April 14, 2013 India Day 2 DELHI – AGRA – DELHI

The same guide and driver picked us up at the hotel at 5:00a for our ride to the train station. It was still pretty dark and it was an interesting ride as the city started to wake up and when we arrived at the train station there were tons of people sleeping outside on the ground outside the station. Very interesting.

The train was pretty nice. It had air conditioning and was pretty comfortable. It was also interesting that in the 2 hour ride they were constantly bringing around things to eat or drink. Our hotel packed a breakfast to go for us since the guide had made sure we understood not to eat anything from the train unless it was coffee or tea that had been boiled. We brushed our teeth with bottled water in the hotel as well.

On the train they brought each of us a huge bottle of water and then came around several more times with various things to eat. We did take a banana since it needed to be peeled and should be safe to eat. The water is pretty bad and there are just a lot of bacteria that travelers systems just aren’t used to. They call it getting “Delhi Belly” While that sounds cuter than Montezuma’s Revenge, I suspect it’s not at all nice to experience.

It was an interesting train ride and went by pretty fast. Along the way we saw many wheat fields that were in various stages of harvesting. Men were cutting and men, women and children were bagging or carrying bundles of it. We saw antelope, peacocks, monkeys, goats, pigs, cows, a crane that seemed similar to our Sandhill Cranes, chickens and water buffalo along the way. We saw slums, “tent cities” and nicer areas as well. The word squalor comes to mind when viewing the slums and the tons of garbage along the way. I saw an older man squatting on a stone thing that looked like a railroad tie and taking a poo. (quite close to the train) A few miles later I saw a young boy squatting with his bare butt hanging out. Men urinating was quite common, though they had their backs to us.

 our train arriving

 inside train and pictures below shot through the window



We were to get off at the second stop the train made. We were greeted in Agra by a young man who was standing right outside our window when the train arrived. He knew which car and seats we had and he knocked on the window so we knew who to look for. Mr. Vicky Sharma then lead us out of the train station and took us to the car and driver that were waiting for us. He gave us each beautiful leis of marigolds as a welcome to India.



We were then driven to a very nice hotel to “freshen up” before we began our tour to the Taj Mahal. There we were handed off to our guide for the day. We were driven to the Taj Mahal and since you can’t drive or park very close, they had a horse and carriage that took us there. Other than our horse having major gas (reminded me of an episode of Seinfeld), it was a very nice and romantic way to arrive. We got there just ahead of the Princess tour group and our guide whisked us through security before we got caught up in a long line.



I was a bit concerned that seeing the Taj might actually be a let-down after all the anticipation. However, it was simply amazing! Pictures just don’t do it justice. It has a lot more color than pictures show and the symmetry and balance and attention to detail was phenomenal. The story is that before Emperor Shah Jahan’s wife Mumtaz Mahal died, she had 3 requests of him. To never marry, to take care of their children and to build a monument to her. He did all 3. It took 22 years to complete the mausoleum known as the Taj Mahal. It’s solid marble and adorned with inlaid flowers and designs made from semi- precious stones all done by hand.

We were also amused by the chipmunks running all over and wild parrots flying from tree to tree. The guide called them parakeets, but we know them as parrots.

I wanted to shop where the street vendors were right outside the Taj, to get just some “trinkets”. Our guide said I will take you somewhere later. Their stuff is not quality. We need to hurry our horse & carriage are waiting. We got in the carriage for our ride back to the car.





We then were taken to a place to see where they still practice the same art of inlaid marble and precious stones done by ancestors of the workers that worked on the Taj Mahal. Of course it was a “shopping stop”. The work was beautiful, but it was table tops, lamps, vases and huge things. I said we just wanted some trinkets and then he takes us to a back room with “smaller stuff”. I found a coaster or small dish with the Taj design on it. It was $150.00. Seriously? He said just make an offer I will accept it. We said no and finally managed to leave. So, I was miffed I didn’t get to pick up an inexpensive momento from the street vendors and didn’t like being put in the position of the high pressure of the shop keeper.



We then drove to the red sandstone Agra Fort. It was also huge and very beautiful. There were areas that were laden with gold or gemstones, but the British took most anything of value. There were beautiful rugs that they took as well. You could see where it was plain and gold and gems were missing.



It was then time for lunch. Our guide took us to a place called Taj Mahal Multi Cuisine Restaurant. It was very good. We had garlic naan, a couple of different chicken dishes with curry, Mughal style and Masala style and we ordered some saffron rice with almonds. Yum!



After lunch it was time for our three & a half hour drive back to Delhi. Much like the ride in the train, the countryside was very interesting. We arrived while it was still light out, so we went for a walk to try and get some photo ops of locals, since it was very hard to get decent pictures from the train or the car ride. There were 3 pre-teen boys that were quite interested in us and wanted us to take their pictures. They jokingly said “one dollar” and I said “no dollar” and they were OK with that. I imagine they would have taken it if I had handed them one.

 our hotel room



We proceeded to find a place to have dinner near the hotel. The place we chose, as we were reading the menu, the power went out and then came back on shortly, but it took a while for it to cool off again. We ordered 3 things and then were told they weren’t ready yet, but we could order Chinese food. We wanted Indian food, so we paid for our cokes and left. The mall had a few places to eat, and we finally chose a falafel type place. Food was good for “fast food”. We ate outside in the courtyard area and a very skinny cat was begging for food. Then, we decided we wanted some desserts from one of the places in the mall and we ordered our items and were told we had to pay at another area before we could order. We went to the line to do that and you essentially were buying a prepaid debit card with a set amount on it. (even numbers) So, we did that and then got our desserts. One was a chocolate brownie and the other a chocolate dessert. We asked for them to go so we could bring them back to the hotel. They weren’t covered, so we were walking through the crowded mall to bring them back to the hotel. After all the effort to get them, they weren’t very tasty. Early to bed for our 4:00a wake up for our 6:00 pick up to take us to the airport.