OK, before we talk about our time in Agra I have to comment
on the car ride we took from Dharamsala to New Delhi. We were supposed to fly on
Wednesday October 14th, but due to bad weather the flight was
canceled so we ended up renting a car and a driver. Our taxi driver who took us
to the airport said the drive was a 10-11 hour drive but our driver who took us
to New Delhi said 9 hours. That should have been a clue to how the ride was
going to go. Highway 1 is a small narrow mountain road until it gets close to
New Delhi. Holy Molly driving in India is completely crazy. It is basically
jungle rules. It is the art of the car horn and at night the horn and the
dimmer switch. It is constant horn beeping. They beep the horn and it means I
am behind you so look out I am coming around you. There is absolutely no lane
discipline. It is British driving rules so the driver is on the right side of
the car.
I was sitting directly behind the driver so I saw all the oncoming
traffic. Sara had the more scenic side with a view of the countryside. I can’t count the number of times I thought we were going to be killed
in a head on collision. They sometimes have a white line in the middle of the
road but I never saw any yellow no pass lines. We saw a number of trucks and vehicles with no
tail lights at night and even the occasional bus or truck going the wrong
direction on the highway. All in all, without question it was the scariest car
ride I have ever been on. I will have to say our driver was very good but the drive was like being in a NASCAR race or a scene from the Fast and Furious
movie. I looked over at Sara who was
napping and tried, but just couldn’t do it.
Sara said her approach was to look out of the widow to the dark countryside;
clearly it wasn’t as scary on her side where the imminent head on collisions
were hidden.
We arrived in New Delhi around midnight, and our previously arranged
driver was waiting for us at a gas station for the hand off. The push to get to Agra was we really wanted
to see the Taj Mahal, and the only day we had was Thursday (Oct 15th)
as the Taj is closed on Fridays. So Gian
who was our driver for the next two days drove us the 3-4 hours to Agra. This experience was quite different, as the
new expressway was almost empty. We did
notice after a while our Gian was starting to weave a bit, could have been
sleepy, so we started talking to him to ensure we arrived alive!
We finally arrived at out hotel at 4am, and slept until
around 11am! The afternoon of Thursday
Oct 15th we visited the Taj
Mahal. Very very impressive, and we were glad
we made the effort to visit. We spent about 3
hours wandering the large complex taking pictures and enjoying the peace. There were a lot of people visiting, but not
many tourists. A lot of Indian people
wanted their photos taken with us, our guide explained it was because they had
never seen a foreigner before and would go back to their village with a photo of us. We enjoyed a
nice dinner and chatted to the couple next to us who were from Portsmouth
England, Sara’s home town.
Friday (Oct 16th) we got up early and visited
Agra Fort, a huge red fortress complex with some magnificent white palaces
inside. The architecture was amazing. It was a really hot day again so after spending
a few hours we went back to the hotel for a lunch and to prepare for our
overnight train to Varanasi.
Click here for a slide show of the Taj Mahal and Agra
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