Goldem Temple, Amritsar

We had a late start after a nice breakfast of fruit and yogurt in the garden. The bus headed straight for the Golden Temple. The traffic - cars, buses, horses with cards, tuctucs, bicycles pulling rickshaws, motorbikes (nice to see women driving them too), lorries, vans, tractors, pedestrians, all fighting for roadroom. Wishes were indicated by much horn tooting or tune playing. We were set down amid it and our guide instructed us to follow him, belly to back.

The temple was impressive, not only the gold bit, but the huge white complex itself. We went to see the kitchens where volunteers feed tens of thousands a day. The cauldrons were full of enormous vats of vegetarian food. In one section a few dozen women were sitting peeling garlic. In another men and women washed metal plates at great speed. It was buzzing with activity.

We went shopping for a bit on the way back and got a tuktuk to the hotel for an hour before we set off again to see the golden temple at night. It was as busy as ever as prayers were on. It was even more striking all lit up. We had half an hour then went out for a wonderful meal. I have no idea what we ate but it was all fabulous- apart from the chilli stuffed with chilli which was a mistake I tried to rectify with Kingfisher.