It took us over 14 hours to travel form Trivandrum to Agra
yesterday and the last 5 and ½ hours were in Toyota vans travelling from Delhi
airport to The Taj Gateway Hotel in Agra.
There was a four lane toll road for part of the trip but it was a roller
coaster ride with all manner of vehicles going varying speeds and constantly
honking their horns. Other parts of the road were single lane with everyone driving
on the shoulders as well with huge pot holes and speed bumps in weird
places. My camera was in the back of the
van so I did not get any photos but will check with the rest of the team today
so I can share some tomorrow. We passed
by small villages and larger cities including Muthra that had many oil
refineries. This area is one of the
major agricultural areas so there were thousands of tractors and other farm
type vehicles on the road. The dust and
smog was overwhelming and even in closed air conditioned vans, we were all
coughing and rubbing our eyes.
We arrived to a festival of lights (visions of Las Vegas) and
music blaring in the streets due to a visit of a Holy Man. My hotel room is on
the street side so the noise continued all night. I finally got up around 6:00 and took a few photos
out my window. You can see the smog
surrounding the Taj Mahal at a distance.
We have a full day of sightseeing today.
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| Smoggy sunrise |
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| Taj in the smog |
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| Strret view outside hotel window |
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