An early start today, woken by the 5am alarm. The auto rickshaw driver was waiting to take us to the train station. There was very little traffic. In fact, we saw more joggers enjoying the cold morning than we did vehicles.
The train seat we had booked seemed to be double booked. An Indian man had been allocated the same seat us us from the wait list. A little confused but we stayed in the allocated seats. Eventually the ticket conductor helped resolve the situation.
"Sir / Madam you are in the wrong seats. You have been upgraded to first class."
So we moved to our new seats and enjoyed the comfy seats and tranquility of first class!
We arrived at Amritsar Junction station and started walking to find our hotel, which was about 3km away. En route we passed a Hindu temple which was set in the centre of a small lake, so we removed our shoes and had a look around.
After dropping off our bags at the hotel we headed in the direction of the Golden Temple. We covered our heads with small, orange Golden Temple scarves and gave our shoes in at the desk.
As we entered the main complex where the Golden Temple stands, we were both speechless. The area is beautifully lit for Diwali and the Golden Temple looked unbelievable! The atmosphere surrounding the lake where it stands was buzzing with people. We took lots of photos and joined the very long queue to go inside. Eventually we made it and the décor was exquisite. The marble was embossed like the Taj Mahal and very beautiful. The whole top of the temple is real gold! What an awesome sight and great place to spend Diwali.
We followed our visit to the temple with hot chocolate, a wonderful Indian meal and an ice cream. Zzzz.
The train seat we had booked seemed to be double booked. An Indian man had been allocated the same seat us us from the wait list. A little confused but we stayed in the allocated seats. Eventually the ticket conductor helped resolve the situation.
"Sir / Madam you are in the wrong seats. You have been upgraded to first class."
So we moved to our new seats and enjoyed the comfy seats and tranquility of first class!
We arrived at Amritsar Junction station and started walking to find our hotel, which was about 3km away. En route we passed a Hindu temple which was set in the centre of a small lake, so we removed our shoes and had a look around.
After dropping off our bags at the hotel we headed in the direction of the Golden Temple. We covered our heads with small, orange Golden Temple scarves and gave our shoes in at the desk.
As we entered the main complex where the Golden Temple stands, we were both speechless. The area is beautifully lit for Diwali and the Golden Temple looked unbelievable! The atmosphere surrounding the lake where it stands was buzzing with people. We took lots of photos and joined the very long queue to go inside. Eventually we made it and the décor was exquisite. The marble was embossed like the Taj Mahal and very beautiful. The whole top of the temple is real gold! What an awesome sight and great place to spend Diwali.
We followed our visit to the temple with hot chocolate, a wonderful Indian meal and an ice cream. Zzzz.