The Golden Temple

23/09/11

We had a late start this morning, beginning our day with a wander around the well kept gardens that surround the Golden Temple. Untill we had walked around 3 sides of the temple complex and found the busy main entrance and a bazaar. We found a place to eat that was recommended in our

guide book. The lunch was good but the highlight was meeting an English/Punjabi couple who introduced themselves and then came to eat with us. Balbir and Gurdial were both born in Punjab but grew up from quite a young age and now lived in Bristol. They are baptised Sikhs and invited us to join them around the Golden Temple.

It was such a brilliant afternoon, not only is the Golden Temple breathtaking to look at and the atmosphere around the temple incredible but we had our own guides. They guided us through the basic premises of Sikhism and as we went round explained the significance of each part of the temple complex. The couple also acted as translators for all the temple goers that wanted to engage us in conversation, which were quite a few. After walking around the sacred lake that the Golden temple is sat within we queued up to actually go into the temple. There was quite a lot of amiable pushing and shoving to get in! The temple itself is made of gold and Gurdial told us that every 250 years the gold is completely replaced, through donations. Within the whole complex you can hear hymms being chanted throughout the day without break until the holy book is put to bed at night. Another spiritual experience.

We can not thank Balbir and Gurdial enough for such a lovely and insightful day.