Agra - Taj Mahals big and small...
Our journey out of Jaipur to Agra is an upgrade on the rather soulless trek from Delhi to Jaipur a couple of days before. The road is a well (by any standards) maintained two-lane highway and the traffic is lighter, and not quite as manic as before. Over time a system of sorts emerges in terms of driving etiquette. You pick your lane (and slower vehicles tend to gravitate towards the fast lane, naturally) and then you stay in it, except when you want to overtake, or fancy veering across lanes for any other reason. When you do want to overtake, you approach the vehicle blocking your path, getting as close as physically possible, before squeezing into the first available gap on either side big enough to accommodate your vehicle. As you pass, you apply hand to horn (signs painted on the back of trucks exhort you to do this at very opportunity), easing through the gap before resuming the road position of your choice. As stated before, the use of indicators during this process is not generally countenanced.
We make two stops on our journey, the first to another step well (the water tanks sunk into a large stair with steps from the top all the way down the sides) and the second to a bird sanctuary (Keoladeo National Park). On both visits we find ourselves with guides we didn't really ask for, for such is the way of things. For the bird sanctuary visit we also procure the services of a bicycle Rickshaw, propelled at a prodigious pace by a grizzled old Sikh as ancient as the hills themselves. Until a candid round of "you tell me yours" reveals that he is actually younger than the both of us... Anyway. The bird sanctuary is very good - a sprawling reserve inhabited by turtles, jackals, wild boar, antelope, deer and snakes (although we saw none of them) as well as umpteen species of native and migratory bird (in pics, the White-breasted Kingfisher and the Painted Stork), each of which spotted Sian writes down on piece of paper at the direction of our guide / naturalist. The ride around takes the best part of three hours and all is conducted in good high spirits, until right at the end when the bill has to be settled and it transpires - not quite for the first time - that the price you see is not quite the price you pay. Worth remembering at such times that the sums involved are to us relatively peanuts, and to the people in receipt, considerably more.
We get to Agra around dusk, by which time its foggy (or smoggy, we suspect) and pretty cold as well. No great inclination to stray far from our hotel, so fortunate indeed that its a good one. The Coral Inn is billed as a Homestay - basically the Indian equivalent of a B&B, run by a very well travelled tour guide and his family. Home cooked vegetarian meals are taken around the table with other guests and while that's not something we'd wish for every night, once in a while its interesting to rub along a bit with other travellers - in this case a small group from Brazil.
Next morning we ignore our tour operators advice to get up half an hour before we go to bed to go see the Taj Mahal, and instead take the advice on our homestay host, getting to the gate for around 9.30, when any early morning murk has burned off to leave (luckily for us) an almost perfect day. Quite a bit has been written about the Taj Mahal so we won't add to the slush pile here, except to say that it is, truly, impressive both in scope and scale, and - despite the dire warnings - it really wasn't that busy even at the relatively late hour we chose to visit (though it was getting noticeably busier by the time we left). To ease congestion the authorities have imposed a three-hour time limit on visits, and this seems mohave worked - that and the (relatively) high entrance fee of r1300 (about £15), although that's only for foreigners so maybe not.
Our afternoon entertainment comes in the shape of a guided Agra tour, taking in Agra Fort, the "baby Taj" (as the name suggests, a smaller monument in the design of the TM, dating also from the first part of the seventeenth century) and the Moon Garden alongside the river, again with views across to the main attraction. All of this was very interesting, but tempered somewhat by us being paired with a tour guide who had a load of information to impart, and damn well determined he was going to impart it. The next few hours become a pretty well ceaseless monologue delivered, monotone, with a heavy local accent - well meant, but excessively wearing. To break up the flow we once or twice attempted - perhaps unwisely - to start something that might feel a bit more like a conversation, and at one juncture enquired of our companions views on Modi and the furore over the recently-introduced citizenship laws. Turns out he was a big supporter of the main man, and of the legislation which will grant citizenship to refugees from neighbouring countries (so long as they are not muslim), at the same seeking to expel anyone living in the country less than fifty (fifty) years if they are (a) muslim and (b) cannot provide the necessary proof of Indian citizenship, which a huge number of poorer people in this particular boat can not. Later, and without the slightest hint of irony, our companion was at pains to explain how Hindu belief and Indian constitution guarantee that the rights of all in India are respected, irrespective of race, creed or culture. Unless you happen to be careless enough to be muslim, we suppose. Ah well. All a matter of perspective.
