Late afternoon we headed over to the Agra Fort, very similar in design to the Red Fort in Delhi, but on a much bigger scale, and still in use. Only 20% of the Fort is open to the public, the rest is used by the military. One part of the palace inside is built in the same red brick, which was built by the Emperor Shah Jehan, but attached to it is a white marble palace, built by his daughter. The red buildings were also the men’s quarters whereas the lush greenery around the white palace was for women only, with a separate wing for the Emperor’s concubines!
I had an interesting experience with two squirrels, they call them squirrels here but they look more like chipmunks to us! In the evening Raj took us to a lovely restaurant that he recommended where we had, guess what……yes, a lovely curry!!! AND, a glass of expensive wine!
Squirrel feeding!
The Emperors prison, overlooking the Taj Mahal
We were taken to a workshop where artisan craftsmen still carve the stone panels which are used the repair the Palaces and Fort. They inlay finely cut jewels and coloured stones to create flowers and patterns. They also weave wools and silks to make carpets and scarves, on sale everywhere, if only we had a home to carpet!!!
On our second day in Agra, we navigated the local town’s High Street to find a pharmacy, I had forgotten something very important – nail clippers! We walked about 3kms through piles of dirt and bricks, dogs and puppies, cows and ox, every form of motorised and non-motorised vehicles you could imagine and lots of women and children who found it hilarious to say “hi” and “BBC, lovely jubbly”!!!!! Our trip out took us over an hour, we did get a little lost, but found a brilliant pair of nail clippers for the huge sum of 30p!!!!
We also visited the Taj Mahal again, but this time from the other side of the River and at sunset, to watch the colours of the marble change as the sun went down, well, that was the plan…..
The sun took an hour to set and the river mist and city smog took an hour to rise just in time to block any rays from the sun! The smog was created by two funeral pyres, right on the edge of the river! Ironically, the governmental departments in Agra have moved much of the city’s industrial activity out of the city limits to protect the Taj Mahal from pollution but cannot stop funeral pyres being lit right next to it as the mosque is still used daily!
We had fun watching the local starlings perform the night time rituals, right over our heads, luckily, or unluckily for some, no bird poo on us!!
Also met some pretty colourful ladies who were very happy to pose for a photo with me, in payment of 10p each!
Saturday morning, up early, train to catch, you know – the one that took 2 hours to get a ticket for! Tuktuk to the station, ignoring the hassle from porters, went to go through a luggage scanner , “where’s your tickets please?” David looks at me, I look at him. Don’t you have it? No, don’t you? So backtracking to 24 hours ago, I do remember putting the printed ticket “safely” inside a zipped pocket so we search two rucksacks, in plain sight of 20 people queueing behind us, no ticket. FFS, (David mutters) I’m gonna have to empty the suitcases to find it…..10 minutes later, still no ticket, we learn that our train has been delayed by 6 hours anyway! The security man recommends a travel agency not so far away, it’s the only one open as today is a bank holiday, and he chucks us into another tuktuk, telling us to buy a ticket for the next train out, in 2 hours, maybe…. we just about manage to wedge 2 big suitcases, 2 rucksacks and 2 bodies into a tuktuk, my legs are hanging out the side, and off we go.
So the Official Government Travel Agency is blessed with a friendly man called Iffy ?. After listening to David bemoaning his secretary whilst trying to rifle through the suitcase again , spilling toiletries all over the office floor, Iffy offers us a cup of coffee, bottle of water and a seat and says “let me help you.” Two hours later, after confirming that he cannot reprint our tickets (office closed) and the day’s next 4 trains are full, and we are MAD to try to “wing it” with our travel bookings, we plot out an itinerary with him that involves hiring a driver and guides in Rajasthan (the busiest and most complicated area) then trains and flights down the west coast, we pay him and are bundled into a car with Raj and begin our 3 hour journey to Agra.
David struggled with this plan but it proved that we are wet behind the ears simple tourists in a manic foreign country who know nothing, yet! Iffy is convinced that after 6 weeks with Raj we will be much wiser, ha ha ha…….
Short roadside break to watch goats and herons.
