Amritsar. The site of the Golden Temple, the super holy Sikh spot. Being two young and somewhat stupid white girls, we decide to trek on in... without really reading instructions or really paying much attention to anything around us. 
Anyway, you can probably see where this is going... outside of the temple walls there is a marble area with little pools... we saw signs asking us to take our shoes off, but we didn't realize we were supposed to do it before the marble entrance... oops. A bunch of people ran over and showed us where our shoes were supposed to go (a hut with a number tag system). Mistake one. Sarah and I decided it would be more logical to throw our flipflops into her giant bag instead of tagging them, since we wouldn't be wearing them and they were small. Mistake two. So, we then decide to go in and totally don't notice that everyone else has their head covered. Mistake 3. I had a pashmina and could cover my giant blonde fluffball hair, but Sarah wasn't so lucky. So, on attempt 2 we had to leave again so she could buy a headcover. Third try was the charm and we got in. We walked around for a while and then got in line to go into the little golden temple in the middle of the lake... where a dude totally got in Sarah's face asking if she had shoes in her bag. She tried to explain the whole thing about not wearing them, but he wasn't having it. She went back to the main part of the temple and I walked around... my take away was that there are a lot of seriously dedicated religious people. We ended up totally 
loving the temple, despite the screw ups on our part and random stares and perceived hate. Despite this, we made lots of "friends" who took our pictures. After this, and a wee break, we caught a ride to the Pakistan border for the "Pakistan Withdrawal Ceremony"--a giant nightly ceremony where they lower the flags of both states, stare each other down (sometimes fight) and close the border. It is a huge display of patriotism on both sides, with each side of the border blasting music, trying to outdo the other. There were also random Indians running with the state f
lag and dancing to Indian music... at the border. It was very unique. We watched the sun set over Pakistan and reveled in the apparent hate between the border guards on both sides. They kicked at each other and glared and postured... there is video of this awesomeness which will be uploaded tomorrow. Check back!
Anyway, you can probably see where this is going... outside of the temple walls there is a marble area with little pools... we saw signs asking us to take our shoes off, but we didn't realize we were supposed to do it before the marble entrance... oops. A bunch of people ran over and showed us where our shoes were supposed to go (a hut with a number tag system). Mistake one. Sarah and I decided it would be more logical to throw our flipflops into her giant bag instead of tagging them, since we wouldn't be wearing them and they were small. Mistake two. So, we then decide to go in and totally don't notice that everyone else has their head covered. Mistake 3. I had a pashmina and could cover my giant blonde fluffball hair, but Sarah wasn't so lucky. So, on attempt 2 we had to leave again so she could buy a headcover. Third try was the charm and we got in. We walked around for a while and then got in line to go into the little golden temple in the middle of the lake... where a dude totally got in Sarah's face asking if she had shoes in her bag. She tried to explain the whole thing about not wearing them, but he wasn't having it. She went back to the main part of the temple and I walked around... my take away was that there are a lot of seriously dedicated religious people. We ended up totally 
loving the temple, despite the screw ups on our part and random stares and perceived hate. Despite this, we made lots of "friends" who took our pictures. After this, and a wee break, we caught a ride to the Pakistan border for the "Pakistan Withdrawal Ceremony"--a giant nightly ceremony where they lower the flags of both states, stare each other down (sometimes fight) and close the border. It is a huge display of patriotism on both sides, with each side of the border blasting music, trying to outdo the other. There were also random Indians running with the state f
lag and dancing to Indian music... at the border. It was very unique. We watched the sun set over Pakistan and reveled in the apparent hate between the border guards on both sides. They kicked at each other and glared and postured... there is video of this awesomeness which will be uploaded tomorrow. Check back!
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