The Road To India

Having had a reasonably late start, I set off to make the four hour trip across the border into India.

Just like every other border – the changes are quickly obvious. Pakistan seems brown – while just across the line in India everything looks green. I still can't work out why things always change at borders – or why things are suddenly different just because someone draws a line on a piece of paper. Nine months on, and a dozen borders crossed and I still don't have an answer.

The border itself is quiet, with minimal formalities – although the X-Ray scans on the way out of Pakistan seemed a bit excessive. I did end up chatting with the guy who did the scans and he let me look at the monitor which showed a picture of just about everything I own (OK – maybe not quite – but that's how it feels).

On the Indian side the border guard wants to know what drugs, bombs, and guns I've got with me. The banter continues as we go through the formalities and I get stamped into India.

As you walk through the actual border area there are stands where the border ceremony is held – of which more later. But with four hours until it started I decided to head straight to Amritsar and The Golden Temple...