Hello all, i am still well behind on my blog and thought that I'd be able to catch up the next few days as my trip with Dragoman officially finished in Delhi on the 5th September and i had 4 days in Delhi before flying to Singapore to see and stay with my friend Steve. However I now write this travelling from Delhi to Bikaner on the bus with Dragoman, i decided that i love India so much and that I have been to OZ twice before that i would stay with the group until Mumbai, at cost of course but i did get a good 20% discount for this leg of the trip (by the way the whole trip is Kathmandu to Kathmandu, 84 days and people get on and off depending on what they want to see and some even doing the whole round trip). So here i am still travelling through India and loving it, we have now lost Joe, my roomy for half the trip and also the Estonians, who said that they had an amazing honeymoon and everyone made it great, they invited us all to visit them for good food and sauna's, i think i might take them up on the offer. There was a leaving dinner in Delhi of which Kate, Caz and myself had put together a poem about the trip and people, i will post it after this post, its not the best poem in the world but pretty funny.
So lets track back a little, i ended my last blog arriving in Agra at 9pm, the hotel was OK, nothing special but did have A/C and hot and running water, and a 24hr restaurant. Myself and Joe went down for food as did most of the group, some just went to bed after the horrible 13hr journey in the mini vans. Due to Josh breaking down and plans having to be re-organised we were having an extra night in Agra, which was cool and meant the following day was a free day, which also meant a lie in. Jodie did however arrange an afternoon visit if we wanted to to 'Fathepur Sikri' which is a beautiful fortified city 40KM outside Agra, we all were up for it. The fortified city was built by Emperor Akbar in the 1500's host a stunning mosque and 3 palaces which he built for each of his wives, 1 a Hindu, 1 a Muslim and 1 a christian. The sun was blazing hot again today and again we all sweated like pigs but we had a good local guide and the palaces and mosque made for some great photo's. We arrived back at the hotel at around 3.30ish, Kate and Caz wanted to get traditional Sari's to wear for the visit to the Taj Mahal (i am sure you would have seen my photo's by now). I thought I'd go along also to do a but of shopping as up to now i hadn't bought any souvenirs or presents, Warren and goon bag also came along. It was a 10 min ride and the shop we were taken to sold everything from Silk scarf's to Incense sticks. The girls picked and tried on their Sari's while the rest of us browsed. I ended up with some tea, incense sticks and a couple of silk scarfs, not that they know yet but one for the mother and step mother ;o). Warren also bought plenty of goodies, this was now i realised Warren's thing 'shopping'. As of writing this he has an extra 5KGs if not more of goodies and to be fair a lot of what he has is pretty good stuff and not tat picked up from a street vendor, he is worse than a women, well he is gay and a bit of a queen (joking Warren if you read this, well about the queen bit anyway, only when your drunk does she come out).The girls picked out a Sari and we left. We all met for dinner in the hotel restaurant and we had the low down on the next days activities, it was going to be an early start and long day of things to see. We met our local guide for Agra, Ali, he and his family had been working with Dragoman for many years and he arranged rickshaws, tours, anything you wanted and helped with the locals, we were all going to be having breakfast at his house the following day. The Taj Mahal was first, then breakfast at Ali's, followed by a visit to a marble shop, then a a bit of free time before going to Agra fort, then the baby Taj mahal before ending the day watching the sunset over the Taj Mahal, it was going to be a full on day.
We were and out of the hotel the next morning by 5.30am, it was only a 15min Rickshaw ride to Taj, it had been arranged to watch sunrise come up on the Taj. Caz and Kate had their Sari's on, Caz in Red and Kate in Purple, they had also had traditional henna tattoo's on one of their arms along with Siggy (the estonian) and a bindi. They all looked beautiful and very traditional, perfect for photo's at one of the seven wonders of the world. However not being Hindi's they struggled to get the Sari's to fit as they should. However help would be on hand from one of the female guards at the taj gate, i think they found it quite funny at the way the girls had attempted to fit them, the guards pretty much took the girls down to their underwear and redressed them, i think the girls in all honesty were pretty thankful for their help. All in the grounds of the Taj, we walked through the archway which was the gateway to the perhaps one of the most photographed views in the world. I must admit i thought it was going to be a little cliche and maybe not as good after seeing so many pictures of it over my 31 years. I was so wrong, it was magnificent, it really was, on top of this was that we got to see the sun rising on it, illuminating the east side of the Palace and the fact we were only probably 13 of 60 people in the grounds, alot different to what i had been told and seen in many pictures. This meant amazing photo's of the Taj, with ourselves in front of it, to the side of it and so on, we had picked the perfect morning. The next few hours were spent walking round the grounds and the palace, taking photo's and by mid morning sweating like a pig, but think we were all used to it now. The Taj lived up to its reputation of being one of the seven wonders of the world, i was more than impressed as we all were.
From the Taj we headed to Ali's house for a traditional Indian brekkie, we all sat on the floor in his humbling small house and his wife brought out parantha's, potato curry and Roti's as well as toast, banana's, tea and coffee. All was really great and was so nice to meet his family and see his home, the only down side there was a power cut and within 5mins, especially after the curry breakfast we were all sweating hard, the room quickly vacated. I have babbled on a bit now, nothing unusual for me but the rest of the day was just sight seeing the Agra fort, which we visited at midday in the blistering heat and left quite quickly, then onto the baby taj mahal which to be honest after you have seen the Daddy Taj is just another palace. After the baby Taj we left to get back to daddy Taj and a viewing point from the other side of the river from the Taj to watch Sunset. Again was an amazing site and very peaceful, pictures galore were taken by all, beautiful sight and again unforgettable.
That evening we all went out to a restaurant which Ali had recommended, it was OK, but in all honesty the food at the hotel was 10 times better, the following day we were leaving for the 'Pink City' of Jaipur. Still no Josh but Paul had managed to limp it to Agra so we did see him briefly. Agra was 5 days ago now and as i write this we still have no Josh, Paul is still with him in Agra and Ali helping with local mechanics to try and get it fixed, its not easy as the Truck is a Mercedes and India doesn't do Mercedes. Whether i see Josh and Paul before Mumbai is questionable, which is a huge shame, though the truck isn't the whole reason i booked with Dragoman it was a big part and the customised Mercedes truck certainly heightens the experience of overlanding, we have had letters from Dragoman apologising and we did have a meal and a few drinks paid for by them but i think a few people will be complaining. I think i will also, even though i have stayed on, knowing the Truck was out of action, but Jodie has been amazing and the group is a great group and i love India.
Sorry its a long one but Agra was a busy time and lots to see and do. The Taj was amazing and if you plan to go i suggest this time of year at sunrise, avoid the mass of tourist and get some great photo's. If your on my facebook check out my albums 'Snippets of Nepal' and 'Snippets of India'. If you want to add me you can search for me by my email lee.ruff@hotmail.com, keep well peeps.
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