Blogs from Uttar Pradesh, India, Asia - page 5

All the advice for travel in India recommends leaving plenty of time for transport issues and today we are very glad we heeded this advice. After arriving at our hostel in Agra at about 4am this morning (8hrs late) we decided that there was no way we were waking up early enough to head over to Fatehpur Sikri, a ruined Mogul city 40km outside Agra. Fortunately we have enough time in our itinerary to take it easy today and wake up early to see the Taj at sunrise tomorrow instead. Unfortunately the ruined city is now off our itinerary. After breakfast and checking in we walked towards the Taj to get some cash and get our bearings. Having found where we need to go tomorrow morning we headed over to Agra fort (being tired we went ... read more

You can't go to India - Delhi in particular - and not visit the Taj Majal, right? A large, jolly Australian man and his wife shared our compartment on the train. He had their entire experience mapped out - from the cafe where they could watch the sunrise over the Taj, to the subsequent 4 hours of investigating every corner of the grounds. His positivity and enthusiasm were effusive and made me feel guilty that I viewed the excursion as a chore. I guess it was good to get to the Taj at 6AM, but it was already 35C/high 90sF, and I had hardly slept the night before in a shoddy room with dripping aircon in Agra, after the Tuk-Tuk ride from the train station with homeless children poking us for money led us through chaos ... read more

Woolly says – By the time we had surfaced from our beds the Ganges had already been given its morning blessing and breakfast, which was more than I had managed. We’d ordered some food at nine o’clock and by ten I was getting a little bit restless, having annoyed Jo as much as I could and been told to sit for the fortieth time I decided to trot down and find out where my scram was. Finally arriving at the bottom of the four flights our host looked a little surprized, and having asked when we were going to eat I wasn’t best pleased to be told that the chef wasn’t working today, I plodded back up knowing this wasn’t the answer the girls would be expecting. We weren’t impressed and having shoved our ... read more

Woolly says – There is nothing better than arriving in front a building that looks just how it should, Agra Fort looked every inch as though it had been built to defend with its huge long double rampart walls, moat and turrets. Completed in 1573 it had over 500 buildings to house the royalty, officials and harem of 5000, it must have been a busy place to live in. With so much to investigate I urged the women to hurry as I galloped through the huge sandstone gate and into the fort proper. We were greeted by an expense of green grass and a large palace, Jo had spotted a large vessel and I went over to see what it might be, the Angoori Bath had been found in 1843 and brought to the site, it ... read more

Today was surely the highlight of highlights of sightseeing visits. What could possibly beat a visit to the Magnificent and Magical Taj Mahal. Tickets were purchased at home, online to avoid long ticket queues, but actually we really didn't see any. Interesting to note that we, as foreigners, pay 1000 rupees entrance while it is just 40 rupees for Indians. Perfectly fair. We wandered down the parade walk to the East Gate entrance. Was slightly dumbstruck when I was offered a wheelchair "for the 2 kilometres still to walk" (a Big untruth there, more like 1/4 km). I may be carrying my collapsible stick around but that is for use on the many stairs to be found here, some of which are often nastily and surprisingly deep. I Do Not need a wheelchair. Thanked the wheelchair ... read more