Saturday, October 2, 2010

Day 4 - Delhi to Agra




I waken a tad too early (5.30am).  Go to inspect my eye in the bathroom mirror in the hope that all will be over and better now.  I am therefore horrified to discover a great big squashy cushion under my left eye.  I'm really not an attractive sight to inflict on India today.

Downstairs to breaky, where H ploughs his way through a strangely miscellaneous assortment of salad sandwiches, hard boiled eggs, fried bread rolls and some other peculiarities, whilst I have a cheese omelette.

We check out and head into the street to meet Salim, who's parked up a few yards away.  It's very quiet at this time in the morning - none of the shops have opened up yet.  Salim has a couple of suggestions for some more sight-seeing before we leave Delhi.

Humayan's Tomb
It is lovely and quiet here, being amongst the first visitors of the day to the red sandstone tomb, with white marble decoration.  Clusters of brilliant green parrots are at large and cheeky little chipmunks scatter along the paths.

Lotus Temple
Heading out of Delhi, Salim stops so we can photo the Lotus Temple.  Sadly, it's closed on a Monday, so we can't visit, but it's terribly impressive - a kind of Sydney Opera House, but with symmetry.

Shiva Shrine
Back on the road again, we head out of Delhi, with a top off to see a road-side Shiva shrine and statue.

Akbar's Mausoleum, Sikandra (son of Humayan)
We wander along the red sandstone walkways, with their mini 'levadas'.  There are more lively parrots here and some antelope graze in the lush green grounds.  Families play hide and seek in the cloisters of the mausoleum and seem to thoroughly enjoy their leisure time.  It appears we are a bit of a novelty here and people take photos of us.

Back on the road again.  The mad-cap capers of drivers, motorcyclists, cows, goats, dogs and people has a strangely sleep-inducing effect.  It seems bizarre how we both nod off with all that chaos going on around us. Maybe it is information overload and our brains are short-circuiting

We break unexpectedly for lunch at the Miramar roadside hotel, where a monkey in a frilly dress is made to jump up and down excitedly on the driveway and a snake-charmer tries to entice a rather tired looking cobra.

Into Agra, the traffic becomes even more fraught and aggressive and for a tense moment, Salim and a lorry driver exchange angry eye contact and I wonder if it's going to come to fisticuffs.

As we enter Agra, we are both disappointed by the sheer filth and squalor of it all.  It lacks any of the usual redeeming charm of India - and even though there are the amazing sights of the Taj Mahal and Red Forte, all else is a bit of a bum-boil.  We understand now why we are only scheduled to stop here for one night.

Hotel is of a good standard though - the usual troop of people accompanies us up to our room and all require tipping.  We stop in to dine in the downstairs restaurant.

No comments:

Post a Comment