Today we travelled back to the ship, which has now moved to Mumbai (Bombay), via coach from Agra to Delhi, IndiGo Airlines from Delhi to Mumbai, and coach through Bombay to the ship. Agra and Delhi are fascinating places, just what you would expect if you have seen Slumdog Millionaire or The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. The streets are jammed with traffic of all sorts, going in all directions simultaneously; buses, cars, tuk tuks (3 wheelers), scooters, bicycles, donkey carts, camel carts, cows wandering around aimlessly, same for water buffalo, oxen and even Brahman bulls, not to mention all the pedestrians. It is an absolute miracle that nobody gets killed. All the drivers play chicken with each other, while constantly leaning on the horn. All of this amidst dusty, dirty, litter-strewn streets. It is quite a sight. We took all kinds of pictures. Here are a few typical scenes.
Yesterday, in addition to visiting the Taj Mahal we went on "The Bus Tour Gone Awry". We were supposed to go to Fatehpur Sikri, which was at one time the capital city of Mogul India, but is now a ghost town. It was abandoned after only 15 years because of problems with water supply. The plan was to drive there in about an hour, spend about an hour looking around, and return in time for lunch at the hotel. Well, after driving for about 45 minutes we came to a halt in a traffic jam, where two, two-lane roads intersected. There were no stop signs, no stop light, no roundabout, so nobody had the right-of-way, or more acurately, everybody thought THEY had the right of way. Moreover, there were no altenative routes for miles in any direction, so there was no possiblity of a detour. The intersection was so congested it was total gridlock. Nobody could move. Then to make matters worse, the drivers sitting in the line-ups approaching the intersection, decided to pass the cars in front of them to get to the front of the line. And the drivers on all the roads approaching the intersection did this. Now there was absolutely no way out. Motorcycles and scooters then started weaving through the mess squeezing between the vehicles and along the shoulders. It was an absolute hoot. We took all kinds of pictures (see below). It was a fabulous cultural experience. We saw whole famlies of 5 on a single motorcycle, we saw families on their farm tractor, we say a woman herding her goats with a bundle of sticks on her head, we saw an enterprising vendor materialize out of nowhere and set of an ice-cream wagon beside the road, and finally, after about an hour of all this we say a policeman arrive and look things over. He then disappeared and returned with reinforecements, all now carrying guns. Somehow, they managed to get it all sorted out. I am sure they have had to do this many times before. By this time we did not have enough time to go to Sikri, so we made a u-turn (an experience in itsself) and returned to hotel, all of us agreeing that it was the most entertaining and informative bus tour we have had on the trip so far, and was, no doubt, far better than looking over an abandoned ghost town.
After the aborted bus tour, we toured the Agra Fort. This combination fort and palace was built by the Mighty Mughal Emperor, Akbar the Great in the 1500's. It is huge. As a fort it is pretty much impregnable, having an outer water moat with crocadiles and poisonous snakes, an inner grass moat with tigers and lions, and two walls, on 40 feet high, and a second one 70 feet high. Here is an invador, Peggy the Mighty, approaching the fort.
And here are two invaders who managed to breach the barricades.
This is the bedroom of Akbar the Great. What you can not see is that the bedroom is surrounded on all three sides of this couryard by 150 rooms occupied by his 150 wives, all of whom after dinner would dress up and stand on their balconies while the Emporer sat on his great bedroom chair and looked them over. It's great to be Emporer.
As we drove back to the hotel, we had another great view of the Taj Mahal which is across the water from the Fort.
Namaste, P&G
After the aborted bus tour, we toured the Agra Fort. This combination fort and palace was built by the Mighty Mughal Emperor, Akbar the Great in the 1500's. It is huge. As a fort it is pretty much impregnable, having an outer water moat with crocadiles and poisonous snakes, an inner grass moat with tigers and lions, and two walls, on 40 feet high, and a second one 70 feet high. Here is an invador, Peggy the Mighty, approaching the fort.
And here are two invaders who managed to breach the barricades.
This is the bedroom of Akbar the Great. What you can not see is that the bedroom is surrounded on all three sides of this couryard by 150 rooms occupied by his 150 wives, all of whom after dinner would dress up and stand on their balconies while the Emporer sat on his great bedroom chair and looked them over. It's great to be Emporer.
As we drove back to the hotel, we had another great view of the Taj Mahal which is across the water from the Fort.
Namaste, P&G
such an adventure!! The bus ride sounds hilarious! I guess you'll never complain about traffic in TO again!
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