Day 56 Amritsar, India

3:20 am; cannot sleep; the air is extremely humid. We are staying within the grounds of Mrs. Bhandari's Guest House, in Amritsar, Punjab, India; beautiful mature gardens; colonial buildings; swimming pool. The problem is that we are not actually staying in any of the buildings - rather we are camping, and the problem with that is that it's simply too hot and humid. Put my tent up on one of the lawns (about midnight) - but pointless - quickly ended up laying on a sleeping bag saturated with sweat; you could just ring it out. Mosquitoes - I have a net but not sure where it is on the truck. The best solution to this seemed to be the most obvious - get in the swimming pool - which I did, the problem being this was about half past midnight: a tedious waiting game for dawn and tomorrow to start. A few of us in the pool and the bats flying overhead. I have baseball cap with built in net: the rest of me is under water.

It's now 3:20 am and I've got out to write my diary. I am going to be tired tomorrow. Mrs. Bhandari's Guest House is an unusual place for Hot Rock to stay at:- it has charm. A sort of colonial charm. Apparently very little has changed here since the 1930s - the main building, a late-Raj family residence, surrounded by an English garden with brick paths, pergolas and arches, the whole being screened off from the outside world by mature trees. There is guest accommodation in various wings off the main house, and bungalows in the grounds. Given the impossibility of camping I'll investigate the option of staying in a guest house room tomorrow night, complete with air conditioning.

Earlier today we drove in the truck from Lahore to Amritsar via the Wagah border crossing. Border crossing straightforward, apart from having to take everything off the truck, take it through the customs hall and put it all back on the truck. Initial impression of India is one of greenness and also it looks cleaner than Pakistan. And one can buy beer.

Think I'll return to the pool now.

8:10 am. Well, at 4:30 am I felt a bit cooler and abandoned the pool to sleep on my foam mat in my tent. Did eventually get some sleep. Sleeping bag drying out on the swing.

7:22 pm. Have ordered macaroni cheese from the guest house kitchens (magnificent kitchens indeed: high ceilings, copper pans, the works); Geoff, T, Mel and I have sorted out a huge colonial room - the air conditioning is on maximum. Geoff, T, Mel are pretty ill in various ways; but at least they've got a chance of recovering.

Earlier today T and I went into Amritsar - a short rickshaw ride away; started off with coffee and internet. We visited two important sites in Amritsar.

The site of the infamous Amritsar massacre also known as Jallianwala Bagh massacre, named after the Jallianwala Bagh Garden in Amritsar, where, on April 13, 1919, British Indian Army soldiers opened fire on an unarmed gathering of men, women and children. Bullet holes are preserved in the brick walls. Official sources place the casualties at 379. At least 120 people died trying to escape the death by jumping into a deep well.

Walking five hundred metres to the south, via street cafe lunch stop, took us to the Harmandir Sahib, Hari Mandir or Golden Temple of Amritsar. Visitors leave their shoes at near the entrance, cover their heads (baseball cap is okay), and wade through a shallow pool (to wash feet) before entering. I guess the most famous (and sacred) part of the Golden Temple complex is the Hari Mandir (Divine Temple) or Darbar Sahib (Court of the Lord), which is the central golden structure in the lake of water. Large numbers of people around the temple complex: there seemed to be a great deal of 'hidden' organisation - some people filling buckets with lake water, some different people passing buckets to some further different people who emptied the buckets, onto the pavements.



8:25 pm. Have had the macaroni cheese and a rather nice pumpkin soup, plenty of pepper. Plus buttered toast. All served to us on a table set up (complete with pressed table cloth), in our Raj room, by Raj waiter: British Raj at its erstwhile finest. (Of course I tried to help the waiter by holding the door open for him and his trays, but he would have none of it!) Poor T and Geoff pretty ill.