Made it and still in one piece (more or less). So arrived in New Delhi on the 5th and after a cliche and pretty insane ride back from the airport as a brief introduction to Indian traffic and road rules we met up with Emma at Hotel Krishna already booked and arranged by Emma - thanks Emma! Explored a bit of the city to get bearings saw Connaught place and had the first authentic bazaar experience, who knew shopping could be so intense, lots of haggling and bartering and again - an introduction to tactics from Emma, I did find it pretty difficult to ignore or avoid the guys pushing wallets and fridge magnets at me - particularly tricky to avoid was the guy following me down the street massaging my head with what looked like a giant wire spider, try ignoring that!
After a late start the following morning we hopped onto an express train to Agra - an interesting experience in a sleeper car sat opposite an Indian family, plenty of opportunities to buy food and coffee from the onboard guys running up and down and got into Agra early afternoon. Headed up to the Agra fort which is an amazing building with views over the city and a distant sneak preview of the Taj Mahal around sunset, very impressive and striking although the Agra smog did obscure the view a bit so no great pics.
Next day early start and headed to the Taj Mahal at 6am with our newly found moto-rickshaw driver Ashok and his 'little brother' (it's not a tuk-tuk unless you're in Thailand apparently according to him). To start with the morning was freezing cold and the queues still reasonably long to get through but definately worth it. The palace is incredible and does not disappoint at all, amazing views with the morning mist along the river and only a few hundred people to share the place with - instead of the thousands that turn up later in the day. We hired a guide who was great, providing some insights to the history and facts and figures of interest, however he did have moments when he would get a little fixated on an odd fact and really hammer it home - the Taj Mahal is symmetrical don't you know? (I do after the 10th repetition, yes!) Still, was good fun.
Doesn't really need an introduction! The classic view of the Taj Mahal....
Also a snap of my new found friends - apparently, one of the wonders of the world wasn't the only attraction for a number of the Indian tourists. Ana, Emma and myself ended up in a few photos after multiple requests. I haven't got tired of it just yet, I am enjoying the minor celebrity status. We'll see how long the novelty lasts!
Grabbed some lunch after Ashok had dutifully taken us round all of the merchants he has relationships with, despite the fact that it was made very clear no purchases would be made. The carpet weavers, Marble carvers and fabric merchants were all sorely disappointed - but they were told! I mention lunch as we found a little place on Tripadvisor that had good reviews of its dosas and decided to try it out - I honestly asked if 2 would be too many (having skipped breakfast) he did say that 2 would be fine so I went ahead and selected a couple that sounded good - then Ana's turned up......
Fortunately ours were a bit smaller and of course, I had no issues polishing them off - good Dosas!
Finally Ashok dropped us back at the station and we had a quick snap taken to capture the moment - but its on Emmas Phone so will upload later!
Thats pretty much it for now, we have returned back form Agra after a pretty grueling days travelling around and Agra is a tiring and not entirely pleasant place, after the grandeur of the Taj Mahal the filth and poverty in Agra could not be more shocking. It really does make you stop and think. Simply waiting at the train station for the return to Delhi meant an encounter with people trying to scratch out a living however they can or just trying to sleep for a night in the station a very sad and moving reality check for the end of the day.
We are now back in Deli and saying goodbye tomorrow to Emma, after which point the training wheels will definitely be off and we'll be on our own 4 feet. Thanks again to Emma and will check in again soon...
No comments:
Post a Comment