Dreams & Ambitions Discovered: Amritsar, India: Golden Temple

Arrived in Amritsar at 8am, the holiest place in Sikhism. I usually hate holy cities, they are interesting to visit for a couple days but I don't leave with much new found respect. Anybody who has ever been to the Old City in Jerusalem for example knows the whole thing is a giant market. You feel like your purpose for being there is so the locals can extract money from you. Similar held for Varanasi, India.
I first noticed a difference the moment I stepped on the train with all the pilgrims wearing turbans headed to Amritsar. A teenager approached me and told me his family has 4 berths (24 beds) and offered me dinner, told him I had just eaten. That is one thing that bothered me some in India, I shared compartments for several hours with families on two occasions who had big pots full of rice, potatoes, curry etc. but never offered to share. The weird part is that I never expected them to. Could run off a list of countries where that would never ever happen, nobody would ever eat in front of you like that in most places I have been. I know i wouldn't.
Anyway, arrived at the train station and took the free bus to the Golden Temple. The Temple offers free accommodation (donations accepted) to both Sikh pilgrims and tourists. Then there is a kitchen with 24 hour free food. You are not forced into walking past hundreds of stalls selling shit like at Borobudur (largest Buddhist temple in the world in Indonesia) or in Jerusalem etc. This is how a holy place should be!

Free accommodation for Sikh pilgrims

Have to take off your shoes and cover your head before entering the grounds

Construction was completed in 1604

Temple is in the middle of a pool filled with holy water

Some bathe in the holy pool/lake

you walk clockwise around the temple

Opposed to Hinduism and Buddhism Sikhism is monotheistic. The essence of Sikh teachings can be summed up in the words "Realisation of Truth is higher than all else. Higher still is truthful living". It is the 5th largest religion in the world.

Lunch time, lots of good beards walking around this place

Feeding us is a major operation. This is the lower floor of the dining hall. There are 8 aisles

volunteers washing dishes

In the afternoon I went to the Wagah border crossing with Pakistan, sometimes called "The Berlin Wall of Asia". The flag ceremony is quite the spectacle to say the least. Show is just getting started, the music is bumping on both sides of the border. Girls are dancing in the streets on the Indian side.

The grandstand on the Indian side is filled to capacity. Yes, there really is stadium seating for 8,000 people (on the Indian side alone) to watch flags be lowered at the border!

Nationalistic fervor taking over...

Indians marching towards the gate

The soldiers are very aggressive in their actions. They put on this huge show and shake hands but I don't think any foreigners left with the impression that they liked each other

he guy with the microphone was in charge of hyping the crowd (Indian side). At this point an Indian is yelling for as long as he can with one breath, a Pakistani is doing the same on the other side. The Pakistani's won this part of the match

back to the gates

Gates are aggressively opened. Pakistan in black. Can see there are a lot of empty seats on their side, opposed to the Indian side where some had to sit on the street and others were not let in.