"This is the cleanest public bathroom I've ever seen, including in America."

Sorry for the lack of updates, it's been a tiring few days and I just haven't had the mental energy (and sometimes the internet access). We have wi-fi in our room, however, so I will try to catch up a bit now. Not too many pictures, I haven't had time to look through them all.

After some train adventures (our train was late again, we thought we missed the transfer by minutes, then it turned out the transfer was late, too, so it was all OK), we arrived in Amritsar to a thunder storm, hail, and flooding in the streets. Our hotel is across the street from the train station, so we made it over without too much trouble (and there was a temporary lull in the rain) and collapsed, a little concerned about how we were going to see anything. The hotel had room service, though, so at least we could get a late lunch. This hotel is relatively nice -- hot water, wifi, flat screen tv. Funny how our standards have shifted. :)

Mu's coworker Satinder picked us up later in the evening and had planned on taking us to some walking streets, but everything was horribly flooded! The rain had stopped, but many streets had 6 inches or more standing water, and some puddles looked over a foot deep! Craziness. So instead, he drove us around and told us about different neighborhoods. This is the first city where we've actually seen modern areas, as well as non-touristy residential areas. It's nice to have a local guide! He also took us to a little courtyard with lots of food stalls, so we got some very spicy tomato curry thing and ate in the car, because it was very muddy and not pleasant to stand outside. Oh, and we saw an Indian mall where we had ice cream on a stick (like a popsicle but creamier, though not as creamy as ice cream...and flavored with something yummy that he couldn't translate), and the Indian version of Walmart, where I purchased chocolate candy with a toy inside, like a Kinder Surprise! We also heard some stories about Sikhism (Satinder is a Sikh, and Amritsar is the most important Sikh city) and Punjab, the state we're currently in.

As an aside, I realized today that we're getting a little crash course in religious diversity. Thailand was all about Buddhism, a little different flavor of Buddhism in Darjeeling, Hinduism in Varanasi and in other places at random, a little bit of Islam in Agra, and Sikhism today. I knew in theory that India is a religious country, but it's different to see it first hand. It's much more a part of day to day life than it is for most people in the US.

Today, we were going to get going early so as to do everything on Satinder's list of "stuff tourists should see" (he was very determined that we get the proper tourist experience, including pictures of us everywhere!). The weather had other plans at first, though -- super foggy and cold in the morning. We ended up delayed by about 2 hours, not too bad. The first stop was the Golden Temple, which, unlike the Varanasi one, is a Sikh temple. It was so impressive! A huge complex with a gilded golden temple in the middle (something like 800kg of gold was used!) surrounded by a sacred pool surrounded by marble! It was also amazingly clean, including an amazingly clean public bathroom. One has to be barefoot (and with a head covering) everywhere inside the temple (it was cold, ick), so I was a little afraid of the bathroom, but it looked like it had been washed 5 minutes before, which was probably in fact the case. There were armies of volunteers everywhere, cleaning and serving food and doing service for the temple. We went inside the temple and listened to chanting, and also had lunch at the kitchen, where they serve everyone for free (we donated some money, since we are definitely not needy).

After that, Satinder had arranged a tour for us that was a walk around markets and other places in the old city. The guide was a very enthusiastic and knowledgeable lady who told us more stories about Sikhs and showed us facades of old buildings, shops of all kinds, a Hindu temple with some amazing paintings, and a gigantic ancient tree that's growing in and around several houses (you can't cut down a banyan tree, but you can build around it!). We also tried some Punjabi sweets -- something like a funnel cake but smaller and dipped in sugar syrup instead of powdered sugar. Yay for sweet deep-fried things! We also got a photo with a random shopkeeper who insisted that he wanted to give us a free candy and take our pictures. His friends took pictures of us, too -- I guess both he and us will have a souvenir :)

After another snack (unknown veggie pastry), we met Satinder's wife and son -- Harkiran and Jot -- and Harkiran's mom, niece, and mom's servant (who startled us when she brought us water on a tray and departed again. I guess it's not weird for people here to have servants, but to us, it was surprising). We hung out for a little bit and then went to the flag retrieval ceremony on the India-Pakistan border! This is the only place where the border is open (with very tight security) and there is a nightly ceremony where soldiers from both sides meet, take down flags, and close the gate (though it re-opens again after everyone leaves so busses and trucks can come through). It's rather like a sports match -- thousands of Indians (and about a third as many Pakistanis) come, fill the bleachers on either side, and cheer madly as soldiers march up and down, making incredibly high kicks and weird stompy motions (I tried to get video but haven't looked at it yet to see if it turned out). Harkiran and I were in the ladies section, and we ended up at the very top of the bleachers, standing on the outer wall, hanging on to the railings. At least we could see. :) It was really a spectacle, and a huge tourist attraction. Despite tensions politically between the countries, it seems like the people here are not really inclined to dislike one another.

After this, we returned to town and visited Satinder's family's house. His mom doesn't speak English, but she sat with us and offered us snacks and smiled and hugged me when we left. :) His dad speaks pretty good English and we chatted with him about religion (he told us more about Sikhs fighting Muslims), politics (corruption in India and Pakistan, and how most people who live near the border are friendly and don't care about the divisions), and other random things. It was neat to talk to someone who lives here and isn't paid to interact with tourists. Also, we got a great photo of Satinder and his dad, sitting identically and looking solemn. :)

Now we're home and in need of sleep! Tomorrow, we go to an Indian wedding (I don't know whose, Satinder and Harkiran are taking us), and then we're on to Jaipur. Our trip is winding down, sadly. But we still have interesting things to come, so yay!