Agra and Back in 22 Hours

Just back from a turbo tour to Agra.  The road from here to there is flat and in good shape.  In fact just like the 401 except for the following (in no particular order)

• camels pulling 2-wheeled wagons filled with hay, logs, people
• jam-packed highway buses with people riding on the roof
• vans filled with people, with 3-5 more standing on the back bumper holding on through the window
• motorcycles with 3-5  people on them, as well as parcels, bags, children, etc.  These are the same kinds of motorcyles that Canadians foolishly believe are meant for a max of 2 people.  No helmets in sight.  The woman in their saris sit sidesaddle at the back of the bike, holding on to absolutely nothing, hands folded in their lap
• herds of goats and camels crossing 4 lanes of traffic
• cows grazing in the median
• women in beautiful, coloured saris harvesting wheat by hand, and stacking it in sheaves
• people sitting in the middle of a field making bricks out of the clay around them
• a dead cow in the middle of the passing lane
• boney, mangey dogs wandering, hoping for food
• recent gravesites on the road shoulder, complete with tombstone
• beggars at every toll both
  

  Camel with 2-wheeled wagon

Part of the tour to Agra apparently involves stopping at 2 points of interest:  a bird sanctuary that has no birds this year because there has been no rain, and Fatehpur Sikri (“Victory Fort”).  The first stop requires an entrance fee, the (paid) services of a government-approved guide, and (paid) transportation in a rickshaw.  Being anxious to get to Agra by nightfall, we declined all these expenditures and pressed on.

The tomb at Fatepuhr Sikri -- bare feet required; tiles burning hot!

Fatehpur Sikri is one of those places that give tourism a bad name.  From the minute you enter the village, you are surrounded by hawkers.  The whole experience left a very bad taste in our mouths. Little did we know that Agra would actually be worse!

Agra is dirty, crowded and difficult to get around.  Our hotel was close to the Taj Mahal park but otherwise left much to be desired.  Photos coming later.

"Deluxe" bathroom in Agra: check the convenient shower

The Taj was everything we expected and more.  We were there when the park opened (as were a bajillion other tourists) but we saw the sunrise there and enjoyed our time tremendously.  We took the requisite number of pics and will add one or 2 when we have a better internet connection.

Sunrise over the east gate of Taj

 

The Taj is so much larger than we imagined

It was wonderful to return this afternoon to Jaipur.  Even its crazy traffic and deafening horns it is still a wonderful city.  We are waiting now for our room at Arya Niwas Hotel to be ready.  (Sadly, we are not able to go back to the room that was our “home” all last week : room 229.)

Tomorrow we plan to do a bit more shopping and relaxing.  Tuesday morning we will drive to New Delhi and fly to Bankok in the afternoon.

We still have our colds.  Last night we discovered that the “decongestants” MB has been taking for 3 days are actually Imodium!