Blogs from Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India, Asia - page 3

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

No specific sight-seeing tour today but a very interesting road trip by taxi. We were packed and ready by 9.30 so checked out of our very nice hotel, with promises of a 5 star Trip Advisor review and loaded our stuff into the waiting taxi, destination Agra. Slightly less frenetic on the road in the city than previous days, possibly because it's Saturday. Once away from Jaipur we took the Toll Road. Was assuming this would be something like a motorway but is more reminiscent of the main road south out of Bangkok where it runs as a dual carriageway alongside any local roads and the two frequently converge, which generally causes chaos. After 200 or more kilometres we are still none the wiser as to the rules of the road apart from it is supposed ... read more

Despite all the pictures I have seen of the Taj Mahal, it is still breathtaking to actually be here, though it would have been better without the other 20,000 people. At least we had the expensive tickets which allowed us to go to the front of the queue, or at least a much smaller queue. when we finally made it to the actual mausoleum, there were signs for silence, only to have my ear drums busted by the security guard blowing a whistle to keep the crowd moving. Could have made a fortune charging for selfies, for some reason youngsters all want a photo with "Aunty". You have to start saying no or you would never get to see anything yourself. When we came out, the queue was still about 500 metres long, but as it ... read more

Boxing Day Blog Day 26. Tuesday 26th December Today started with a pack of monkeys making their was across the rooftops towards our rooftop restaurant. Kids were fascinated, adults worried. Our waiter produced a catapult and just the sight of it seemed to work and they moved along. We decided to visit Akbars Tomb today, the last major site to visit, but about 10km from the Taj. Then we planned to carry on to a good market for some last minute shopping as we only have a few days left now. But trying to hire a taxi was very hard here as they are not really allowed in this area. But we found an auto-rick who said he had a taxi. But he drove us for miles in his barely held together rick, with rusty holes ... read more

A Wild Day Out in a Deserted City Day 24. Sunday 24th December (Christmas Eve!) Earlyish 8am breakfast, ready for early start; did a bit of crisps & sweet shopping for eventuality of there being no cafes in a deserted city (which there weren’t). Set off about 9.30 in a proper taxi (booked through our auto-rick yesterday) who drove us the 40Km to Fatehpur Sikri. Leaving Agra we drove through the cantonement area (large army base) which was massive. Then onto a toll road which was like a motorway apart from all the tractors and cyclists, and the occassional motorbike going the wrong way on the hard shoulder. All trucks stay in the “fast” lane so we had to overtake them on the inside. But we made good time, reaching a reckless 50mph at times! I ... read more