To Agra, The Taj Mahal and then Delhi and home

Thursday 14th February 2019

The bus arrived at 6:30 am and we piled in; the road to Agra is basically a motorway/A road, until we came to the blockage diversion which took us onto very small dusty, bumpy backroads. The trucks were too big to take this detour so were stacked up for miles; I don’t think the locals usually see many tourists on these remote roads so our bus with “Tourist” stamped on the front stood out, resulting in loads of kids along the way waving and smiling at us..nice! We came to an army checkpoint and were told that the route ahead was not safe so we diverted again. Finally we re-joined the main road and were on our way to Agra; 7 hrs later we arrived.

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The Taj is one of the 7 wonders of the world and certainly does not disappoint. The first time you see it’s marble glinting through the entrance gate archway is quiet magical..we took all the classic photos, its great to be here, glad we made it. The construction started in 1631 it took 22 years to complete in 1653. The 5th Mughal King of India, was grief-stricken when his third wife and favourite, Mumtaz Mahal, died during the birth of their 14th child. His grief traditionally is held as inspiration for Taj Mahal mausoleum which was to be her tomb. He had two other wives, also buried there. In all a Hindu, a Muslim and a Christian aimed to bring the religions together.

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Lots of pics taken

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After the Taj Bo left us to go straight to Delhi for his flight, the rest of us fly on the Saturday so we will spend tonight in Agra and then go on to Delhi tomorrow, Friday.

Friday 15th February 2019..To Delhi 5hrs by car

We set off at 9:30am; as we came out noticed next to the hotel a guy was being shaved on the roadside 🙂 The road to Delhi is a toll motorway, well surface and cars really speed along way over the speed limit, our bus was restricted to 80kms/hr. After a few hours we stopped for much needed chai, or Tandoori tea in this case; marvellous.

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After a couple more hours we reached the outskirts of Delhi, the capital of India. We saw rows of new high rise concrete blocks being built along the side of the road, presumably to rehouse people to get them out of the city; not a pretty sight and somewhat reminiscent of the stark communist days in Eastern Europe.

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We had to drop Trevor & Andy off at their hotel in central Delhi, then on to Fred and my hotel near the airport; this meant crossing Delhi from one side to the other. The traffic is terrible, the air is like fog with the pollution and all you can hear is the sound of everyone’s horn..not a nice place! It took us ages and finally we arrived at our hotel, 7 hrs after leaving Agra. Our poor driver, Ram, then had to drive back to Jaipur, another 6hrs!

We arrived at our hotel, a 4star with several very good internet reviews, only to find that it was not finished!!!. It was built, but guys were plastering in the reception, there was no lift, only the empty shaft, and the place was covered in dust. Fred and I looked at each other..we asked how long they had been open; the young girl on reception said 2 days, the manager came up and said 2 mths..I know who I believe!. We were shown to our rooms which were fine, but needed some paintings/pics on the walls to make them feel warmer. The management were falling over themselves to help us with anything we needed, obviously needed good reviews. We asked if there was a restaurant and bar nearby; the young lady on reception was despatched to take us to AeroCity, a completely new development about 2kms away. Security was very tight when we approached, the whole area was new and included all the Internationally known hotel brands; Aerocity was fabulous, again security to get in. Restaurants, shops, fast food; very American. We found a nice restaurant and had a non curry meal for the first time in 2 weeks.

That night Fred and I ate near the hotel and listened to live music in the bar with our last curry meal; also the last bottle of Kingfisher for a while. In the morning the hotel laid on a free lift to the airport for me. Its a nice modern airport, but the security queue was the worst I’d ever seen..my flight was delayed by 1hr 30 so no rush; just as well, it took more than 30 mins just to get through security.

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Goodbye India..I’ve had a great adventure and thank you Indian Rides and Royal Enfield 🙂

I plan to post a collage of other pics/videos in a few days and also some words about Royal Enfield & Indian Rides, which I hope will be useful for anyone else who may be planning a motorcycling adventure to India..so thanks for following and stay tuned!