1st Nov FRI: Afternoon walk around backstreets of Amritsar Town

In my earlier post I forgot to mention the air pollution in Delhi - we were inside the airport and didn't leave but could see how poor visibility was outside.    David read in a local newspaper that its been so bad they've closed schools.   Apparently there has been no breeze to clear it away but the forecast is for windier weather in a couple of days.   We'll be spending a bit of time there in one week so keeping fingers crossed the air will be better then.

We landed a little early and when we left the airport our driver (with placard) wasn't there to meet us as planned.   After 20 minutes I asked David to phone our hotel to find out where the driver was.   His response (which won't surprise anybody) 'I'm not paying £2 a minute on my UK sim card'!!  An Indian lady overheard and said 'ere, use mine!   She was from S.E. London … small world really!   Anyway, just as he dialled the hotel our driver turned up and all was well.   But that kind of sums up India really.   The people (generally) are lovely and so willing to help.    

We wanted to buy an Indian sim card to use here but one of the guys from our hotel said that wouldn't be possible as we don't have Indian ID.   He 'sold' us his own one which he can easily replace.   We still don't know if he was being entirely truthful but it doesn't matter - we have an Indian sim card to use for the next few weeks so can avoid getting a huge bill and have data wherever we go.    The same helpful guy popped out to buy some bottles of beer for us as the hotel is 'dry' … which I had thought it would be.      As it happens we passed a huge wine/beer shop on our walk yesterday so we could have bought our own but it saved us carrying the bottles back to the hotel.   We're not alcoholics but after a hot walk through Indian streets a cold beer goes down well!

We got to our hotel in Amritsar, The Sawera Grand,  just before 4pm and decided to walk around the streets nearby for a couple of hours to get some exercise after spending so long on planes and in airports.    We're used to chaotic Indian streets but these are up there with the maddest - the only thing we didn't see were cows or elephants on the roads.

Amritsar, literally meaning "holy pool of nectar" is the spiritual and cultural centre of the Sikh Religion

Noisy, messy and vibrant just about sums it up.   The pollution is pretty bad here as well but nowhere near as bad as Delhi … the haze kept the heat at bay a bit so it wasn't too hot to walk.

It was really quite difficult to take photos this afternoon, the streets are narrow and lined with shops, market barrows, motorbikes and other hazards and we had to constantly move to avoid being run over or jostled.

Here's a selection anyway.   To increase the upload speed on Blogger I've compressed the image quality and reduced the size as the original photos are big files.   I hope it looks OK at your end.

Some of the buildings are quite wonderful … but run down

Its just mayhem .. but we're much more confident in Indian traffic these days.   Drivers/riders know the width of their vehicles to within a centimetre I'd say - they blast away on their horns non stop but never in anger, more a way of letting other users know they're around.  

There are so many small businesses/industries in tiny rooms like these in every back street

A couple of street dogs with puppies - it looks as though they're being looked after (in a fashion) with comfy bedding and food

We were amused (amazed) by these gas hobs - no boring black glass bases for these - they're really vibrant colours

I thought the big advert at the top of this picture summed the street up perfectly - it really is a maze!

There was a row of shoe shops all looking like these - the shoes are higgledy piggledy, I don't know how they find matching pairs.

Motorbikes really are becoming the scourge of modern India.   On most streets they're parked 2 and 3 abreast at each side of the road narrowing down streets that already struggle to cope with traffic.   Over the last 5 years we've noticed it becoming more and more of a problem in the North and in the South.

bicycle rickshaws lined up

terracotta bowls of all shapes and sizes

I have no idea what this all about.     He saw me looking and waved so I asked if I could take his photo.    He had a couple of words of English and I have no Indian at all so I'm none the wiser

Basket seller

These are all Indian pickles.      He said we could try one so David selected mango pickle which was very salty and tasted very similar to lime pickle.   Such a huge selection to choose from

Young lads bundling up sugar cane for sale to the drinks vendors who crush it to make a lovely refreshing juice with chilli and sometimes jaggery (pure sugar)

The mother of these two girls asked me to take their photograph - they wouldn't smile though (loss of front teeth)

Stupid goat with a death wish

They work so hard to earn a living in India … This young lad was no more than 9 or 10 I'd say

The jaggery on this traders barrow was attracting some huge wasps

This butcher shop was very shabby and unappetising … unless you're a street dog of course then why not curl up outside and hope for a few scraps or bones




We're both shattered now.    We ate in the hotel (the only guests in the restaurant) as we couldn't be bothered to walk around looking for somewhere to eat tonight.   So its early to bed for us so we can catch up on sleep and be refreshed for tomorrow.