In need of a break from the Indian food offerings, I opted for a cereal and toast breakfast today. Unfortunately the restaurant manager had other ideas. He personally decided that I needed to try the Rajasthan specialties, and brought things over with tongs to put on my plate as well as specially ordering a dosa for me. I struggled through with a mental note to walk as much a possible today. We started off with an early morning visit to the Taj Mahal. I was so busy fending off vendors that when our guide came over with the required shoe covers for us, I didn’t look up and waved him off with a ‘no thank you’.
We were nice and early so it wasn’t very crowded and we were though security in a matter if minutes. What a truly magnificent structure. It’s impossible to describe how beautiful it is and I won’t even try. Suffice to say that you shouldn’t leave it off your itinerary. The photography activity in the grounds is intense. There are western girls who have dressed in saris, families who have coordinated their outfits for matching family photos and even a elderly Chinese couple - she in a sari that showed her tummy and he in a turban, getting professional photos taken. A number of tourists were so busy with their selfie sticks that I’m not sure they really looked at the building. I caved to the pressure to pay for photos and now have a disk with fifty photos on it that I can’t access till I get home.
We followed the Taj Mahal with a trip to the Agra Fort. This was quite similar to Fatehpur Sikri from yesterday, although more examples of the decoration and inlay work remain. Then it was farewell to Agra and off for the four hour drive to Delhi. Agra was not a city I would race back to see, but the Taj Mahal was worth the stopover. It was interesting to see some different residential areas and to see that most of the cows were tied up on people’s driveways, rather than roaming free.
We were a bit peckish when we arrived in Delhi and the driver suggested we stop at McDonalds. At least that’s what we thought he said. It turns out he said Dominos. We went in and tried to order at the counter. The girl made us sit down and gave us a menu. We tried to ask what sizes the pizzas were. She said “we have nothing” and disappeared out the back. We gave up and went back to the bus. The traffic here is bumper to bumper. I guess it‘s understandable given the population of Delhi is not far off the population of the whole of Australia. Still - our diver told us that sometimes it takes an hour to drive a km.
Our hotel, the Oberoi Maidens, is a heritage building that housed the viceroy during the British Raj. There is lots of dark timber with old carpets, a grand staircase, high ceilings and white plaster walls. We were greeted with little cups of hot chocolate and a few personal introductions from various people (I hope there is no test later as I have no idea who they are or why they came out to say hi). One of our rooms was upgraded to a suite, which was a nice surprise. We opted for afternoon tea on the garden terrace to tide us over till dinner time. My tea was “in the house” and did not appear on the bill. We explored the grounds, which are very lush compared to the other cities we have visited on this trip, and then decided on wifi time and a light dinner at the hotel.
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