This was a cheap trip, a very cheap trip. I wondered why, I soon found out....
Actually, that's not quite true, I didn't find out till around 11:00pm when we were still visiting things Hindu.
I was up at 5:00, the tourist bus was leaving at 6:00. I didn't get that much sleep. I was awoken at about 3:30 but some Indian man, banging on my door and ringing my bell. I was not amused and made that point with the look on my face as I opened the door. As I boarded at 6:30, (Nepali time!) still half asleep, I wondered if, once again I would be with a bus fill of Indians. I was, or nearly, there was a very nice Indonesian lady in front of me and also a guy from Korea. As we got chatting it turned out that the lady from Indonesia had paid 1800 rupees and the Korean guy had paid 5,000 (although he was going on to Jaipur by train- it did sound terribly expensive). Maybe I got a bargain!
The journey wasn't too bad although well in excess of the 5.5 hours advertised. It didn't start particularly well. A small child was sat In the front seat of the bus (unlike ours, the buses have a cab which is sectioned off. As the driver braked heavily (it turned out to be a feature of the journey) the small child flew off the seat and his head made heavy contact with the glass panel of the cab. He didn't stop screaming till well after 9:30. After leaving at 6:00 (although we didn't actually get out of the city till turned 8:00am) we pulled into Agra at around 1:00pm. We had stopped off for something to eat about half way, nevertheless, it was a long journey, and I was to return the same day. Fuck!
As we pulled into the city the Indian guy in charge of the bus told me I could get off and led me to my own personal guide and auto rickshaw. My first question as a savvy traveller ( ;-)) is how much?
" nothing sir, it is included in the price of the ticket. Just tips"
"ha ha, ok" I said. "but no silk shops, no art shops and no carpet shops" I added.
"no sir, of course"
So off we set to the Taj Mahal, one of the seven wonders of the world.
It would be 750 rupees to get in and then another 500 rupees of you wanted a guide, you will need a guide my man said. OK....!!!
We arrived , around the temple the a no-go zone for vehicles of 1km. I was introduced to my guide and we jumped into a motorised vehicle and off we went. It was a great place, I have to say, of all the "things you must see before you die" things, this was one of the most impressive. With hindsight, I would have been better off without the guide. I felt rushed, I would have liked to have spent a few hours there, it was busy (apparently about 30,000 visitors every day) but at the same time it is so spacious that you don't notice it. The grounds are nice and green with park benches to sit on and enjoy the experience.
Within an hour we were out of there, much to my disappointment. I met up with my "other" guide and we made our way to the Red Fort. This was another 250 rupees but no guide necessary. This time I did get some time to just hang out and people watch. It was a fascinating place, where the Bloke who built to Taj was actually imprisoned. At least he could see the building from his cell window. I met a charming Italian woman who was from Oxford. She was doing her Phd in tourism and just hated India!
Back to the guide, we now had about 90 minutes so I'm afraid I did have to visit some of the shops, didn't buy anything though. I spent the last 45 mins in a rooftop cafe drinking sprite. It had an unusual feature. A shotgun was just laid on a table.
At the end the guide asked me if I had a good day, I had, was I happy? I was, would I make him happy, probably not. I did give him 250 rupees and the driver 150rupees though to be fair the "guide" had not done a great deal more than sit on his arse all day.
Although we were due to set of back to Delhi at 5:30 it was actually 6:30 when we finally set off. I had wondered where the rest of the bus had been all day (except the Indonesian lady who had actually had the same treatment as me) it turned out that this was a pilgrimage tour and both of us had been added as an afterthought because there were a few seats free. The tour was far from complete, we were now going to the birthplace of Krishna and then to some sort of religious ceremony. We worked it out that if we got back in New Delhi for 2:00am we would be lucky. And we had the same driver !!
Just before we left Agra a (quite large) family got on the bus. All the way to Agra I had two seats and at first it was looking that way for the trip back. A young girl of about 15 sat by me and a young boy of about 6 sat on her knee. She was fascinated to be sat by a westerner. She had come to Agra with her family for Diwali and was now on her way back to Delhi. From there it would be a two day train journey home. She asked me if she could have her photograph taken with me and her father obliged. The youngster, thought he would impress by counting. He counted on his fingers, 1-11, he did this twice. I wasn't really paying much attention but after he had done it twice I showed him five fingers and five fingers saying 'five plus five is 10' and then counted them one by one. He then did the same and to my ashtonishment and embarrassment, he had six fingers on one hand. Hmm what do you do???
Indonesian woman was charming. I think she was quite wealthy. She was a Prof. Dr Wila Chandrawila Supriadi, was a lecturer in something or other in Bandung, somewhere near Jakarta. We chatted about things and she gave me her card saying if I was in her neck of the woods to call her up. I told her I would email her the next time I was on line.
The journey home went on and on and on. Even when we got to new Delhi it didn't end. First we had to start looking for some accommodation for a family, then the driver couldn't fine a particular place he wanted for a drop off. I'd had enough. I recognised where we we're and decided to walk the remaining half mile. It was 4:00am. Getting to the hotel, I had to wake the staff to let me in. They were all asleep on blankets in the reception. On the bus ride through the city I was amazed at the number of people sleeping by the side of the road. That is something that has not changed since I was last in Delhi.
Tomorrow Varanasi.....
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