The Road to Agra
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The drive to Agra and the Taj Mahal began at 8:30AM and ended 180 KM (110 miles) and 5 bouncing, lurching, careening, semi-hot (another A/C that couldn't keep up) hours later.  We were on National Road 8, a mostly 2 lane affair that had 3 to 4 vehicles abreast for a lot of the way.  In a very few places we got up to 50 MPH, but it was mostly bumper-to-bumper at 10 to 20 miles an hour.  Where was everyone going all day?  The road was a bazaar of Indian life, cows, men pulling bike powered rickshaws loaded to the top, camels pulling loads, water buffalo pulling loads, donkeys, horses, and huge trucks all honking and moving forward toward Agra.  There also was no shortage of people walking along and across the road at all points.

Honking is a national pastime. Many vehicles had "Blow Horn", "Horn Please" or "Honk Loud" painted on the back of their vehicle.  Rear view mirrors were generally missing and not needed since those overtaking would lean on their honks for long seconds before passing.





This is a school bus.  It had about 8 kids in it.
 Standard scene all along the road.
 Made from cow dung and used to store fertilizer.  The disks in the background are dung made for fuel.



More than a few of these out and about
 Oh good, open road ahead.
 Standard local transit.


Farmers off to market
 There is one area where dancing bears are all the rage.
 Not the Taj, but an entrepreneur facsimile.


If you look real hard, you can faintly see the dome of the Taj Mahal peaking over the trees at the end of the street.  One problem that would dog us when taking photos is that pollution leaves the sky at Agra largely white.  With the Taj also being white, it would often disappear into the sky from any distance. 

When we finally got to Agra, it wasn't much of a town, but we were ready for our next day's trip to the Taj Mahal.

Home
Planning
Delhi
Red Fort
Jama Masjid
India Gate and
Humayun's Tomb
Qutb Minar
Free Days
Agra
Taj Mahal
Agra Fort
Jaipur
People of India
Final
All 4 Trips