Our planned itinerary is for 12 weeks where we end up in Goa in time to meet with some friends Carol and Steve, who we met in Jamaica a few years ago! It was our original plan to head south to Goa and Iffy gently suggested a few more stops en route.
6.30am Walkway to the Taj
An image of the Taj in 1959
Sunrise over the gardens.
Misty morning
Raj dropped us at our hotel about 5pm and said to our horror, “see you at 6.30am, best time to visit the Taj Mahal!!” That evening, after unpacking our bags, guess what we find in an actual handbag, zipped internal pocket, our train ticket!!! It’s been assigned to the “lets not mention this” pocket of our suitcase!!
As you may have gathered, we are not morning people but understood the importance of avoiding the crowds so at 6.45am we were in the queue, purchasing entry tickets to the most beautiful and famous building in the world. The mist was rising from the River, the full moon was still out as the sun was rising, the monkeys were out playing and the birds were whistling around us. No noisy street vendors, just loud Americans and pushy Japanese, but our guide Yogi was great at noting where we were in the queue for the photographic “hot spots” and made sure that we had plenty of poses taken!
The building is stunning, there is no doubt about that. Perfectly symmetrical, pristine marble with inlaid colour of ebony, ruby, amethyst and amber, every carving is symmetrical, every stone in the footpaths and walls cut by hand. As the sun rose, the colours shone and the marble becomes almost translucent. You can understand why the Emperor Shah Jehan created such a beautiful building in memory of his wife, married at 17, who died giving birth to their 14th child, he must have loved her very much to honour her wish (to be buried in a beautiful shrine) and then eventually be buried there himself. It wasn’t all easy going for him, one of his own sons imprisoned him for 8 years in his own Fort nearby, whilst the finishing touches were made to the building so he could only watch it being completed. A grateful daughter ensured he was buried next to his wife and 18 years after the wife’s death, they were finally moved to a mausoleum within the main building and laid to rest. The gardens and buildings are simply stunning, there are no other words to describe it. Peaceful and calm, even the sound of the train nearby resembled a Buddhist chant, calming and warming.
We left the Taj Mahal 3 hours later for a much needed breakfast!
WARNING – WE ARE NOT AT OUR BEST PHOTOGENICALLY, AT 7AM. ?
Nice having someone to take photos of both of us and knows the best spots to stand for them 🙂
And….it was cold at 7am, about 10c, hence the scarf and jumper.
It seems “extra people” want to travel with us, first in the trailer from Bilbao, then on a BA flight from Heathrow, when an “extra” passenger was discovered! Turns out it was an inconsiderate woman who had moved seats and was counted twice!! Surprised she could move seats as the plane was full to bursting. We departed an hour late but still arrived at New Delhi airport on time, to an hour long immigration queue and very hot swollen feet!
It seems “extra people” want to travel with us, first in the trailer from Bilbao, then on a BA flight from Heathrow, when an “extra” passenger was discovered! Turns out it was an inconsiderate woman who had moved seats and was counted twice!! Surprised she could move seats as the plane was full to bursting. We departed an hour late but still arrived at New Delhi airport on time, to an hour long immigration queue and very hot swollen feet!
Train into London
Flying over the Himalayas
Arrived in New Delhi!
We took a taxi from the Airport to our hotel and found we needed to sleep for a few hours, our body clock was saying “you should be asleep, its 5am” but local time was nearly midday! We slept well despite the noise outside and ventured down to Reception late afternoon.
“Where are you going” the Manager asked us, “oh, just outside to explore and get some fresh air”. “I will send a boy with you, he will help you cross the roads, and help you do whatever you need”. We thought this was a bit over protective until we stepped outside into the dusty, chaotic, nose to tail traffic where cars, lorries, busses, rickshaws, tuk tuks, scooters, bikes, ox carts, pedestrians and cows all vie for space and an extra few feet trying to move forward whilst honking their horns at every movement! Wow, were we pleased we had a “boy” with us, despite the boy being over 65 and shuffling with old age!! He guided us over the pot holes, avoiding the bikes and scooters that were travelling against the traffic, on the so called pavement, to a zebra crossing, that was totally ignored by drivers until you stepped in front of them. Even then rickshaws and tuk tuks didn’t necessarily stop, they just drove round us!!
