According to the plan, we were supposed to leave Nepal at sunrise. We got up before 5:00 to catch the flight from Kathmandu to Delhi. At the airport, it turned out that the flight was canceled, and the next one is at 10:40. Initially, we weren’t too worried because we had a flight to Amritsar at 14:30. However, Monika, guided by intuition, asked about the possibility of taking large backpacks into the cabin. The person at the check-in asked for the reason, and when she found out that we had another flight at 14:30 to Amritsar, she offered help in changing the airlines for our journey to Delhi. We were informed that the Royal Nepal Airlines flight would probably start with a significant delay, which practically means that we won’t make it to the flight to Amritsar. Thanks to the help of a friendly lady at the airport in Nepal, at the last moment, we boarded the AirIndia flight, which took off at 10:00 to Delhi. The change of airlines was completely free for us. At the very modern third terminal of the New Delhi airport, we smoothly made the transit to the plane and reached Amritsar without major adventures. On-site, it turned out that there is no advertised free bus from the airport to the Golden Temple. We took a taxi for 600 INR. We stayed at the Novelty Inn hotel about 300 meters from the temple, right in the middle of a typical loud and crowded Hindu city.
Throughout the entire Golden Temple complex, it is necessary to walk without shoes. You cannot put your shoes in backpacks; you must leave them in special free lockers. Shoe rooms are located at the entrances. Barefoot, we set out to explore the complex. Pilgrims are everywhere, and there are practically no tourists. We made a mistake and stood in line to visit the golden temple from the inside. It turned out that the line was very long and moved very slowly. After about 3 hours, we got inside the most sacred place for Sikhs. If you are not followers of the Sikh religion, in my opinion, it’s not worth waiting so long to see the interior of the temple. The Golden Temple looks much more attractive from the outside than from the inside.
However, if you absolutely want to go inside, I suggest standing in line for women and tourists instead of pushing into the main line, where mostly men are crowded, sometimes with wives and children. The line for women is located deep inside the complex. When entering the complex, you mainly see a line for men, and you should not stand in the line. You should go around the complex and get to the line for women and tourists. It is shorter and moves much faster.
In summary, I suggest not going inside the temple but focusing on exploring other buildings in the complex, which is quite extensive and interesting. It is also worth sitting in the shade of one of the buildings for several minutes and watching the pilgrims. It is essential to visit the complex after dark. The illumination is fantastic.
In Amritsar, it’s also worth going to Jallianwala Bagh Park, which commemorates the victims of the British soldiers’ massacre that took place in 1919. The British opened fire on unarmed protesters, killing at least over a thousand people. The park is also an ideal place to rest from the hustle and bustle of the streets.
From Amritsar, we left for Dharamshala by bus at 20:00. The journey took about 4 hours, and we arrived at our destination in the middle of the night. Initially, we planned to go in the morning, but as it turned out, the information from the Internet about several buses a day was untrue. From Amritsar to Dharamshala, there is only one, quite decent semi-sleeper, at 20: 00.
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