Blogs from Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India, Asia - page 9

Today's the day! To start we ate at the hotel and I was feeling much better (thanks to a couple little pills to help stop things). The fog was really thick this morning so our guide decided that we would go to the Agra Fort first and then on the main attraction later. Good call!! The Agra Fort was spectacular. It was a very large red sandstone structure built back in the 1560s. There were many of the usual features similar to the forts built in Europe and North America. They had these holes in the tops of some of the walls that they used to pour hot tar or oil down onto the incoming ramps to help prevent invaders from making it too far into the complex. Then the main doors and many of the ... read more

(Je suis quelques jours en retard; problème de wi-fi) Une autre journée entière perdue en raison de l’excellence de l’aviation indienne. Cette fois notre vol entre Varanasi et Agra sur Air India a été retardé de deux heures et demie en raison de difficultés techniques. La compagnie aérienne a néanmoins été assez gentille pour distribuer des petites sandwiches pas de croute et du café. Aucun consensus sur le contenu du sandwich. On hésite entre fromage, patates ou riz. Ça ne goûtait pas grand-chose. L’avion est finalement arrivé; un magnifique appareil sortant directement des années soixante-dix, probablement semblable à celui qui explosé au dessus de Lockerbie. On a quand même eu droit à un autre service de sandwich pas de croute, cette fois-ci décidemment au fromage, avec une enveloppe de ketchup (!?!). Pas mal pour un vol ... read more

Quick catch up as it's been hard to get wifi! Friday night was very special in Cochin as we went to the very old Pardessi shul there. It was so beautiful with the light and candles. Fortunately there were ten men for a minyan, including our group, and lots of women. It was very special to daven in a shul that is no longer viable with only one old jewish lady, Sara Cohen, living nearby. Saturday eve we watched a kathakali performance. We saw how their make up was skilfully painted on and were shown some of the gestures used . We then watched a dramatic play, performed to music. We have now flown to. Delhi where we saw a couple of heritage monuments, and are now in Agra where we have now visited the majestic ... read more

Wat kosten de bananen? Tien dagen verder in India en we weten nog steeds niet zeker wat een banaan kost. Bananen zijn geel, gezond en nog een belangrijke eigenschap, ze werken stoppend -de Indische curry's zijn heerlijk, maar ze hebben bij mij de eigenschap om na het verteringsproces met een rotgang weer naar buiten te gaan-. Terwijl het Nederlandse BBP per capita op rond $ 50 000 ligt en het Zwitserse rond $ 81 000 ligt dat van India op $ 1509*. De Indiers kennen de getallen dan wel niet, ze weten wel dat wij meer te besteden hebben. Dat leidt tot het standaard afdingtheater bij zo ongeveer iedere stap die we zetten. Maar probeer eens af te dingen op een banaan. Als je dat doet, krijg je de volle laag. "Wat denk je wel niet! ... read more

Geo: 26.9847, 78.1019Up and out of the hotel by 5 am to catch the train to Agra. It was a nice, fast train for the 2 hour trip. We arrived and headed off to Agra Fort. We had a guided tour of the fort and and it was very interesting. From the fort we had our first glimpse of the Taj Mahal. Beautiful even from that distance.We then visited a carpet place that made handmade carpets. The average carpet takes six months to make depending on the size. It was interesting to see how they are made and all the pretty designs. We then headed off to our hotel to relax before heading out to see the Taj Mahal. It was breath taking to see the Taj Mahal as it is more beautiful than we ever ... read more