Our Journey Continues - Back to India!

Monday 29^th October
Our return flight to Delhi from Kathmandu was, thankfully, at gentleman’s hours – time to have breakfast, do the final packing (that doesn't take long as I have it down to a fine art)and get the taxi out to the airport.

We decided on a change of scenery on our return and booked a hotel in Karol Bagh. We were happy with our decision. The area is cleaner than Old Delhi and we were within walking distance of an excellent restaurant, markets and a coffee shop that made REAL cappuccino. There were other restaurants in the area as well but we decided that we would stick to a proven one as we were only there for four nights.

Our stay was only to be three nights but Neil succumbed to the effects of temperature changes and plane air-conditioning. A head cold had him down and out for a day after our arrival. Once back on his feet we attempted to book a few train tickets to Agra and on to Jaipur. Note, we attempted. Things are never as simple as they would seem here in India. We had returned during peak tourist season and heading into Indian holiday time as well with the Diwali Festival just around the corner. Trains were almost fully booked (you need to book in advance, madam. Well madam doesn't know in advance where madam is going or how long she wishes to stay there!). We had to commit ourselves to a time frame and book the next three weeks through the ‘government’ travel agency (just because it had government authorisation above the agency door does not necessarily mean that it was). And ...... surprise, surprise ..... there was a catch. We had to use tourist quota bookings and that apparently required us to also book our hotels through the agency at the same time. Well it gets to the point that if you can’t beat them ......... In the end we decided to bite the bullet - it would save us a lot of mucking around in the long run to just go ahead and organise the Rajastan leg of our journey.

Friday 2nd November

So...... first stop Agra. Because Agra trains were booked out for at least a week and we wanted to get the show on the road we had a driver for the first part of our journey. The two to three hour journey was five hours, the traffic out of Delhi, horrendous. The countryside between Delhi and Agra was flat for as far as the eye could see, dry, dusty and parched, despite the wet season ending not that long ago. The sky was hazy. The official explanation – at this time of year there are a lot of morning fogs because the days are still very warm and the nights chilly. But the fog doesn’t lift some days. Could that not be plain old pollution? Steps have been taken to alleviate the situation (all public transport in Delhi has to be gas powered for one) but the pollution remains. 
 

Our first sight seeing just before we reached Agra was Akbar’s Tomb, in Sikandra. Akbar was the greatest of the Mughal emperors and fitting to his greatness he now lies at rest in the centre of large gardens, a peaceful spot where deer graze and squirrels do their squirrelly thing. The entrance gate that you enter by (there are four gates) is truly beautiful. If the Indians do/did anything spectacularly, it has to be their craftsmanship in their important buildings (mausoleums, palaces, monuments ect). They are second to none in this part of the world or even elsewhere ,perhaps.
 

The amazing gate entrance to Akbar's Tomb - perhaps the finest part of this monument. 

The mausoleum of Akbar and some? of his wives.

Akbar's tomb is down the end of the passage. 

Wives or lesser relatives? Amazing decoration and architecture.

 

There are four gate entryies to the tomb - this one at the back has fallen into sad disrepair.

From here it was a short drive to Agra and our hotel which was only a short distance from the reason why we had come, The Taj Mahal. The monument is closed on Fridays (Islamic Holy day) so our first glimpse was through trees on our way to the hotel. Our second glimpse was from the rooftop of our hotel which boasts fine views of the Taj from their roof top. Well yes, the views weren’t bad but they were through the scaffolding of a sign. If the sign hadn’t been removed there would have been no views !

One of the highlights of a trip to Agra is a sunrise visit to the Taj. We declined in light of the fact that the haze/fog had been really thick over the last few days. When we ascended to breakfast on the rooftop we found that our decision was vindicated. Although not far away not a peek of the enormous monument could be seen.  

You can’t go to India and not see the Taj Mahal! It really is an amazing monument. You walk through gardens up to one of the three gates that give entry to the Taj.

 

 

Once through the security checks you are met by the spectre of one of the wonders of the world. The wow factor is right up there. Unfortunately the long ponds that reflect the beauty of the building had been emptied for cleaning but nothing can detract from the beauty and magnificence of the building in front of you. It is awesome! Twenty two years and 20,000 workers to build, white marble intricately carved and gemstones finely cut to decorate. You can’t but be impressed by its splendour and all done to house the body of a much loved second wife!

 

The elegant footwear for entering the tomb!

No photos of inside the tomb itself as it is banned.

Theft of the gemstones in the intricate designs has become a problem inside so guards guard you closely and make sure you don't stand in one place for too long.

Not far from the Taj is the Red Fort of Agra. We drove around it, stopped for the photo or two, but opted not to visit as the army has residence in much of the fort and over the next few weeks we are going to see many more.

 

On our mini tour of Agra we also had the obligatory visit to a marble factory to have a look at the continuing craftsmanship of gem inlaying as done on the Taj. No buying - just looking! You have daughter madam? Aaah, you have two! Special presents for daughters???

Shaving gems. It is very intricate work,

many of the gem pieces little more than slivers.

 

Late in the afternoon we drove across the Yamana River to gaze upon the Taj from the back. We had had thoughts of going later to get the sunset but the haze was thick so the notion of a beautiful sunset, senseless. From across the river, through the haze you could see the thousands of visitors at the monument and hear the deep rumble of their voices. It was quite surreal, as was the sight and colour of the afternoon sun from our position on the riverbank.

 

Collecting kindling