Welcome to India, thrown into the deep end of New Delhi!!!
30 hours in and we have had 2 Indian meals and one Italian. A thali is very common, its a selection of small dishes, rice and bread, one meat dish, usually chicken, one vegetable curry, one salad or raita dish and one dish of lentils or dumplings in a sauce. You have the choice of vegetable or non vegetable! All the dishes are served together for the princely sum of £3.00. That was dinner last night and lunch today, so dinner tonight was in a very British area called Connaught Place (named after George V’s uncle and built to resemble Bath), an Italian restaurant, chicken lasagne and salad, and lamb stew and grilled veg for David, no curry spices! A shared meze starter, mains, dessert, water, coffee and service charge came to £25, our tuk tuk from the hotel to the restaurant and back was another £2, so a very cheap night out!
All this for £3!
We won’t include the larger amount spent in a bazaar – David practised the art of haggling whilst I bought the odd silk scarf and cashmere sweater!!!
For our first day exploring, we hired a driver for the day (Peter cost £12), who took us on a tour of some of the monuments and sights in Delhi, mainly India Gate (an Arc de Triomphe style memorial building carved with names of 90,000 Indian soldiers who died in WW1), the Prime Minister’s houses (huge and impressive), government buildings (you can tell they were built by the British), the Lotus temple (modern and ugly) and the Qutb Minar (mosque remains dating back to 1190) as well as a temple built by a very rich city man, back in the 1800s.
Our first temple visit.
Looking towards India Gate
India Gate monument
Presidents Palace East
And West
We spent some time at Mahatma Ghandi’s house and saw the spot where he was assassinated, now a shrine. We visited the family home of Indira Ghandi, ex Prime Minister, where the gardens have a crystal path showing her final walk before she was also assassinated, the spot is marked by a glass area. Both properties were spotlessly calm and well preserved and artefacts and belongings were on display as they used to be when in use, quite spooky.
Peaceful gardens of Ghandi’s house
Indira Ghandi’s house
The actual point where she was killed by her own security guards
So far, apart from the noise and general run down feel, everywhere is bustling with activity, garages repairing vehicles on the side of the pavement, street vendors cooking food, vendors selling tourist paraphernalia and people just going about their daily lives, calmly, slowly and happily. People stop and talk, offer advice or some, offer to take us on a “special ride”, those we have steered clear of!!!
It’s been a very hectic day 1 but very enjoyable and amusing.
Day 2 started with us trying to book train tickets to Agra, not a simple task as it is in the UK or Europe. We had to visit the Foreign Visitors Travel Request Office, fill out a form, produce our passport and Visa, sit for an hour waiting to be served, then supply our documents again before confirming our request verbally, paying the £11 for tickets and eventually exiting another hour later! Hope all train ticket purchases are not as lengthy!!
We then took life into our own hands and ventured out on a tuktuk to Humayuns Tomb, a 16th century group of tombs built for the Emperor Humayun, surrounded by very ornate gardens. Lunch was even more adventurous, chicken kebab wraps and tandoori chicken cooked on a fire in a street market, where we were the main attraction! Two meals and a bottle of sprite came to £3.
Waiting for a train… …2 very long hours..
Another tuktuk ride took us to the Red Fort, a huge red sandstone building with impressive marble pavilions and colonial buildings inside the walls.
Delhi is cleaning up its act, public toilets are everywhere, rubbish is limited to rough areas of town, monuments and palaces are neat and clean, western toilets are common and tourism is embraced and encouraged with only the major tourist attractions charging nominal amounts. Yesterday we spent nothing, today’s two attractions cost approx £6 each. Bizarrely if you pay cash it costs £6.50, card payments are cheaper!! We have felt very safe here, not seen any accidents despite the manic driving and busy roads. There are military police everywhere but it is the capital and it will be election day tomorrow.
Lotus Temple
Qutb Mosque
Delhi madness ?
Regular street scenes.
Humayans tomb complex.
The Emperors tomb
The Red Fort
Entrance Gate
View of the Emperors tomb in the Red Fort
Market lunch, £2
Tomorrow (Saturday) we get the train to Agra, where we will visit the Taj Mahal and Agra Fort, as well as an national park that’s famous for its tigers!
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