Blogs from Uttar Pradesh, India, Asia - page 7

Most beautiful building we have ever seen. A romatic setting waiting for the mist to lift and reveal the Taj Mahal. Beautiful red sandstone mosque to the north side. Exquisite wall art Agra interesting town with great street food, night market and a lovely fort too... read more

Blog 7, Thumping Day (as I told the kids) Day 27. Wednesday 27th December We paid our room bill after breakfast which was much less than I expected Rs13000 rather than Rs22000, then we paid our restaurant tab which I had estimated at around Rs20000 but they only charged us Rs8600! I did query this saying that it should be much more, but was assured it was right. I think they were genuinely very happy to have us to stay! The blind fools. We had to check out by 10am but were allowed to keep our bags in reception and went for a walk in the Nature Forest again, down the road. The kids enjoyed it again especially the long concrete slide and we could keep an eye on them from the shade of some trees ... read more

Varanasi was not what I was expecting after seeing the Sue Perkins program on The Ganges, they must have sought out the worst and smelliest places just for effect. Granted, I wouldn't want to go for a swim in the river, and you did have to step over cow dung and cows on occasion, but it was not that bad.The ghat where they do the cremations seemed a lot less dignified here than that in Kathmandu, although it is one of the most prestigious places, just very chaotic. Seems if you can't afford the wood here, they just shove the body into the river, sometimes in bits! On the river side was a hot air ballon, thetherd, that was giving people a quick trip up to about 50 feet and then back down, it was like ... 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

2ndDay in Agra Day 23. Saturday 23rd December About 10am we decide to walk to Agra Fort, about 2km apparently. We try to find a path through the parkland between us & the fort, but it is harder than we thought. We had to double back once and head for the West Gate to the Taj (½ Km), then after ½ Km we come to the bus park for tourists visiting the Taj, mostly school outings it seems. Eventually we find a narrow path fenced off from the rest of the park. This is about ½ Km long, then we follow a road with inaccessable parks on each side for about a Km, then another busier road from one roundabout to another and after crossing some very busy roads we were actually following the walls of ... read more