Amritsar

this place turn out to be more interesting that most of other places that i have been to so far.... Sydney, Perth, Melbourne, Shanghai, Narita and even Seoul.... maybe its because those places are cities and this is something different... its a 3rd world country. Everything was very backward but i am highly grateful for the internet access here and not to mention they have 70 over channels of cable tv...

Seoul is interesting cos of the gadgets they have there... Narita is because we are living off-town.. so nothing much to see until we get to stay in tokyo itself... shanghai is plainly shopping..

Yesterday was tremendous... some of the crew visited the Mother Theresa Orphanage... which i didnt cos i couldnt wake up... afternoon was lunch with the crew, punjab food is very tasty, i like Lassi a lot.. but think they put a lot of msg.. left me thirsty and full for the whole day. We travelled to Pakistan - India borders to witness the change of guards. its extremely crowded, i didnt know its such a big thing here considering its a daily event, but the stands and gallery is all filled. maybe its because of the deepavali holiday and weekend as well. According to Andrew (our Captain), this border is very famous because it cut a village into 2. this village turned hostile towards each other after the borders was drawn, cos half is Pakistan and half is India. This line is drawn by General Radcliffe back in the British colonial days and the village is known as the Wagga Village. It was an interesting sight, the parade. like a showoff event with dramatic fast marches and stamping, as they lift their legs above their heads. Almost a competition to see who is better as both sides carry out the routine with their citizens cheering them on. glamourous uniform and a never stopping fluttering of the fan structure, which reminded me of Cocks(male chickens). The nonstop touting in the streets but kids as young as 4-5 years old, just reminded me of how fortunate singaporean kids are. along the way, we saw rice fields, vegetables plantations that stretches as far as our eyes can see. herds of buffaloes, cows and sheeps, occasional wandering pigs... we also managed to catch a glimpse of an Indian wedding...

next was the Golden Temple, the holy sacred ground of Skihs. The temple is situated inside the Ghandi Gate, made of gold and yes, i mean real gold.. this place is also the site where the British massacred 1800 indians when they protested and wanted freedom and democracy. The temple is super majestic looking with all the lightings, rested in the middle of a square man-made lake, thousands of people were packed in the temple... people were praying, chanting, singing to the scriptures within the temple, we were lucky cos our guide manage to get express tickets for us, meaning we can cut thru all the queues of thousands of people to enter first. it was a sight to behold inside a temple made of gold. temperature was ard 8-9 degrees, but we see devotees soaking themselves in the holy lake. kudos to them.

Dinner before going back to hotel, was at our guide's brother-in-law's restaurant - Crystal. Coincidentally, our guide is called Amrit Singh, i wonder if its name after Amritsar. We played fireworks at the hotel after reaching back, something which u dun get in singapore or anywhere else much today, so much fun, the captains and the senior crew all joined in, we played till 3am...

Never have i thought that India can be so interesting, to think i was still dreading the trip cos its considered a long haul trip like europe and you get paid so much lesser. But apparently, this is a very difficult station to get cos some of the crew is also the first time here and its been 2 years for those who has been here before. So i guess its all worthwhile... real eye opener... seriously... the next time i get to come here, i will be visiting the Himalayas!!!