Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Wow, internet access is way more difficult to come by than we thought it would be. Right now I am in the building they allow Sihk pilgrams to stay in when they come visit the Golden Temple - the wholiest place on earth for them. Sihks are the ones who always where turbins and the men never cut their hair. They are also some of the nicest people we have ever met. We've lost count of how many times people have wanted to chat with us, take their picture with us, and ask us to have tea with them. We oblige on almost every occasion. One boy was so excited to meet us he asked if we would take a picture with him (like has hapened tens of times)... when we said yes and lined up for the photo, he said, "Oh,  I don't have a camera, but you should take picture with yours." It was so funny.

Anyway, we got into Amritsar (northern India, just below Kashmir on the Pakistan border) yesterday morning on the Golden Temple Express. We had a cabin with two beds to ourselves and slept most of the night. Before you think it was that glamorous, I nearly vomited 2 seconds after attempting to use the bathroom and Nicole saw a rat... that was in first class. Indians travel in the lower class trains which sleep 100's to a single car. Eye-opening.

But we made it. This town is all about the Golden Temple. It is like Mecca for muslims and all Sihks try to come here in their lifetime. We've met cab drivers from NY and truckers from CA. Every Sihk comes here. Last night we participated in carrying their most holy book, written by their 1st Guru 500 years ago from the Golden Temple into its resting place for the evening, then shared coffee and sweets with a pilgrim. They are seriously the nicest people.

Thanks dad for the email on the Super Bowl. I just a few minutes ago learned from it that the Saints won... Nic's uncle Vic must be going nuts (season ticket holder).

Still enjoying the food a lot. Hot tea at every meal, and oftentimes in between too. Nan bread, spicy curries with vege mixes, curd yogurt, a drink called lassi which is like a yogurt smoothie, and tons of other goodies.

We fly to Jodhpur tomorrow morning. It's on the edge of the Thar desert in the state of Rajasthan. We'll be looking for the "evil maharaja" of Moulin Rouge fame. Hopefully internet will come easier out there. Bye!

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