The Journey to the holy Taj Mahal
Alexander in Indiareis 2018 2018-04-29 20:28, laatste update 2020-09-30 13:00
On Saturday we started our journey to Agra. An adventure of 200 km with the Indian train. The Indian trains are very special... very special. We went in and it seems to be that the train is living. Everywhere people, discussing, sitting, eating, playing, living. Families sit together, merchants selling goods, there is even a food delivery. And in the middle of everything a group of twenty students from Europe. But very quickly first contacts were made and between sleep and eat some friendships were made and we learned a lot about the Indians. Really nice people.
After the sunset we arrived in Agra and after a short, very intensive bus ride we found us in a nice little hotel.. very tired. So we went to bed, to get up very early before the sunrise to get a nice experience at the Taj Mahal... Alarm clock set to 4:30 and try to sleep...
After a short night with 6 power failures and a decent fear about mosquitoes we get up early and went down the street 500 meters to the Taj Mahal. Seriously, what a nice place, impressive with a mystical atmosphere. We took a lot pictures. The idea with the sunrise was it worth. Beautiful. And wow a lot monkeys climbing and playing around.
After some hours of this experience, we went back to the hotel, 8:00, time for some Indian breakfast - Normally on this time I am still sleeping.
With a group of six we started a walk to the Agra fort, a very old barracks, But the walk was long, hot and with a big detour through some slums... Maybe it were slums, maybe not, but in every case I felt extremely thankful to be born in Europe. An experience I will never forget and keep in my heart.
On midday, everyone was extremely tired and limp, of course, not much sleep, and 40 degree are a challenge. So we were extremely happy to stay again in the train with its air cooling. But ... After a nice story narrated by Stefan about a documentary of an Indian train with engine failure, where everyone had to walk the whole way along the rails, we recognized that our train had stopped already for some minutes in the middle of nowhere. Ouch... we got an engine failure.... Slowly discomfort came up - What was it about the story? But thank god, after an hour of waiting and a short storm the train continued its way to Delhi and finally everyone arrived happy at the hotel.
The rest of the night we sat together on top of the hotel building enjoying a very nice dinner and some cold Cola. The second day in India ... What an adventure...