I managed a late check out which was good. It was so good to be somewhere clean. Got some washing done. Had a hotel breakfast 3 egg omlette WOW !
Sadly it was soon time to go. So I loaded up and the inevitable Police squad arrived. We were off through the Lahore traffic for the border.
The Border ritual was relatively painless. I have learnt to laugh and make jokes where I can. It usually works. If they dont laugh I ask the guy for identification which he produced and we shook hands and got along just fine after that. However Pakistan was OK. India was a little more precise but no problems.
I then had to park the bike and return to the "border" to watch the flag lowering ceremony.
What a sad joke. Patriotism at its worst. (Pic the very enthusiastic and noisy crowd !) No wonder there is distrust between the two countries if this is how they think. I saw it as a comic sketch , (Pic the comic guard being half the compliment of 6 !) but I am sure the mass of Indians that crushed into the place did not. Essentially there is a gate and 1oo metres of seating either side which is jamb packed, and this happens every day ! Then about six "guards" with highly coloured hats and spat march up and down in an exaggerated fashion. The MC exhorts the crowd to shout cand chant, the flags are lowered, and the guards retreat. The crowd is left to find its way home in the dust and dark. Bloody odd really.
So I was left to ride to Amritsar in the dust and dark. Sadly I now have a bike overheating issue. The same problem (different cause) that I had fixed by BMW in London so I am pretty sore about that.
However I managed to find the Golden Temple and the Hotel. That was actually a bit of a feat.
So I am laid up waiting for business to open to deal with the bike problem and in the meantime the swolen leg is reducing in size and almost able to walked upon without too much pain, so all is not bad.
I will go to the roof of the Hotel and see if I can see the Golden Temple through the fog, and tomorrow I will try to catch up on some photo's.
nzl04
Sadly it was soon time to go. So I loaded up and the inevitable Police squad arrived. We were off through the Lahore traffic for the border.
The Border ritual was relatively painless. I have learnt to laugh and make jokes where I can. It usually works. If they dont laugh I ask the guy for identification which he produced and we shook hands and got along just fine after that. However Pakistan was OK. India was a little more precise but no problems.
I then had to park the bike and return to the "border" to watch the flag lowering ceremony.
What a sad joke. Patriotism at its worst. (Pic the very enthusiastic and noisy crowd !) No wonder there is distrust between the two countries if this is how they think. I saw it as a comic sketch , (Pic the comic guard being half the compliment of 6 !) but I am sure the mass of Indians that crushed into the place did not. Essentially there is a gate and 1oo metres of seating either side which is jamb packed, and this happens every day ! Then about six "guards" with highly coloured hats and spat march up and down in an exaggerated fashion. The MC exhorts the crowd to shout cand chant, the flags are lowered, and the guards retreat. The crowd is left to find its way home in the dust and dark. Bloody odd really.
So I was left to ride to Amritsar in the dust and dark. Sadly I now have a bike overheating issue. The same problem (different cause) that I had fixed by BMW in London so I am pretty sore about that.
However I managed to find the Golden Temple and the Hotel. That was actually a bit of a feat.
So I am laid up waiting for business to open to deal with the bike problem and in the meantime the swolen leg is reducing in size and almost able to walked upon without too much pain, so all is not bad.
I will go to the roof of the Hotel and see if I can see the Golden Temple through the fog, and tomorrow I will try to catch up on some photo's.
nzl04
