It's been ages since I've written and that's because I've gone from India to Hong Kong and now to Lhasa. Life has been hectic to say the least...
I'm going to finish off the golden triangle that I started a couple of months ago!
After the unpleasant experience in Delhi, I headed to Agra with a driver called Sandy who proceeded to get more and more deranged as the two days went by.
The drive was pleasant until we got to the outskirts and, since it's during the summer, traffic was ridiculous as soon as we got to the point where you can actually see the Taj Mahal in the distance (WAY in the distance). After waiting for about an hour, we finally got close enough to walk to the Taj. Our tour guide paid I think it was 1,200 rupees to get us tickets, little booties so we didn't have to take off our shoes (and worry about people snagging them unless you bribe some kids to keep watch), and little bottles of water. The main gate had the most ridiculous line so we ended up going the East gate since the guide said it would be more tame.
Quick tip, when they mean you can't bring anything except water and a camera and maybe a phone, they mean it. I accidentally (stupidly) put my nintendo DS in my camera bag and completely forgot about it.
We got to the shortened (but still substantial line) where guys and girls were separated and after waiting a bit, the tour guide finally managed to somehow get us ahead (i felt guilty) and right when they got to the baggage checkpoint, they found the DS. My boy and I were able to get in but the guide (who earned his tip) had to take the DS to a security deposit before waiting in line again. I felt so awful.
Anyway, here are some pretty pictures of the Taj:
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| Akbar's tomb on the way to Agra |
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| Race! |
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| That white speck way in the distance is the Taj. This is where the traffic started |
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| Ridiculous line at the front |
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| Less ridiculous line at the other gate. I'm in the girls line looking at the boy's line |
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| Straight line to the Taj |
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| First glimpse (well, second for me since I was here when I was about 6) |
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| Water wasn't turned on yet, this is as close as I got to the reflecting picture |
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| Stylish booties |
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| Where the black Taj Mahal was supposed to be if it had been built |
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| There are a number of different ways to photograph the Taj and this is one |
After we left, we went to the requisite jewelry/souvenir shops (I got a nice black stone with a four pointed star) and ate lunch, we were on the way to Jaipur! Thus far our driver had been holding it together except for occasional lapses where he insisted on me telling him where to go and testing my knowledge and memory of India since I stupidly told him that I had lived in Calcutta, New Delhi and Chennai when I was little.
Our hotel in Jaipur was AWESOME! It what our crappy excuse for lodging in Delhi wished it could be. Nice bed, clean, sink attached to drain in the floor, working toilet, and nice shower.
The next day was spent around Jaipur, looking at the pink city, going to the amber fort and then going to the observatory called Jantar Mantar. To get to the Amber Fort you can either drive up or take an elephant. In spite of being very touristy (and pricey: 900 rupees, and make sure you give exact change because you won't be getting any back. Even if you consider this a tip, the guy will still ask for another at the top even though signs say they won't).
Jantar Mantar is AMAZING! Basically you can see all sorts of things about time, longitude, latitude, hemispheres, zodiac, etc. It was a ton of fun.
Here are some photos!
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| Obstacle on the way |
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| Our beautiful room |
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| and bathroom |
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| Amber Fort |
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| Try to guess what each of these shapes are! |
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| Elephant trunk |
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| A fish |
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| Lion's tail |
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| Cobra heads |
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| Scorpion |
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| Crab |
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| Flower! |
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| Pink City |
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| Jantar Mantar: playground for all ages. This is the giant sun dial |
Funny enough, although everything else went well, our poor driver was dealt the final straw which unhinged him: his phone was stolen.
Our way back to Delhi got weirder and weirder until finally he ended up speeding up and then suddenly slowing at random. He even stopped to help another car which we thought was nice until he started tailing them to make sure they were okay. We stopped four or five times. Finally, we got to Delhi and right on the outskirts we went around the car and saw in the rear view that it had stopped again. Instead of conceding that they could call the police to help or even that he couldn't go backwards, he started to drive slow while other cars raced around him. He did this for ten minutes, constantly searching for the car, before we finally said that we were ready to head to the hotel. Again, while he was being really nice, he was doing it in such a way that made it dangerous...
Plus we had been in the car for a total of twelve hours in a 24 hour period and we were pretty tired.
Anyway, hope this was entertaining!
