Happy Birthday To Me!

ah.. ok.. another year older..

i'm 33 years old today. and never felt better.

just got back from Amritsar, India, in the state of Punjab. had an interesting flight..

Amritsar is like the holy land for Sikhs.. where the scriptures of Sikhism is kept in the Golden Temple.. takes abt 6 hours to fly up there.. and according to our tour guide, Sunny, Punjab is made of 60% Sikh, 30% Hindu and the remaining are Christians and Muslims..

i'll post up some pics of the temple below..

Spent a day going for 2 tours, first to the Golden Temple, and later in the evening, headed down to the border of Punjab and Lahore, Pakistan, to watch the changing of the Guards.

Sikhs are very friendly actually.. and the temple is open to everyone.. and u can even have some free makan.. chapati and vegetarian gravy..

herez some pics of the temple..



Damn.. itz all marble..



Me with Golden Temple in the background.. i dont think i am THAT fat in real life.. damn damn damn..



having some chapati with Jesslyn and Tina..



the Chapati makers..

we were plagued by lots of child beggars on the street.. such a pitiful sight.. if u want to give them the money, itz at ur own risk.. if u give one, therez 10 who will swarm you.. and before u know it, a million more will come to u...



the streets of Punjab.. quite similar to other parts of India..

one of the stewardesses actually experienced this.. i'll talk abt her later..

came across a very pretty child beggar with light brown eyes and bronze skin and bronze braided hair.. just born at the wrong place.. the crew were so attracted to her that some mentioned that wished they could adopt her.. such a cute girl..



here's our cute little Miss Punjab.. sad, isnt it?

headed back to the hotel for lunch after that, and left for the border to watch the changing of the guards..

this event takes place EVERY DAY. gosh.. and they cheer EVERY DAY. they march and bang their feets and shout chants at each other EVERY DAY.

these ppl must be god damned bored.

but itz actually quite interesting to watch it once. just once.

itz a colourful event. my heart was with the pakistanis, for obvious reasons. but i was sitting at the Indian side of the event.



the guards..



check out Mr Sergeant's moustache.. erkz..



entrance to the gates..



see the pakistani's side of the border from here..

the event is a very friendly event between the two sides. they coordinated their moves and marches together, between the pakistanis and the indians. and the chants that they shouted were basically friendly..

and who said they are at war?

i just got back from this flight. and it was nice knowing that the crew acknowledged my birthday.. and received numerous messages when i got back.. ah.. i'm still loved.. ;)

ok.. letz talk abt the stewardess that i mentioned about earlier..

her name is Natali.. one of the senior stewardesses, 8 years flying..

she was too touched by the child beggars.. and instead of giving them money, she went out of the way to bring 4 of the children across the road to buy them shoes instead.. but of course.. on the way out, another 5 kids approached her..

she spent time talking to the kids, and she was sad not being able to help them all.. she gave alms to those before she left..

remember the story abt the boy who threw the starfishes from the shore back into the sea? u might not be able to save ALL the starfishes, but the one that u did manage to save, will live.

thatz how she saw it..

as she said, the one that she helped will at least get to eat for that day..

when we had our lunch yesterday, at the end of the meal, she packed the remaining untouched food in a take away doggy bag, went out of the hotel and approached a trishaw rider and gave him the food..

interesting person. she had just converted to christianity recently after being a buddhist.. but this character had been her character all along i guess.. naturally nice.. she had the same character while working.. a natural caregiver..

let's talk about poverty..

thank your lucky star that u are not living in such poverty.. itz quite a common sight in places like india and indonesia.. these kids live in a much harsher conditions compared to what we grew up in.. so stop whining.

some food for thoughts.. maybe i'm just getting too old that things like this caught my attention.. damn.