Wagah Border Crossing

Around 4 years ago I went to Pakistan after my childhood, it was my first time going without my parents. While in Lahore I decided to visit the Wagah Border to watch the closing ceremony. During and after watching the electric ceremony, I decided that one day I will cross the border myself.

Pictures of the ceremony in 08.

Fast Forward to May 2012, at the ripe old age of 25, I decided to apply for an indian visa, after much deliberation and many paperwork requests, it was stamped in November :D. I duly asked my friends and brother if they wanted to come and after receiving “LOL” in response, I decided to do it solo. I arranged my flights to Pakistan and commenced my journey.

This is approaching the border from the Pakistan side. The actual Pakistani terminal for departures is on the left hand side, you get stamped out and then emerge back on GT road just before the gate.

After emerging you walk through the “VIP” area of the border ceremony seating and actually get to the India/Pakistan border.

Upon leaving Pakistan, the last Ranger to check my passport (who was about 6ft5 I might add) told me Allah Hafiz and to have a safe journey. The porters also waved me good-bye from Pakistan.

I then stepped foot over this white line

and duly had my passport checked by an Indian soldier, who upon confirming I actually held a visa, greeted me by saying “Welcome to India” and invited me to take a seat and await for the next bus that will then take me to the next terminal. Me being me, I was unable to contain my excitement at this point so I stood around taking pictures of the border and talking to the guards (who I might add were shocked at my level of proficiency of urdu (they called it hindi :P)) after learning I was actually English and not Pakistani.
This is a picture from India, looking back at Pakistan.

Picture Looking into India


Sardar Jee drinking tea :smiley:

This bus will take me to customs and immigration.

Namaste!

The bus took me to immigration and customs, my hand baggage was checked throughly by a security guard, and my person was also scanned. I then duly had to fill a landing card and I proceeded to immigration. I was only asked where I was going to go right now, to which the answer was Amritsar, again I was welcomed to India and proceeded to customs.
At customs I had filled the declaration in honestly, this involved writing down the fact that I was carrying in 1800 Indian Rupees. The junior customs officer who was at the desk looked through my form and spotted this, he told me it was illegal to import and export indian currency and told me to cross it out throughly and instead write how many dollars I was carrying otherwise his supervisor will ask questions. After modifying the form :wink: ahem, he had a quick look in my duffle bag and took my form to his supervisor for approval.
I then exited the terminal, into a Taxi and onward to Amritsar, I was electric with excitement as I had dreamed of this moment for four years!

This was my first sightseeing attraction I saw.. Golden Temple in Amritsar. I would describe it as serene, a place worth visiting. I didn’t eat from the Langar as I was paranoid about getting ill, however I think that paranoia was ill founded as I ended up eating in all sorts of places throughout my trip and never got ill.

I asked this troupe to take my picture, however they then insisted that I took their picture with my camera, I obliged even though I thought it was bizarre.

I just thought I would share this experience on here as some of you may wonder what it’s like to cross the wagah border :slight_smile: I’ve crossed many land borders, but this was the most exciting by far. Patience and a smile goes a long way I find. From applying for the visa (I had to make three 160 mile round trips to their office) to getting out the other end, I remained patient and polite and eventually I got what I wanted.

I throughly enjoyed my trip throughout India and would heartily recommend it to anyone who is fortunate to have the chance to go! There certainly is an air of Romance around the historical cities of Delhi, Agra and Jaipur, Taj Mahal especially.