Thursday, January 27, 2011
We had arranged for a large taxi to take us from our lovely Hilton hotel in Delhi to the hotel in Agra where we will meet up with the rest of the tour group tomorrow. The taxi was waiting for us after a terrific breakfast buffet – I especially liked the delicious mango yogurt. It is likely that this was our last risk-free meal for some time. By risk-free I just mean that careful consideration comes into play with our meals from here on out – the risks are real if we eat something bad (which is everywhere).
Although we had requested a taxi large enough to transport 3 bikes in the back, they arrived in a small SUV the size of a jeep. The bikes had to be loaded on top and mine was at the bottom of the pile. They were secured to the roof rack with a rope, our bags were loaded in the back and we were on our way dodging bikes, tuk-tuks (sounds like took-took), cars, buses, pedestrians, trucks, rickshaws, ox carts, tractors and about anything imaginable that moves.
I was riding shotgun and had the best views of everything we passed... or almost hit. When we stopped at a light (which was rare), little kids would come over to the car and tap on the window, begging for money. When we stopped for gas, us girls got out and bought a coke and some Lays potato chips from a stand along the road. Here’s a little girl that was begging from Candie’s window:
After unloading our bikes and locking them up with the other bikes from the tour, we got our rooms and then had lunch – naan and dal. Naan (pronounced “non”) is a flatbread and dahl is a lentil dish (steaming hot – perfect). Then we were off to the Taj Mahal which was only a mile from our hotel. We decided to take a tuk-tuk for 150 rupees round trip… under $2. Here’s a picture of our tuk-tuk from the inside:
The Taj Mahal - this time a WOW!!! Here's Jan and Candie there - sorry no picture of me on my camera:
As a side note – it appears that my wireless adapter on my computer will not work with the wireless here in India so I may be limited to ethernet cables to upload my blog. I will do my best to get them uploaded as often as I can. If you don’t hear from me for a few days, keep checking back. Tonight I was able to get online for 100 Rupees/hour and I will log into Skype tomorrow to see if I can see my friends at the Y and check in with family.
