Agra and Taj Mahal - N.India Trip Part 2.

On 18th we took UA Toofan express to Agra at 7.30AM. Our driver told its better to reach the station at least an hour before because sometimes the platforms won’t be displayed properly. Thus we reached Station at around 6.30 without having breakfast. Only after a few hours we got to know there is no pantry in the train.:spin
Luckily for us we had many snacks and dry fruits with us. So all of us started gobbling on the pistas, dates ,apricots and chocolates. By 11.30AM we reached Raja Ki Mandi, where we were asked to get down by our travel agent. But to our surprise the driver was waiting for us at Agra Station- Ah! Miscommunication between them. Again after half an hour of wait he picked us up and dropped in our hotel (Hotel Pushp Villa).


The hotel was a great one and we all were happy seeing spacious rooms and neat bathroom. Especially after, the not so great, experience in Delhi. After freshening up we went to the above rotating restaurant to have our lunch. The restaurant has wooden flooring (as far as I remember) and glass walls thus allowing you to get a view of surrounding and Yep the great Taj Mahal. They also have a telescope for us to view Taj closer. The restaurant literally rotates very slowly and its good because you will get to catch a glimpse of Taj wherever you are seated:thumbsup I don’t remember the dishes we had but they were good. After a light dinner and no breakfast next day, lunch surely will feel heavenly. After lunch we took a power nap and got ready to visit Taj by 3PM. Though Agra fort was also there in the agenda all of us were too tired for it and planned to visit it next day enroute Jaipour.


Tourist vehicles are not allowed till Taj and so you have to get an electrically charged bus/golf cart from a centre where you will be driven upto a few metres far from Taj gate. The bus charges 5/- per head and golf cart is 10/- per head. Since we were 6 we opted golf cart and he dropped us at the gate. There is security check once we get inside. Its better not to carry any battery operated device other than camera. Mom had a pen torch in her bag and she wasn’t allowed to carry it in, even after asking them to throw the battery and give her the pen torch. And what they don’t have a locker too; they wanted her to throw the torch in dust bin:rant!!!!! Mom went back and asked a shop keeper to keep it safe till we returned.



Once we enter the Taj gate we are led to small courtyard which has gates from all the directions namely east gate, west gate and north/front gate. The fourth gate will lead us into the Taj Mahal compound. These are made in red sandstone. Once we enter Taj compound it’s all white everywhere. Though it was a weekday it was really crowded. We clicked a few pics and decided to enter the Taj. We removed our chappals and entered the Taj. The entrance steps are in marble, but now they are covered in wooden planks. Taj is so huge than I had ever thought by seeing the pics. There were security guys everywhere. Rather than the inside of Taj I liked the outside architecture. Might be due to the rush. The intricate designs on marble are awesome. I mean, imagine how many people would have sweated it out on those.:bowdown On both sides of Taj there are two similar buildings of which one is the Mosque and on the left of Taj is the Mehman Khana. My mom was totally in to Taj and didn’t want to leave the place. After spending an hour and more we decided to return. And gosh!!! What do we see? A serpentine queue to enter Taj. We were lucky to have entered just minutes earlier.


The lad from the shop were mom had kept her torch was waiting at the gate and took us to his shop. We bought to marble taj statues from there for 60/- a piece and had a tea from the nearby tea stall. Again we have to take another golf cart to reach the place where we had left our taxi. By 6PM we started from there and asked our driver to take us to buy Agra petha. On Ram’s (Delhi driver) suggestion we planned to buy Panchi Petha. They had many varieties. For us it was just the plain white petha. We bought about 3Kgs of pethas and started back to hotel. The cost was from 300-400/- per kilo.

Since we had a heavy lunch none was in the mood for a dinner. So we went for a walk and then had burgers from Mc D which is a ten minutes walk away. It was around 10.30PM and the place was really deserted except a few stray dogs. All of us were tired after the hectic day and went to bed after few minutes of chatting. Next day we have to travel from Agra to Jaipur. All the details and experiences about the road trip, Agra fort and Fatehpur Sikri in my next.

Previous{Delhi} Next{UP}

Photos from Trip.

 

Hi Rani,
Thanks for comming in and giving the first fb Was there a locker? The security ladies there when asked told us they dont provide any locker service.

Balu thanks for dropping by, yep I know that is why they dont allow us to carry battery operated devices. But they can remove and throw the battery and give the torch to us.Battery is the problem right not the pen torch!!!

Wow Kelly did you tell Dussera? That was exactly the same time we went too. But we went after Dussera.

 

Dear Sree, There is no need for that qtn about petha hehe we were trying our best not to open the packets from there only because we mainly bought it for distribution. But the one we bought to home I had some 5-6 in one day

 

Dear Andal, You just made my day with the comment So when are you planning for the Agra trip? Will post the Agra fort blog too soon. LEt me know if you want any information about hotels or drivers who took us around. I havent still deleted their nums from my cell.