We had a teeny weeny lie in on our last day in Amritsar, then dragged ourselves out of the comfortable, warm bed and visited the trusty masala chai wallah for the last time. After our excellent brew we decided to plan ahead a little. Our last stop in India is Delhi, where we saw on the news that the pollution at the moment is horrendous. So, we purchased a couple of medical masks.
Loaded up with our new items, we checked out of the hotel and started our long walk to Amritsar train station. We were glad we bought the masks and decided to give them a try. The fumes along the main road were fairly disgusting. We detoured to a fort but didn't go in as it seemed to be more of a fun park offering Segway rides. Instead we continued.
Crossing the main road with around 8 lanes of traffic and some traffic lights which were ignored by everyone was interesting. However the next road lead us through a rather exclusive area where local judges lived. They all had their status printed on their front wall. A little further and we arrived at the Hindu temple we had been looking for. We left our shoes and bags at the counter and headed in.
This was an interesting temple because some of it is underground. It is a very glittery place where mirrors line the walls. There were lots of Gods, all with their individual shrines. We went through the temple following small alleyways, taking us down below the ground. Well, we are not exactly sure where we went as it was a bit of a maze!
Outside we collected our belongings and headed to the sweet stall. There are so many sweets on sale for Diwali we had to try a few. They were really quite good.
The train station wasn't far away but it was back across the horrible main road. This time crossing was a little easier. Inside the station we stocked up on food for our overnight journey to Jaipur, the pink city. There wasn't a huge amount of choice, just the usual crisps, biscuits and chai. Don't ask how long it took us to open the crisp packet but let's just say ... quite a while!! We found the main electronic display board and our train was on time. Off to find the platform next and the train was waiting, although left a few minutes late at 18.00. Arrival time in Jaipur 08.00.
Loaded up with our new items, we checked out of the hotel and started our long walk to Amritsar train station. We were glad we bought the masks and decided to give them a try. The fumes along the main road were fairly disgusting. We detoured to a fort but didn't go in as it seemed to be more of a fun park offering Segway rides. Instead we continued.
Crossing the main road with around 8 lanes of traffic and some traffic lights which were ignored by everyone was interesting. However the next road lead us through a rather exclusive area where local judges lived. They all had their status printed on their front wall. A little further and we arrived at the Hindu temple we had been looking for. We left our shoes and bags at the counter and headed in.
This was an interesting temple because some of it is underground. It is a very glittery place where mirrors line the walls. There were lots of Gods, all with their individual shrines. We went through the temple following small alleyways, taking us down below the ground. Well, we are not exactly sure where we went as it was a bit of a maze!
Outside we collected our belongings and headed to the sweet stall. There are so many sweets on sale for Diwali we had to try a few. They were really quite good.
The train station wasn't far away but it was back across the horrible main road. This time crossing was a little easier. Inside the station we stocked up on food for our overnight journey to Jaipur, the pink city. There wasn't a huge amount of choice, just the usual crisps, biscuits and chai. Don't ask how long it took us to open the crisp packet but let's just say ... quite a while!! We found the main electronic display board and our train was on time. Off to find the platform next and the train was waiting, although left a few minutes late at 18.00. Arrival time in Jaipur 08.00.