Back our hotel, toured out, for a bit of r&r. Tomorrow, early start and a train to catch...
Apologies for slightly mixed-up photos - all the right pics, just not necessarily in the right order
We make two stops on our journey, the first to another step well (the water tanks sunk into a large stair with steps from the top all the way down the sides) and the second to a bird sanctuary (Keoladeo National Park). On both visits we find ourselves with guides we didn't really ask for, for such is the way of things. For the bird sanctuary visit we also procure the services of a bicycle Rickshaw, propelled at a prodigious pace by a grizzled old Sikh as ancient as the hills themselves. Until a candid round of "you tell me yours" reveals that he is actually younger than the both of us... Anyway. The bird sanctuary is very good - a sprawling reserve inhabited by turtles, jackals, wild boar, antelope, deer and snakes (although we saw none of them) as well as umpteen species of native and migratory bird (in pics, the White-breasted Kingfisher and the Painted Stork), each of which spotted Sian writes down on piece of paper at the direction of our guide / naturalist. The ride around takes the best part of three hours and all is conducted in good high spirits, until right at the end when the bill has to be settled and it transpires - not quite for the first time - that the price you see is not quite the price you pay. Worth remembering at such times that the sums involved are to us relatively peanuts, and to the people in receipt, considerably more.
We get to Agra around dusk, by which time its foggy (or smoggy, we suspect) and pretty cold as well. No great inclination to stray far from our hotel, so fortunate indeed that its a good one. The Coral Inn is billed as a Homestay - basically the Indian equivalent of a B&B, run by a very well travelled tour guide and his family. Home cooked vegetarian meals are taken around the table with other guests and while that's not something we'd wish for every night, once in a while its interesting to rub along a bit with other travellers - in this case a small group from Brazil.
Next morning we ignore our tour operators advice to get up half an hour before we go to bed to go see the Taj Mahal, and instead take the advice on our homestay host, getting to the gate for around 9.30, when any early morning murk has burned off to leave (luckily for us) an almost perfect day. Quite a bit has been written about the Taj Mahal so we won't add to the slush pile here, except to say that it is, truly, impressive both in scope and scale, and - despite the dire warnings - it really wasn't that busy even at the relatively late hour we chose to visit (though it was getting noticeably busier by the time we left). To ease congestion the authorities have imposed a three-hour time limit on visits, and this seems mohave worked - that and the (relatively) high entrance fee of r1300 (about £15), although that's only for foreigners so maybe not.
Our afternoon entertainment comes in the shape of a guided Agra tour, taking in Agra Fort, the "baby Taj" (as the name suggests, a smaller monument in the design of the TM, dating also from the first part of the seventeenth century) and the Moon Garden alongside the river, again with views across to the main attraction. All of this was very interesting, but tempered somewhat by us being paired with a tour guide who had a load of information to impart, and damn well determined he was going to impart it. The next few hours become a pretty well ceaseless monologue delivered, monotone, with a heavy local accent - well meant, but excessively wearing. To break up the flow we once or twice attempted - perhaps unwisely - to start something that might feel a bit more like a conversation, and at one juncture enquired of our companions views on Modi and the furore over the recently-introduced citizenship laws. Turns out he was a big supporter of the main man, and of the legislation which will grant citizenship to refugees from neighbouring countries (so long as they are not muslim), at the same seeking to expel anyone living in the country less than fifty (fifty) years if they are (a) muslim and (b) cannot provide the necessary proof of Indian citizenship, which a huge number of poorer people in this particular boat can not. Later, and without the slightest hint of irony, our companion was at pains to explain how Hindu belief and Indian constitution guarantee that the rights of all in India are respected, irrespective of race, creed or culture. Unless you happen to be careless enough to be muslim, we suppose. Ah well. All a matter of perspective.
Back our hotel, toured out, for a bit of r&r. Tomorrow, early start and a train to catch...
Apologies for slightly mixed-up photos - all the right pics, just not necessarily in the right order
Sounds like an excellent day out. I looked up the details of my own visit to the Taj Mahal in October 1980 (aged 23). I did it as a coach trip from Delhi, which included sight-seeing stops at Fatephur Sikri and Mathura -- the all-in cost for travel and entrance in those days was Rs.40! I was one of only two foreign tourists on the trip, the other being a young German chap, who was my companion for the day.
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