Early Friday morning we left Chandigarh for the city of Amritsar to see the Golden Temple. The day started off the same with Mia screaming during her shower, and Jas and I running around frantically so we could get on the road. Once we were all piled in the van, we set out on our journey. Most of the ride was all country and farm land but we did pass through a few small towns. About two hours into our trip we stopped off at this really cool restaurant and had breakfast. The food was amazing and most importantly there were clean bathrooms. Again, Mia was in no mood and barely touched her food but she was excited to get to the Golden Temple.
We continued on for about another 2 hours and finally arrived in Amritsar. We parked in this huge garage and went out into the open street. It was busy, congested and hectic with rickshaw drivers all trying to take us for a ride. We finally climbed into one and I have to say it was an experience. It was very uncomfortable for one, then trying to hold onto Mia and making sure she didn't drop puppy was difficult. (I took a video and will try to post). But this guy weaved in and out of all the madness and then a street cop stopped him because he was taking us down a street where rickshaws were not allowed. So we got off and started to walk when a motorcyclist started to try and push his way through almost hitting my mother in law. My father in law got in the guys face and started yelling at him almost starting a fight until my mother in law shooed the guy away. Pretty intense to see him like that because he is usually so calm.
Meanwhile we checked in our shoes (like a coat ckeck) and headed inside. When I caught my first glimpse of the Temple I was immediately stunned. I have seen it on TV a million times because they have a live feed on the Indian channel at home. But it was so impressive to see it in person shinning in the sun. We started to make our way to the entrance and stopped to see if Mia wanted to dip her feet in the water. I saw many people stripping down and actually going all the way in because it is supposed to cleanse your soul and rid of any health issues. (I should have jumped in myself!) To our surprise Mia wanted to go all the way in so we stripped her down and Jas dipped her in and she loved every second of it! She kept begging to go back in but we had to get in the huge line to make our way inside the Temple.
Standing in line was probably the most unpleasant part of the trip. It was hot and the sun was beating down on us and on top of that Mia was extremely cranky and wanted me to carry her. It felt like the line was barely moving and I was sweating through my Indian outfit. Then my scarf kept falling off of my hair and many people came up to me saying I needed to cover my hair. It was kind of embarrassing because they probably thought I was some disrespectful white person when infact I just didn't know it fell off. We finally made it inside and it was truly amazing. I wish I could haven taken pictures inside but no photography was allowed. Mia made a small donation and she was so happy that she received a little gold chocolate in return. Many of you know that I am pretty strict with her diet and she has never really had such a big piece of chocolate in her life. But I let her devour the entire thing and chocolate was everywhere, most importantly she was so happy.
We piled back into the car and headed off to Jas's Uncle's house in a small town called Hoshiarpur. I have always heard that driving at night in India was difficult, but it was actually kind of scary. The country roads are dark and trucks, cars, rickshaws, motorcycles and people are everywhere. On top of dodging and weaving in and out of the madness, the roads are not good and kind of bumpy. In this small town, Jas informed me that they may have never seen a white girl before so I tried to keep a low profile. Not because it was dangerous only because I was tired and was in no mood to draw so much attention. Actually when people see Mia and I they are curious and always smile. The younger kids love it and always wave and they get a kick out of it when I wave back.
It was pretty late by the time we got to the house but we had dinner plans and I didn't want to be rude and say no even though we were all extremely exhausted. The restaurant we went to was small but the food was amazing, now I know what Jas meant about the food! Our night ended around midnight and Mia passed out at the restaurant and slept till 9:30 the next morning.
Thankfully she woke up in a great mood and was enjoying herself with Jas's family.
Now we are off to a town called Ropar to meet Jas's dads side of the family.
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