We traveled from Jaipur to Agra by car. Sanjay was waving at the gate as we left. It took about 5-6 hours which was
better than expected. It was a smooth run with good roads. We even got up to a speed of 80 km//h at one
stage!!! Nearing Agra we were surrounded
by fields of Mustard Plants . . . just endless kilometres of crops . . quite a
sight!
About half way through the trip, in the middle of nowhere, we passed thousands of Hindus/ Sadhus walking on the side of the road . .
heading somewhere or from something . Many were in vibrant orange robes and turbans and many had long white beards. The driver in broken English explained they were holy men going to temple. There was a Krishna temple nearby . .
it looked like a pilgrimage and was quite a sight! Sorry, no pics . .
When we arrived we headed out to get a feel
of the area. It was quite good as it was not too busy and we had some space
around us. We headed to one of the Bazaars and did a spot of shopping. Wendy
did alright and lashed out on a few things . . Jase did alright also and picked
up a few bargains!
We can see the top of the Taj Mahal from
the hotel room but it is still very foggy here so visibility is quite low.
On arrival we were informed that there is a
‘mandatory’ New Years Eve party for all guests . . .at $100 US per person! And
guess what, all the drinks are free except for beer and wine!!! That caused a
bit of a stir with many people which is understandable! We saw one guy
absolutely lose it when they wanted to charge him for a ‘Diet Coke’ to go with
his Black Label Scotch as ‘Diet Coke’ was not free but normal Coke was . . and
Coca-Cola was one of the sponsors for the evening!! Some things we’ll never
understand . . .
The night was great . . . the people at our
table were not bad . . albeit boring. Half of the crowd had ‘retired’ by midnight which was
strange . . . But in some ways you could
understand as the entertainment was quite loud and varied in quality. We met a nice Swedish family in the bar area and all had a good laugh about our various experiences and perceptions. it was nice to laugh with people who were as confused by it all as we were.
Some pics below of the venue before the festivities started and as the night progressed . .. . even
the hotel staff got right into it . . .they were dancing on tables also as can
be seen in one pic!!
Everybody had fun . . . Happy New Year!!!
