We were up before the crack of dawn, in order to return to the Taj Mahal when the sun rays first reach it in the morning, and what a beautiful sight it was ! !
Because we checked out of the hotel so early, the breakfast facilities we not yet open, so the hotel packed breakfast lunches for us to have on the train which we were supposed to catch at 8:30 a.m. for our return to Delhi.
It is quite a walk from the place where the cars and busses must park when you go to the Taj. One either walks, takes a rickshaw, an open air sightseeing vehicle or a three wheeler which here they call a motorized rickshaw. We took the latter pictured below.
After spending about an hour bidding our adieus to the Taj Mahal, we returned to our vehicle only to be informed by our tour guide that the train had been delayed by a couple of hours. He was continually checking the train schedule using his hand held computer and every time he did, the delay became longer and longer. We began to wonder if we would ever leave Agra today – and we had a plane to catch at 7:05 p.m. which would bring us to Mumbai (AKA Bombay) where the ship was docked. Luckily the ship was not due to sail until the afternoon of the following day, so we had a time cushion.
Today was the Feast of the Holies ( the feast of colours) and everyone was out merry making – especially the young men and boys. They had their faces painted in all kinds of colours, mainly red and apparently during this time young people buy toy water guns filled with coloured water and they have a lot of fun spraying each other, so their clothing gets pretty colourful. We had been told to expect delays because of this feast – in fact we were taking the train back to Delhi instead of a car, because of all the people who would be out on the streets and blocking the traffic..
Our guide advised us against waiting for the train in the station, because of the lack of comfort and the beggars who would plaque us, so we returned to the hotel. There are beautiful gardens there, so we opted to find a restful shady spot near a pond with a water fountain and there we enjoyed our breakfast packages. Later I browsed in the hotel shops and bought a cotton blouse. Finally our guide informed us that we could go to the station and at 12;30, four hours late we were on the train and on our way back to Delhi.
Our compartment on the train was a sleeper and it was air conditioned, thank goodness. Not all the cars on the train were that comfortable. Mary and I were sitting together and Jim was at the other end of the car. When the person came around to check our tickets, he kicked a couple of men out of a sixer compartment and put us together. Nice for us ! ! ! Not so nice for the 2 guys, although since they were travelling alone it shouldn’t have been difficult for them to get another good seat. The train was not full.
When one travels by train, one doesn’t go through the nicer parts of town, so what we saw out of the window, was more garbage and squalor. It is hard to imagine people living in the ram shackled huts we saw. We saw a lot of cows and water buffalo too.
It was late afternoon when we finally arrived back in Delhi. Our guide and driver were at the station waiting for us. First we went to have a late lunch and then our guide took us to various points of interest in New Delhi, (including the beautiful government buildings which are in a park-like setting), until it was time to drop us off at the airport.
Our plane took off around 7:00 p.m. and we arrived in Mumbai shortly after 10. We had to go to a government building to get a yellow card which allows us to return aboard the ship. It’s a good thing we had a driver because we would have had a difficult time finding it -- it was a non-descript little place in the middle of a labyrinth of back streets.
The next day, we had our 13th formal night and the theme was “Bollywood” -- the Indian Hollywood. Many ladies came dressed in saris and they looked gorgeous. I didn’t splurge and purchase a sari because, the beautiful ones are very expensive and where would I ever get to wear it again? I wore some harem pants I had purchased, a top I brought with me and a scarf to give it contrast.
The handsome young man in the picture with me is one of the jewellery salesmen from India.
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