Agra

The next stop on the itenary was Agra, our first real trip on the bus. Somewhere along the line someone had taken a full size bus, washed it, and then put it in the dryer. The result was a bus that was as tall and as wide as a 40 seater coach, but somewhat stumpy in length, having about 16 seats in total, as if it were a gecko that dropped it's tail.

The trip to Stumpy was deceptively comfortable, the roads were quite smooth in comparison to what was to come with suicidal overtaking manoevures kept to the minimum required by Indian law. I probably would have felt more comfortable had the bus driver and his accompanying human indicator (namaste Vikram) not been decked out in flying goggles and a Japanese scarve. Jokes aside Munshi the driver did an exceptional job in conjunction with Vikram through the first two weeks in avoiding the worst of the potholes (craters?) and not stopping our collective hearts too often.

In Agra there's a massive red fort, similar but importantly not identical, to the one in Delhi. I'd love to post photo's however I did say it was massive, so I wasn't able to fit any worthwhile shots onto my camera.

The Taj on the otherhand is a well versed photo-pig and takes a great piccy. The Taj knows it's both beautiful and photogenic from any angle. We were fortunate to be a little ahead of the peak tourist season, dawn arrival meaning there were just about as many monkey's as people on site.

It is a stunning piece of work beyond any doubt. The two identical red mosques on either side (one of them is a fake, purely for aesthetic balance - the Muslims are bonkers about symetry) provide contrast to the shining marble and prevent you from visually overloading on white. Even the fake mosque is worth viewing in it's own right, this is a view of the inside of one...which one I can't remember but they are after all, identical down to the last detail.














On entry one of our group had her calculator confiscated by security, apparently too much algebra over the years has affected the foundations of Taj, consequently neither calculators nor slide rules are allowed in any more.

On first sight, most of the group agreed the Taj felt somewhat surreal possibly because it's one of those images you've seen so many times in books, magazines and on TV. Looking back at the photo's I can now really appreciate the true beauty of it.














Because we were traveling during the tourist pre-season, the local mobile salesmen used us as a practice match. Kinda like Geelong in 06, I think they may have gone too hard too early, as on our return to Agra three and a bit weeks later, they were noticeably flatter and struggled to keep up with the bus. Here's a photo of one of the tour group, Pauline, explaining politely to a salesman trying to run himself into from, that no she doesn't want a pearl necklace. Meanwhile his companion tries to sell her what appears to be a stale piece of toast from the local hotel boofay.














Traffic in India is absolutely mental. If you take all the worst pieces of driving you've seen in your entire life - suicidal overtaking, unroadworthy vehicles, red-light running, tailgating, driving on the wrong side of the road, speeding, motorbikes driving on the footpath, homicidal buses...that's pretty much what you'll see in 5 hours anywhere near a road in India.

That said, Kolkata where I am at the moment is not too bad for traffic, chaotic Howrah bridge (even at 0430) aside where my cab had a minor bingle with another cab. It has numerous one way streets which make crossing easier, and plenty of policed pedestrian crossings on the east side of the city. It's been quite pleasant to walk around as well, as there are quite a few street signs and there are lots of trees along the side of the road. As in all parts of India of visited so far, poverty and wealth exist side by side.

Sunday's is a much quieter day, many shops are closed. To pass the time when the cricket isn't on, the locals line up on either side of a boomgate to play a game known as "Murgh"...which loosely translates in English as "chicken".