first leg of the incredible india trip – part II
day 3 (delhi – agra – jaipur)
the first guests to have breakfast and the entire cafe to ourselves. warm food is served at 7 am and we had our light breakfast of bread, cheese and fruits before heading out north to agar and jaipur, within a day.
we departed with our guardian angel cum driver, satpal, to our first destination in our itinerary. the entire journey from delhi to agra took us 6 hours. unlike the typical rubber tree and palm oil plantations flank along the north-south highway, both sides of the national highway are rolling fields of agriculture land. there are rest stations every few kilometers for truck drivers, where they can afford a shower or even a nap in the rattan beds.
other than the occasional sightings of men relieving themselves in the open, there wasn’t a lot of human activity along the highway. the traffic flow started to slow down when we approached the small towns. it was a chaotic sight, where people tried to get onto buses, where vehicles at a cross road junction refused to give way, and where peddlers will try to sell you food or fancy items.
we still prefer the fruits from the local market.
my trip to india would not be complete without visiting the taj mahal – one of the new seven wonders of the world.
i am in awe of the exterior decorations – the intricate plant motifs, detailed paintings and the qur’an used as a calligraphic decorative element. the rain was very unfortunate and we spent most of our time there in the rain, finding shelter was not an option for us. photography is prohibited in the mausoleum where the sarcophagi of mumtaz mahal and shah jahan have been housed. unless you have a night-vision video cam, else photo or video taking is impossible in the dark chamber.
our last stop in was the fatehpur sikri and it was there, we had a nasty encounter with the supposedly official tour guide. i wouldn’t delve into the ugly scene but a tour guide is definitely not required, and we always reject kindly or ignore those who were persistent.
the word fateh means victory in arabic and served as the capital of emperor akbar’s mughal empire between 1570 to 1585. fatehpur sikri is the best example of the culmination of Hindu and Muslim architecture. the capital city was abandoned and moved to lahore in 1585, partly due to the insufficient and poor water quality in fatehpur sikri. ironically, it rained when we where there and missed the visit to the tomb of salim christi.
it was evening when we arrived in jaipur. the road from the agra to jaipur was unforgettable, especially in the last part of the journey where the car climbed up a narrow and steep street surrounded by fort lookalike buildings. satpal had to ask for directions before we arrived at the jai mahal palace hotel, where we stayed as “princesses” for the next 2 days.
* to be continued…
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