Blogs from Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India, Asia - page 11

Dear Lord today was amazing... Took a flight from Pune to New Dehli. When I arrived in New Delhi I was meeting a friend and he still had not arrived yet so I waited in the baggage area for a while before deciding to go get a room at the Airport Lounge. Part of this decision was because there was no where to sit, the other part was because of the guys with machine guns chilling in the airport. It was chilly in New Delhi and the Baggage area was open. It was getting late and things were getting a bit sketchy and I was getting tired. (According to rules and such, not allowed to stay in Delhi, nor were we allowed to leave the airport because the fog was so heavy it was unsafe to ... read more

Taking the train from Delhi was a relatively painless experience, with comfy seats and even a mostly edible breakfast thrown in. It would also turn out to be the best transport I ever took in India, by a long shot. I lost my Brasillian friends from Delhi when we arrived at Agra, the solitary nature of my adventure becoming instantly more apparent. Fortunately I quickly found a new travel buddy: a friendly Belgian girl called Louise, who was a dancer on her way to Cambodia. She was to be my next door neighbour at the new hotel I'd checked into: Hotel Sheela. Checking in was also a brilliant experience for me, as I'd made no booking at all. I was just a lone man, on the road, who rocked up out of nowhere and asked for ... read more

"Not a piece of architecture, as other buildings are, but the proud passions of an emperor's love wrought in living stones." English Poet, Sir Edwin Arnold Boarding yet another sleeper class train from Varanasi, our luck riding the rails seemed to have finally run out. As we made our way through the train towards our seats, we saw a family of ten (5 adults and 5 kids) and immediately crossed our fingers that this was not where we would be spending the next 12 hours. As I checked the ticket, I let out a small sigh of despair…..these were indeed our seats. Don’t get me wrong, the family were actually fine and the kids very sweet, however when you board a train that is stiflingly hot and humid with no A/C and it’s around 26 degrees ... read more

Goodbye Delhi, hello Agra. We left the National Capital Territory and headed for the state of Uttar Pradesh. We were lucky to travel along India’s newest highway the Yamuna Expressway. Opened only 8 months ago, this road provides a link between Delhi and Agra at a speed of 100km/hr. Along the drive we were an agricultural area and the local industry of brick making, a pollution intensive industry. Upon arrival in Agra, we once again reentered chaos. The roads are a hodgepodge of cars, motorcycles, bicycles, oxen and people carting various loads in every imaginable way. We met our new guide (whose name we never quite got) at the entrance to the Tomb of Itmad-Ud-Dualah. Also known as the “Baby Taj”, it is similar in design (built before the Taj Mahal), but smaller in scope and ... read more

Day 246 (Sat 11thMay) Today was probably the day I’ve most been looking forward to from a tourist perspective. I was going on a day trip to the city of Agra, home of the incredibly famous and 1 of the 7 manmade wonders of the world, the Taj Mahal. My day started with another early morning send off. My train was due at 6am and Amy was due to fly out a few hours later so I said my goodbyes and headed off to the station to get my train. The station is only 5 minutes from my hostel at this time of morning, takes about 15-20 during the day as it’s so busy. It’s weird seeing the streets deserted, the rubbish is everywhere and the smell horrendous. There is an area down a little side ... read more