We meandered around the streets and lanes of the old city of Amritsar for a couple of hours. There is something for everyone here.

Not sure where the Nescafe shop was and we have been Marsala tea converts since we came to India. I have Sejal’s special recipe for anyone who wants it. My favourite is the addition of fresh grated ginger as well, very nice.

The terrace houses of Amritsar, all with their own personality.

The marsala chapati maker in the back streets with own personal clay oven.

Krishna at a tiny temple up a back alley.

A lunchtime card game … fun and laughter

Bags of coloured “pasta” … not really pasta and the colours are from food dyes. They are for frying and they puff up in size.

Paul put on his turban, or rather had it put on for him by the guide. 2-3 metres of fabric and Paul chose red. As we were going back into the Golden temple, he needed his head covered. There are the five K’s for true Sikhs which must be worn at all times. The words start with K in Hindi and are: Kesha = not cutting hair on head or face, Kangha = carrying a comb, Kirpan = carrying a dagger or sword,Kachha = wearing special underwear shorts and Kara = a steel bracelet These things are meant to be on them at all times but in these modern times the dagger gets put in the baggage compartment when flying.

In the temple, these women were cleaning bowls with sand. The temple feeds thousands of people everyday at no charge and the kitchens were large and busy. There were queues of people lining up fpr their food which would then be eating sitting crosslegged on mats on the floor. We bought some Indian bowls in a sidestreet which was dedicated to kitchenware and will be trying out some new recipes when we get home.

The Golden Temple was beautiful in the daytime too.