Arriving in India from Kathmandu was like going from a third world country to a development country. The airport was new and clean, roads wide, and well lit and the taxi wasn't an old knackered Suzuki Alto. However, as we made our way towards the train station in New Delhi things changed quickly. Traffic increased, roads worsened and litter began piling up. We walked to find a hotel, the area was heaving with people, piles of litter everywhere and a stench of rotting food. Even though it was pretty rough the people seemed happy, smiling and laughing.
Our original plan was to get the train to Agra to see the Taj Mahal and then back to Delhi for mum's flight home.
The next morning me and dad went to try and buy train tickets. We asked 5 different people how to get tickets and got 5 different answers! Anyway we ended up in a travel agency. The train tickets were sold out but the agent organised a car and driver for 3 days which would also take us to Jaipur. It was ideal, mum only had a few days so this way we could do the whole Golden triangle. The Golden triangle is a popular tourist route which includes forts, palaces and the Taj Mahal. Within 30 mins of leaving the agency we were in the car on our way to Jaipur.
We left Delhi, did a short stretch through the Haryana district then into Rajistan and finally Jaipur. Rajistan district is famous for its desert landscape, dancing and traditional food. They still use camels to tow carts for transporting goods. That evening we visited the royal palace then asked the driver to take us to the Tiger fort hoping for a view over the city at night. The fort was positioned on the end of a ridge, this gave us a 270 degree view of the city below. It's not even a big city for Indian standards but it was still 3 million population. The fort had been converted into a restaurant with tables and chairs in the turrets. It was well worth the trip up.
The following morning we visited the Amber fort, again an impressive building, huge and decorated with gold, marble and gems. We went to an observatory designed buy a king a few hundred years ago to study astronomy. It consisted of large structures used for time keeping accurate to 2 seconds and for observing the stars. The driver then took us to an elephant sanctuary where the owner was trying to sell us a package where we could stroke, feed, paint our name on it and ride an elephant for an over inflated price. We soon told him he can stroke his own elephant. We got back in the car and set off towards Agra.
On the way to Agra the driver stopped so we could have lunch. He took us to a big, posh, tourist hotel offering an 'Indian experience'. Before we arrived we saw a few local cafes on the opposite side of the road. We walked over and it turned out to be a lorry park with a few huts set up with gas bottle burners, a load of pots of spices and a chipati oven. Perfect. A load of locals turned up, along with the resident rat, and were intrigued to see foreigners eating in the lorry park. £1.20 later the three of us were fed and ready to continue the journey. Ram, our driver couldn't understand why we opted for that restaurant.
One more stop before Agra was a nature reserve. Home to large areas of wetlands, wildlife and a shite load of bird watchers. We hired bikes and rode around til sunset, which was apparently the best time to see the birds. We went up a view tower to overlook the reserve. A few peacocks and water buffalo later we were back at the entrance. It was nice to get out the car and away from the hustle and bustle for a couple of hours.
We arrived in Agra, home of the Taj Mahal. To continue our cultural theme from lunchtime of eating in local places, we got a taxi to Dominoes!
We got up early and went to the Taj Mahal. We had been looking forward to seeing it for a few days. It was bloody brilliant. Not to busy with tourists and free entry because it was world heritage week. We had a tour guide who told us lots of interesting facts. The Taj Mahal is made of white marble from the Rajistan district. The marble was transported to Agra by 1000 elephants. It is the only marble in the world which is translucent. It took 20,000 people and 22 years to complete and was built as a tomb for the third wife of the king. His wife died before it was completed but was still entombed within. The king began to build an identical building in black marble on the opposite side of the river. The kings son wasn't too impressed with the 40,000,000 rupees it cost to build (equivalent to 72 billion rupees today). Coupled with the fact he wanted to be king he imprisoned his father in Agra fort in a room overlooking the Taj Mahal and the site where his black equivalent had began to be built. His father spent his last 8 years imprisoned in the fort.
Feeling a bit temple'd out we decided to use the driver to our advantage. I wanted to buy Christmas presents and post them home. We went to a market road with some lovely smelling open sewers and bought the gifts, then to the post office to send them home. It worked well.
We wanted to drive past the Agra fort, take a photo then crack on back to Delhi. A tour guide approached us and managed to persuade us to go inside and it was well worth it. The guide was an Indian history graduate working towards his PhD. He was excellent telling us loads of interesting facts. One was that against popular belief that the Taj Mahal is solid marble, it is in fact red brick clad with blocks of marble. We exchanged emails and he sent us a 40 page paper he has written about Agra fort. We arranged to meet Ram the following morning because he knew a place where we could rent motorbikes.
We arrived back to Delhi then got a taxi to the airport. Me and dad said our farewells to mum. It had been a brilliant few weeks and we had done so much.
Rob
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