Golden temple of Amritsar.

It is December 7th and we are off to the north to Amritsar by train. It was a 7 hour trip, most of it in the dark, so not super exciting except for the fact that they fed us almost constantly.   We are presently 20 minutes from Pakistan, and about a 20 hour drive from Kabul, Afghanistan.  Suggested we do a weekend road trip over, but got no takers.  Amritsar is in the Punjab, home of the turbaned, bearded Sikhs and their famous Golden Temple, the holiest shrine of their religion, Sikhism.
We attempted to get a room at the Golden Temple guest house, but found the huge mansion full, with the 60 by 60  foot central plaza and all 4 stories of the balconies absolutely overflowing with sleeping bodies!  The dormitory wasn't much better.  The beds were a series of connected benches running along the walls, and werer nearly covered with people.  We found us another much quieter and much less quieter place down the street.                                                 
Went out to find a breakfast restaurant, and found the traffic on the roads were so heavy that we actually considered hiring a rickshaw to take us across the street.  Finally got across, ate and took a rickshaw home.  We visited the Golden Temple later in the day.  It was almost as spectacular as the Taj Mahal.  And here, Sam was asked by even more people to stand in with them for their family photo!  The temple is in the center of a pool of sacred nectar.  It is surrounded by a marble walkway. Nice spot, peaceful and away from the noisy crowds.  Thr top of the temple is covered with 1500 pounds of gold. The temple is guarded b a handful Sikhs carrying spears-amazingly low security for such a valuable piece of property!
I, (Steve) got up early the next morning and went to the Sikh's feeding center at the temple.  They feed 10,000 people a day here for free. The 2 story building will seat (on the floor, of course) 1,000 people at a time.  I peeled garlic, shucked peas, handed out plates and washed dishes (one of the 125 dishwashers washing at that time), then sat  down to a fine breakfast  of sweet saffron rice with cocoanut milk, chapattis and curried vegetables-quite delicious.