell you what, there is no way I am just going to LOOK at the side of a golden temple, I have to go in and check it all out. Inside was small, there was a roped off area where people tossed some money and it looked like everyone was paying respect to a really fancy carpet, but I later found out there was a small casket under the blanket-carpet thing that holds the Sikh guru Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji. Everyone had these little dried leaves in their hands as some kind of offering, but I never saw what they did with them. Worst part of the temple- NO photography inside. It almost killed me. There were some holy men sitting in the corners with their turbans, there were boys shining the silver doors at the staircases and there were 2 more levels that looked down on the first level with the casket. Some worshipers were crying and on the first floor there were 4 men playing instruments and saying sing-song type prayers and chants, which is heard over loud speakers throughout the whole area outside. I hung around for a bit and then exited down the long walkway across the water where a guy with a big bowl stood at the end. I wasn't sure what he was doing, but as I walked past he motioned me to come back and then scooped a brown ball of mush into my hands. Back to the whole language barrier thing- sometimes when I don't know what to do and can't ask, I just wait to see what everyone else is doing. And everyone else was eating the brown mush ball. I figured it couldn't kill me, so I ate it and it tasted like sweet cream of wheat. Actually, it was so tasty I wondered if he would give me a whole bowl for lunch, but decided that might not be appropriate behavior. I did a little more walking around, posed with some people who wanted my picture and then that was about it. Gorgeous temple, though. I really had fun just people-watching. The other thing to do in Amritsar is go watch the closing ceremony/changing of guards at the India-Pakistan border. It is basically a face off between soldiers on each side who strut their stuff in their funny uniforms and red mohawk hats with lots of cheering from the India side. There are stands on each side of the border gate where people sit and cheer, one section was just for foreigners, although there weren't too many of us. The soldiers march toward the gate, the flags are lowered, there are more things yelled in Hindi and the Indian crowd was chanting "Hindustan" and cheering. Pakistan, on the other hand, needs a new cheer leading coach. There were only a handful of people on their side, only one flag being waved, and no one was really cheering. Anyway, it ends when a huge bus travels from the India side, through the gate and over to Pakistan. This is the Delhi-Lahore bus and kind of signifies unity between the countries even though there has always been some tension. It all lasted about 40 minutes and was actually very interesting to attend. I don't know why, but for some reason after the event I couldn't get through the crowd without every other group of young guys asking me to be in a group picture. Maybe it was because most participants here are Indian tourists and came from a place where there aren't many tourists or blondes? I wasn't in the mood and sometimes it just feels weird to be in strangers' photos, so Miss America declined all photo requests today. Ok, I think that is about all from Amritsar. Headed to Dharamsala tomorrow....