The Red Fort

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Blogger Dougo

Driving from Delhi for 5 hours was a bit of a drag. We arrived in Agra at around 4pm just as the good afternoon light struck the red sandstone. The ticket office under the gate stops selling tickets at 5pm, so when we arrived, heaps of people were crowding around, totally ignoring the notion of forming an orderly line. One tiny little hole in the wall was totally surrounded by screaming Indian blokes, pushing and shoving to get there first. Chaos reined and things threatened to boil over into a fully fledged riot until the guards came brandishing clubs and physically removing anyone trying to skip the line. Someone said that the guys they were removing were actually pick-pockets trying to make a crowd pushing each other to make the easy steal.

Tickets for foreigners were about ten times the price for locals which was something we didn't expect. Once inside, the race was on to take some great photos of the amazing structure before the sun disappeared. It truly was an astounding building. Much like the Forbidden City in Beijing, it just kept going and going and going. Made predominantly of marble and sandstone the walls enclosed temples and symmetrical gardens.

Bec got very excited when she realised she could see the Taj from one of the outer walkways. I think she took about a million photos!!

There was general excitement from the female members of the Fidler/Taylor group when Indian ring necked parrots were spotted in huge numbers - Karen has a pet ring neck called Silky at home in Beijing. A flurry of photos ensued utilising the telephoto lens. Not many good ones, but it did spur some hilarious Silky memories.

We didn't have a chance to see all of the fort as it was just so huge, but what we did see was awesome. Right up there in my books as a truly amazing man made marvel. We got some good pics too.

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Photos

The Red Fort
The front gate of the fort.

The Entrance to the Red Fort
Getting a ticket was mayhem until the guards came and beat those cutting the line.