Amritsar, Golden Temple, Sikhism

Sikh, the first thing that pops out of my head is, Sikh = security guard. This is just a stereotype though, no offense to anyone. Since i was small, i was told like so. There are Sikhs in Malaysia, but minority. I only know Sikhism as a religion, but other things, totally no clue. So i went to Amritsar, visited the Golden Temple, and started to learn a little bit about them. 

Amritsar is really nice to visit. It is clean, the cleanest city among the all the cities i had been to in India. A visit to Amritsar will totally give you a new perspective on Sikhs.

The main road leading to the Golden Temple.

The Golden Temple at night.

The Golden Temple during daytime. Too bad it was raining that day.
Otherwise, the temple will shine under the sunlight.

Many people lining up to go into the central shrine.

Inside the central shrine. This is the only picture i took inside the shrine.
Take less photo and feel the Holiness.

Guess what, a Nepalese Sikh, and his friend. Both of them working as volunteer there.
And he speaks chinese. Cool!
It was him who invited us to have dinner in the canteen beside the temple.
Actually anyone can eat there. They provide 3 meals a day, 365 days non stop.   

The food is coming ^^
Improve your good karma, donate some money at your free will,
to support them continue to giving out free food. 

Every corner of the temple, there is clean water provided.
They are cleaning the drinking mugs by using some sort of dirt.
The dirt will adsorb the moisture.  

There is a canteen beside the temple providing free food. I think this is reason why there are less beggars in the town. Less beggars, thus cleaner. For everything i had seen in the temple, in Amritsar, i would like to praise Sikhs for doing such a good job. 

Sikhs are cool! I met alot of Sikhs in India, and all of them are super well-mannered. Sikh is totally one of classy people i have seen. What i am saying here is, not just rich Sikhs, poor Sikhs are also very classy, even they are poor, they always keep themselves very clean, and they wouldn't beg. It is not because of the temple is providing food and they have no worries about food. I had met some poor Sikhs outside Amritsar also. They just sit there and let you donate at your free will, unlike other annoying beggars in India. 

Sikhs, i salute you!  

Daydreaming to India

寻找自己

在旅程中寻找不同的风景、不同的体验时，
更需寻求不同的眼睛及不同的心境。
寻求不同的自己。

Lassi

I would say lassi is the national drink of India. My opinion, sweet lassi very tasty yum yum; salted lassi is hard to accept. I had a salted lassi once, first few sips is still ok, but too much is disgusting. According to local indians, they said it is very rare that a foreigner orders a salted lassi.

There is also bhang lassi. But me and my mom dared not to try it.

In this video below, i believe this is how lassi is traditionally prepared.

My mom, sweet lassi on the left, salted on the right

Responsible travelling

I guest everyone had heard before about ecotourism. It is all about preserving and conserving the environment of the places you visited. But we must also protect the local culture and economy. So 2 aspects, culture and economy.

Culture

The cultural shock is mutual. In some countries such as India, foreigners are still not very common in some places. Many from the older generation might have never seen a foreigner before. One must remember, we are walking into their daily life. Respect them, show courtesy. 

In Varanasi, there were these koreans. I met them in one of the burning ghats. Burning ghats is where they cremate the body of the dead. It is an extremely holy place in Varanasi and everybody in India wants to be cremated here. The ritual is of course very emotional for the family members of the dead. 

I stand from far to watch the ritual going on. I dared not to even moving a step closer. But these koreans showed no respect at all. They walked around trying a find a higher ground, climbing up and down the staircase of  temples, to get a closer look at the ritual. After they found a higher spot, they kept taking pictures. Imagine you are in your relative's funeral, and a bunch of tourists just walk all around the funeral and taking pictures. Of course you will be angry at them. So same case here. Those f**king stupid parasites, in fact i have seen a lot of people like this, all they care about is taking some stupid photos.  

Economy

After i traveled to India, i realized how rich i am, comparing to the local indians. All of a sudden, everything seemed so cheap there. Even the prices for foreigners, which are normally much higher than those for the locals, are still very cheap for me. So, during the first few days in India, i spent money without bargaining, without second thought. For taking taxis, tuk-tuks, buying stuffs, etc., I just gave whatever the price they offered.

