Continuing dads route from 36 years ago we continued on towards Amritsar. The bikes were going well, cruising along nicely side by side, easy rider style. We stopped every 50km or so for a cup of chi from roadside dhaba's (restaurants). Indian chi is made of mainly milk, boiled with tea leaves, sugar and ginger then strained into the cup, it's bloody lovely and was always a good enough excuse for a 20 minute stop and leg stretch.
It took two days to ride to Amritsar, about 500km. The road was straight and wide but you still had to stay on the ball. There's no real rules on the road, just toot and go. It's predominantly drive on the left but if you miss your turning there's no problem with riding/driving down the wrong side of the dual carriageway.
I got squeezed between a tuk tuk and concrete barrier, good job I had the bull bars on the bike, they protected my leg when I hit the concrete. Each day when we arrived at our destination our faces were covered in black road grime. The air on the roads is pretty polluted.
We arrived in Amritsar, about 20 km from the Pakistan border, and followed signs to the Golden Temple. The signs took us down the high street full of people. By chance we ended up in an underground bike park with 24 hour security. We parked the bikes right next to the guard then set off to find a place to stay.
We dumped our bags at the hotel and went to the temple. It is the most sacred Sikh temple in the world. It is the same as the Vatican city for Catholics or Mecca for Muslims. The temple itself is covered entirely in gold leaf and surrounded by a holy lake called the pool of nectar. The lake is surrounded by a gated precinct. We removed our shoes and covered our heads before we entered. We arrived as the sun was going down, it was lighting up the gold temple and making it glow. Pretty impressive looking. We went back into town for food then returned to see it lit at night. I think it looked even better at night.
Entry to the temple is free, they offer a free meal for every person regardless of faith and provide a place to sleep for the night. The morals of the place seem spot on and the Sikhs we met seemed very proud of it. The kitchen area was on an industrial scale, huge cooking pots and a massive line of troughs for washing up. Everyone was calm and friendly, it was a nice place to be. We walked through the temple itself and up onto the roof. It's a lovely building covered in gold leaf.
The following day we left Amritsar and headed back to Delhi. We stopped at a town for breakfast and to have our bikes looked at. My gear selector was contacting the foot peg and making gear selection difficult. I also got my valve clearance adjusted and the chain tensioned on both mine and dads.
We continued back and came across a shopping mall complex. It housed a KFC, McDonald's and subway, it looked very out of place amongst the Indian agricultural land!
We arrived back in Delhi 2 days after leaving Amritsar. About 1000 km done in 4 days. The bikes went very well and are a blast to ride.
Rob
No comments:
Post a Comment