I arrived Tuesday morning in Amritsar, which is in the North of Punjab, some 27km from the Pakistan border. Again I took a night train, but ended up with an uncomfortabe bed, so I didn’t sleep well. When I did awaken, the train was already stopped in Amritsar. In a panic I grabbed my bags, put on my sandals and rushed from the train. Standing on the platform, I realized that all the change had fallen out of my pocket in the night, so I ran to retrieve it. Back on the platform again, I now realized that my water bottle was in my berth. Going back for the water, I also found the book I had been reading. In the end, I and all my belongings were safely in Amritsar.

From this point everything went smoothly. Jasdip’s father, Mr. Harjit Singh is taking excellent care of me. He arranged a room in the very comfortable University Guest House. I grabbed an auto-rickshaw to the University. I had barely reached my room, when tea arrived to revive me. One could get used to this… Next, Harjit arrived at spent some time talking and helping me get oriented in the city.
I spent most of my first day at the Golden Temple, the holiest shrine of the Sikh faith. It is easily the most amazing man-made structure I’ve seen. It is not very large, but it is very beautiful. It sits in the middle of a large pool of water, in which people bathe. From a distance the gold is dazzling. Then after making your way through the crush of people, you get a close up view of the interior. Everywhere you look there is fine detail, colors, patterns, fescos and small mirrors. After visiting the temple, I went and at there at the Langar (free meal offered to all who come, regardless of faith).