Category: Delhi and the Golden Triangle

We’ve come to the conclusion that Jaipur is really hard work. Apart from the traffic making it difficult to get around, there is no simple core to get your head around. It’s more about lots of amazing places all connected by the story of the various Maharajahs, and with independence only in 1947, the story effectively continues.

So lots of great pictures, but here isn’t the place to tell the story.

The City Palace

Those were the museum. The next few are where the Maharajah and his family still live.

Not sure if you can refer to it as “bling” if it’s all real – which it is.

Also chai on his terrace …

Textile Factory

Had a go at some block printing. Hmmm …

The Monkey Temple

It’s a temple with monkeys!

Gardens

The Tower

Back into town for some fabulous views. Note the sundial in the bottom right.

And it’s hard to make out the pink. I must admit I had imagined a city built out of sandstone (it isn’t, it’s just painted pink) and in the sunset it glowed pink.

Anyway, by mid afternoon we were done, so wound down with more chai, a walk in Central Park, a bit more shopping and another fantastic dinner.

On the move again tomorrow.

Back to some hardcore sightseeing in Jaipur – the Pink City. First stop the Amber Fort (second only in tourist visits to the Taj Mahal- and showing my ignorance I’d never heard of it). So here goes – lots of fabulous pictures and a history to match but you’ll have to read up on that yourselves if interested.

A break for coffee – not sure why as the coffee has been utterly hopeless thus far. Better of with chai masala. Anyway, off to the Observatory. The Maharajah was a keen astronomer and built all this in the early 1700s.

This was the best bit for me.

By mid afternoon we’re done, so finished off with shopping, a walk around old Jaipur

and dinner on a rooftop terrace where we hooked up with a fascinating American woman who has set up a clothing business using Indian women co-operatives as her suppliers. Fabulous (veggie) food again.

More sightseeing tomorrow.

A bit of a break from culture, and a welcome return of the sun.

Great pictures. We had a guide with a telescope (and an ability to spot many birds that we couldn’t), and the pictures came from putting the phone camera through that.

The rest of the day was a bit of a write-off. Really not helped by the motorway tolls.

It is a long drive to Jaipur on a decent toll motorway. The problem came with the recently introduced speedy automatic ticket. Essentially it is neither. Our driver basically had a 15minute shouting match while they tried (sometimes successfully, sometimes not) to get a hand-held reader to scan the card. At the last booth, there were 9 of them failing miserably! So by the 4th time we had wasted about an hour. You either get fed up or just accept.

The motorway was interesting. They drive on the left, the same as us. On a dual carriageway the right hand lane is for normal speeds, especially lorries, buses and cars. The left hand lane is for the very slow – tuk tuks, mopeds, pedestrians, cattle and so on – and the very fast for overtaking the lorries and so on. There is therefore a lot of weaving about and tight squeezes.

And finally a somewhat bizarre evening with the hotel owners, their parents, a Chinese couple, a cat and quite a lot of rum. No idea what we talked about but it was fun.

I’ve put the day and date in the heading for our own benefit as it’s all going mega fast and is all a bit of a blur.

Today was an early start to see the sunrise over the Taj Mahal. But despite Eileen’s organisational abilities, some things are outside of her control. On a clear day you can see the Taj Mahal …

So pleased we saw it yesterday, but still magnificent close up.

As I said yesterday, one definitely ticked off the bucket list.

Also, as we were at a HomeStay in Agra, we had dinner with the family. Fabulous food, albeit a bit pricey, and the husband regaled us with his stories of business and travel. Eileen asked his wife what car she drove, and was told she didn’t know as she had a driver. And then said what a fabulous dinner we had eaten, and she said she had a good cook. A bit of friction on politics – suffice to say they are huge Modi fans.

But then we’re off again. This time to Fatehpur Sikri. Another magnificent palace which was only occupied for 14 years.

The King was a fan of all religions, and so had a Hindu wife, a Muslim wife and a Christian wife. They each had a separate palace within the walls, but all liked each other so the Hindu had Christian and Muslim carvings in her palace and so on for the others. We liked that.

And the King also had a giant games board.

We are standing on the squares. Apparently he had a giant golden dice, and the “pieces” on the board were his concubines. According to the roll of the dice, they had to move and dance. Not quite as sure about that one!

And the Mosque.

Couple of discomforts. Cover your head in this shrine (good job I had a couple of clean handkerchiefs, but no photos). And sometimes shoes off, in other places shoes and socks off, in other places cover your shoes with outer protection. Go with the flow, without really understanding why.

Also, the hassle here was mega. And being surrounded by 4 or 5 began to get a bit frightening. And when they said it was only 10 for a chess set (that’s rupees, so about 10p and still thinking it’s a rip off), apparently if you show the merest flicker of interest you find out its dollars and you can’t get away.

The guide bundled us into a tuk tuk and we escaped!

R&R – much needed in Bharatpur. On the move again to Jaipur tomorrow.

