The hotels in Delhi, Jaipur and now in Agra have been really nice. Our group of eleven others are really fun. As a group we have the four corners of the continental US and the heartland pretty well covered. One couple is from Boston, three are from the Pacific Northwest, one from California and an independent traveler from Kansas City. Really nice and interesting folks who could all easily be classified as "traveling idiots". As a matter of fact, compared to most of them we're "Junior Traveling Idiots".
Throughout this adventure I'll try my best to describe what we are seeing and doing. The Amber Fort, Palace in the Lake, the walls and buildings of the "Pink City" of Jaipur were amazing. As interesting as these major sites are the real sites and scenes all along the way. Yesterday we were on a bus ( very comfortable and air conditioned) for about 6 hours driving from Jaipur to Agra. At one point I laid my head back and closed my eyes in anticipation of a good nap. It was no use, there was no way of shutting down my brain enough to fall asleep..........I knew I'd be missing something. No telling what it would be, but I knew it would be something interesting and unique.
It could be a motorcycle that looked like it was from the 60's with 4-5 people including a mom riding side saddle on the back holding a couple of kids. It might be a non-air conditioned bus with what looked to be around 100 people packed inside (not an exaggeration) and another dozen or so riding on the roof. You see these buses not only in the city but also on the highways sometimes going around 60 mph! It could be a cow or a dozen cows, pig(s), camel(s), monkey(s) ambling down the middle of the road. It could be a crowded market place that would make Wal-Mart on tax free weekend look like one of the most serene places on the planet. I could go on forever with "it could be's" but hopefully the pictures will capture some of it. As we were getting near our hotel yesterday at one point I just started laughing as the thought crossed my mind that "you can't make this stuff up"!
This morning we're off to see the Taj Mahal. Our guide shared with us that there are two types of people in the world. Those that have seen the Taj Mahal and those that haven't. We're looking forward to crossing over to the other side!
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| At a lunch in a small village along the road from Jaipur to Agra |
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| You never know when you might run into a snake charmer or two |
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| A couple of handsome young men on the side of the road! |
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| A "Step Well" down to a water collection area. It's over 90 feet and 300 stairs down to the water. |
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| Cute kiddo's from a local village |
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| The group! |
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| One of the local markets. So many motorcycles, scooters, tractors, etc. |
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| An option to an overcrowded bus is the back of an over crowded truck |
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| All three hotels have had these in their lobbies for Diwali. It's made of rice! |