Then i realized there is a danger within. I realized i had became a person i always don't want to be, an irresponsible traveler. The impact to the local people is important if i continue to do so. 

If we think a little, imagine a boy rowing boat on the Ganges, fetching tourists, he can easily gain more money  daily than his teacher. Will he respect his teacher anymore? He must be wondering what is the use to continu studying. It will be worst if we don't bargain and have no doubts on the prices given. Slowly, people will abandon their present job and go into tourism, simply because jobs related to tourism can let them make more money easily. 

No doubts tourism is a booming industry. But in developping countries, we cannot rely solely on tourism. Tourism is a fluctuating industry, depending largely on political stability, climate, etc.. For exemple, a suiside bombing attack in a small town will be enough to scare foreigners from getting into the country. So, many will be jobless during these low seasons. This is exactly what happen in Tozeur. People there are living a hard life during the summer when the temperature is burning hot. 

May be we can copy Bhutan's policy, controlling the amount of tourists in their country annually. But as an individual, we cannot simply change a national policy. But we can bargain. Always try to get the local price instead of tourist price.

I remember the favourite movie, the Beach. Many of us are f**king parasites. We, tourists, discover a new place, exploit the place, take what we need, and move onto the next. This is what happen in Varanasi, Kho Samui, Pulau Redang and many more. Last year i went to Redang, and i was very disappointed. I expected a beautiful beach, but all those tourists with their cameras, all those hotels and bars, had ruined everything. Within 10 years, Redang from a secluded beach to a famous holiday spot. When i was there, there are more hotels under construction! Poor little Redang, how many hotels they wanna put on it...

遗憾

曾试图描写她的美，但都草草了事。从未写过一篇满意的文章。似乎她的美是无法以笔墨形容，笔墨只会局限了她的美。

Cows...... Cows everywhere......

Cows are considered sacred in India. I guess this fact is pretty well known. Why they are considered holy, one can easily find the answer online. 

During my stay in India, they are everywhere. From big city of Mumbai to small villages, they are there. Their population is big, so their shit is also everywhere. If one's impression on a place is based on odour, I can say that India's smell is a mixture of spices and cow shit, and also urine. 

me and a cow

cows beside a lake in Udaipur

i took this photo while i was on a bus

cows in Jodhpur, Mehrangarh Fort is sitting on top of the hill.

cow in Varanasi

In Agra

cows taking bath in the Ganges river

cow and hindu temples

cow in a train station

The cows in India are very gentle, their temper is so good. They won't bother you even if you touch their horns. They live among human, and human constantly offer them some food. Many of them are not for labouring. Until now, I am still not sure whether many of them have a owner. They are just there...

经验之谈

身处险境之前，任何人都可以针对任何险境做出万全的准备; 但危险真的来临时，任何万全的准备都不再显得万全。只有经验才是最好的准备。

Horn OK Please

Indian traffic regulations are just suggestions.   - monkeetime.com -

If you keep complaining about malaysian terrible traffic, you are damn wrong, because you haven't experienced indian traffic yet. It seems like honking is part of indian driving culture. Wherever there is a road in India, there will be continuous honking sound from 6 am to 12 am. After 3 weeks staying in India, I had troubles crossing the roads in Malaysia, because the continuous honking doesn't exists in Malaysia. It is so funny because I was so get used to the sound already.

The honking is annoying at first, and is always annoying. At first, I simply couldn't understand why the hell they honk. They honk almost every second during driving, even the roads in front of them is clear. But after some while, I think I understand now. They honk to give signal, to tell other people that they are coming. Because everyone is not looking at the road before crossing it, the drivers must honk. The indians are also so numb to the honking, the cars honk, and they would slowly move their asses, unlike me or other malaysians (well i assume), the honking would freak us out, and we would run like hell if the cars are coming.

The following pictures are showing how common the honking in India is, almost every vans and lorries have the sign "Horn OK Please".

Indian traffic is famous because it is terrible. But I think it is wrong to say their driving skill is terrible too. I am actually impressed by their driving skill. Everyone drives so close together on the road but they rarely bump into each other, or crash. 

If I am given a sentence to sum up indian traffic, I would say this,

If you given a vehicle in India, you still wouldn't be able to drive on the road because you simply don't know how to.