On our way to Amritsar we learned that the The Harmandir Sahib  or “Golden Temple,” an impressive 400+ year old sikh holy site offered a free place to stay as well as a meal to 100,000 visitors daily.

Dish duty at the Golden Temple

The complex at night is an extraordinary sight to behold. Glowing white marble floors surround a shallow pool of sparkling water with the golden temple shimmering like a sun from the center of it.

Multitudes of sikhs done up in their finery wait in the labyrinthine line to enter the golden temple, piles of pilgrims sleep on the floor. People from all over took reverence at the waters edge, others took a holy dip. The name of the pool is also Amritsar which translates to “pool of the nectar of immortality.”

The tradition of submerging oneself in this pool came from an old story of a woman who was forced to marry a crippled man as punishment by her father. She embraced her fate and took care of him lovingly and sincerely and one day while she was out getting food, he immersed himself in the waters of this pool and to her great surprised was miraculously healed and became a handsome, able-bodied man. Probably about 2,000 people swim in the waters daily hoping for a healing or a blessing. As Orien said, “that’s a lot of sphinctors.” Maybe I am a fool, but I was feeling healthy enough to not take a dip…

Later we checked into the “foreigners dorm” at the temple and sure enough, it was free. The room was steamy, full of single beds with greasy pillows and sweaty backpackers. After our long walk around the temple we passed out immediately only to wake up eight hours later riddled with bedbug bites.

If you stay in the “foreigners dorm” at the Golden Temple avoid the second to the last bed  from the far wall. And remember… there’s no such thing as a free lunch.