Thursday 13th February 2020 - to Amritsar

We treated ourselves to a lay in and a late breakfast as we were heading to Udaipur airport around midday. The hotel was so busy when we left. A large BASF conference had been taking place and they were all leaving and a large wedding was happening over the next couple of days and they were all arriving, so it was all a bit manic!

We had hoped to utilise some of our time here by uploading videos onto the website but the signal wasn’t good enough, again. If it carries on like this we will be doing them once we are home! 🙄

It was an hours drive and our driver was very good and made us feel safe in his car!

From then on it was check in, hang around, just over an hours flight to Delhi, then hang around again before our flight to Amritsar. Another hour in the air. Why is this sort of doing nothing so tiring?!

We arrived at 8.45 and were out of the airport with our luggage at 9.10, hotel by just after 9.30. Very impressive! All of a sudden you are aware of the number of Sikhs here. Men everywhere with turbans.

So now we are in Punjab, the name meaning 5 rivers. Amritsar means Pool of Nectar, relating to the pool at the Golden Temple.

The first thing that strikes you as you are being driven is that the road surface is smooth, then the roads are not as busy, and it is less noisy! Amritsar is a city of 2.6million so not a small place! About 65% Sikh, 20% Hindu, and the rest a mixture.

The hotel we are staying in is small and delightful. It was built 100 years ago, accessed down a narrow alley which felt a bit odd, but once in the gates it felt like a little bit of a sanctuary from the city outside. It is still furnished as it was when built, there is incense burning, Indian music playing and it is all very calm and peaceful. Just what we need after a days travelling. We were greeted with cups of black rose petal tea which was very refreshing and then shown to our room which was like stepping back in time!

With a 10.00 start scheduled for tomorrow we can enjoy another leisurely start to the day before exploring Amritsar.