Oops – Jo on a bike on the beach in Aarhus – how did that happen??????

Actually part 1, since we only got to the Taj Mahal at the end of the day. I mentioned the “Delhi Traffic Experience” and the 4 hour drive to Agra, but there is more to Agra than the Taj Mahal and the general grottiness of Agra itself.

The Agra Fort (no, I’d never heard of it either, but Eileen carries on a very knowledgeable discussion with the guide) is enormous.

It’s massive, and if you peer through the mist you can see the Taj Mahal(this is what the view could look like if you have decent weather, a decent camera and a reasonably competent photographer.

And then, of course, there is the Baby Taj (who knew – apart from Eileen). The clue is in the name …

And then ending with the sights getting even better!

It’s been a lifetime’s ambition, and here we are. Even more stunning than expected.

And that’s after a long day. Indeed, Eileen puts it as possibly one of the best ever.

Start wasn’t overly auspicious. As we have been in the centre of Delhi, we have clearly missed the notorious traffic. Today we found it. Difficult to describe, but if you imagine 6 or 7 cars abreast on a 4 lane road and all dodging in and out and darting for gaps and avoiding motorbikes, tuk tuks, pedestrians and cows, that’s a start.

But eventually we got on to the main Agra highway – think M40 but less interesting, especially on a grey misty day.

And despite the proximity of a World Heritage Site, Agra is pretty glum.

And that was not even close to the bad bits.

Not surprisingly took rather a lot of photos of the Taj Mahal – here are a few

Taj Mahal with goats

Taj Mahal with more birds

Birds without Taj Mahal

A look back on the way out

The thing is, Eileen had already made the comment about the amazing day before that. More of that in Part 2.

Forgot the Akshardham Temple from yesterday. Easy explanation is that I was scrolling through photos and they aren’t allowed here. It’s brand new – 2005 – and as the guide said, it’s more like a Disneyworld than a Temple. But it’s huge and incredibly popular. Here’s a couple of library pics.

And so to today. Poor forecast was borne out so we were dodging heavy showers. More amazing places that I’d never heard of.

Qutub Minar

We liked that it was a 13th Century Mosque, but built using stones from the earlier Hindu Temple. Rather than smoothing the stones, they simply cut of the heads of all the decorative figures, leaving the remainder of the carvings in full view.

And we recognised the tower from the view on our first day.

Lotus Temple

Not the Sydney Opera House, but surely some inspiration somewhere.

That’s Eileen deep in conversation with Ravindra, our guide.

Sikh Temple

Serving hundreds of free meals to anyone who wants one.

Close to our apartment

Even though we have a fantastic apartment, we’re very close to places tourists don’t get taken. Here’s the local supermarket

Hauz Khas (again)

Fog is coming down.

Top notch vegetarian food for lunch and dinner. On our travels tomorrow.

Perhaps even more than usual, I haven’t much idea what to expect. I must admit that my ignorance of Delhi was almost total – I knew it is India’s capital city and large (20m inhabitants). Eileen, of course, had done her homework thoroughly, and with the help of our guide had sorted out a fantastic day.

But the big news is that Eileen was approached to take part in a dance video – the group asking have over 4m followers on tik tok. Unfortunately she declined, so fame will have to wait a bit longer.

And so to business.

Mosque

Rickshaw Ride through Old Delhi

Note the fantastic electricity wiring.

Old Delhi

Ghandi Memorial

The India Gate

A bit like their Cenotaph

Humayuns Tomb

Probably the most famous. And interestingly was the inspiration for the Taj Mahal a few years later.

• Jet lag seems nearly sorted
• Food continues to be wonderful, and not too spicy
• Weather is so far so good. Need a jumper when the sun goes in
• Pollution is definitely here – you can taste it. But nowhere near as bad as last November we’ve been told
• Driving is crazy
• Rain forecast tomorrow – we’ll see. It’s another heavy day of sightseeing
• Tourist places take cards, but most others still prefer cash
• Everyone gets a tip

Pinch me – are we really here?

So that’s some fairly basic geography showing Delhi on the map. Note Agra (Taj Mahal) which is going to be about the scale of our travels. Flew over some exotic-sounding places on the way, and got a bit of sleep but not much.

Anyway, we made it very smoothly (10 minutes to clear immigration – quicker than Gatwick!), met up with our driver and stopped for coffee. No idea yet what we’re looking at, but it’s old and famous.

The mist was clearing, but I think it’s going to be hazy throughout.

Apartment is huge – and I mean enormous.

Afternoon is more about survival than sightseeing, but Hauz Khas is a trendy part of Delhi.

Dinner for 2 came to the princely sum of £9 (same price as 2 coffees earlier today no no idea of prices yet); no booze but fresh coconut water.

So it’s all a bit of a hazy, noisy blur at the moment. But the one unchanging factor (for long-standing fans of the blog) is the quality of the selfies …..

(That’s the lake in the background!)