Week 1 & 2 - The Golden Triangle - Agra

The drive from Delhi to Agra was incredible and one of the biggest eye openers of our trip.  Once out of the city we found that the countryside was also full of people.  Here, just a couple of hours outside a massive modern city was a mishmash of Indians living in large houses or straw huts smaller than a garden shed and anything in between.  The land is very fertile and we passed all kinds of cereals, vegetables and fruit farms along with the odd goat or buffalo herd.

The poorer people live with their animals sometimes in what appears to be terrible conditions.  There were small huts made of straw where whole families lived.  Shingara showed us round discs that were drying in the fields.  This was cow dung mixed with straw and left to go solid.  Once dried it is brought into the huts and burned for cooking.  Apparently there is no smell when it has set.  These huts were occasionally painted with Coca Cola logos as advertising/planning controls don’t seem to have taken hold in India yet.  My favourite adverts were for milk which talked in Hollywood sized billboards about the “KWALITY” of their product.

We also encountered our first cow issue.  A truck had spilled some grain on the highway and a cow had wandered out to clean up.  Thousands of cars and bikes just drove around him, no beeping, no fuss.

The sacred cow

Then it was time to stop and discover a new religion.  A wise old man had set up a temple on the road and his followers were apparently 5 million strong.  The temple that these 5 million had paid to build was very impressive but kitsch at the same time.  The beautiful marble was covered in fairy lights and they had flashy machines that looked like the stuff you see in a Las Vegas slot area all over the place.  We were given a tour from a lovely and eager young chap and it certainly was an experience you wouldn’t have every day.  Apparently they were having a big gathering in July where all the 5 million were going to show up – I wouldn’t want to be travelling to Agra then!

Jaigurudeo Temple Gates

Inside Jaigurudeo Basement

By the time we arrived in Agra we had seen every way of living and shop-keeping imaginable.  This city, itself, is absolutely nothing to write home about and all of the tourist hotels are compounded at the edge of the city.  We went through the security check and got ourselves off to bed for the sunrise start to see the Taj Mahal.

Unfortunately, for Taj Mahal viewing, the following day was cloudy so there was no beautiful sunrise to witness.  This was probably a blessing as it made things a few degrees cooler and gave us a more relaxed approach to the day.  Honestly I can’t imagine how the Taj Mahal can look more impressive than it did when we got there.  It was built by an emperor for his dead wife – he must have been very fond of her. 

Taking some advice we got before leaving we just found a quiet spot in the garden and sat there looking at it for a couple of hours (before the heat got too much).  Did we get the princess Diana photograph (I never heard of this btw)?  Of course we did – we’ll just have to Photoshop out some of the gawkers when we get back.

Aye, get your own!

Ah, that's better

 

Stunning

From there we went to Agra Fort which is a collection of 14 palaces that were built over time by the local Raj and family.  These were very impressive and offered beautiful views of the Taj Mahal, the Ganges and the fertile plains as far as the horizon.  Two things stuck out for me here. 

One was the king’s bath that was a 12 ton rock carved like a bowl.  Apparently he liked his bath so much that he took it with him everywhere he went, battles, foreign trips, etc. (I wouldn’t want to have been on that detail).  The other was the particularly large family that wanted a photo taken with Claire (this turned into a photo shoot with each individual member).

Only 13 forts to go...

Claire has a new family

Next stop, Jaipur..