India's Golden Triangle - Delhi, Agra, Jaipur

This past week we took a trip to see India’s Golden Triangle. We have lived in a place that claimed to be a Golden Triangle, which is Beaumont, Port Arthur and Orange, TX. That may have been a geographical triangle but there was little “golden” about it. Other areas in Pittsburgh, Denver, SE Asia, etc. claim to be golden triangles. There is a Golden Triangle of great English Universities too. Our adventure was to go from Mumbai to Delhi to Agra to Jaipur, known in India as the Golden Triangle.

We took an early morning flight to Delhi and spent our day going through a famous Red Fort and the bazaar areas nearby. If we thought Mumbai was crazy, Delhi is the same, only on steroids. The crush of traffic, mobs of people and crazy busy shopping areas made our heads spin. We moved from the airport to the train station to drop our bags off so we wouldn’t haul them around all day and planned to pick them up before boarding our train at 6 PM. After our pedi-cab driver found the key street blocked, we struck out on foot and got caught in the crush of people headed into a huge mosque for mid day prayers. We eventually found our restaurant destination. This is where I had my first authentic Indian meal, and it was quite good. Some veggies, some naan (bread), some kebabs and little mystery meat in sauce. Pretty tasty and certainly satisfying. Then we strolled the bazaars finding some great photos of people before going to another palace area, near the train station so we would be sure to get to Agra that night. There was a Taj Mahal-like dome that posed for me.



We went to the train station to find our first travel hiccup in a while. Our four hour train ride was now scheduled for 9:45 PM, not 6 PM. We were in a remote station so we hunkered down with books and luggage and waited. A while later, while dining at the train station food spot (snacks, not Indian food), I noticed our train was now 11:15 PM. Not liking the trend, I asked what our options were. The clerk calmly replied, “There is a different train leaving for Agra in 15 minutes.” You have to realize this is 3rd world, so the ticket with the same company for the other train was not usable for the earlier train. The clerk never imagined someone would go on an earlier train even as the one we were scheduled for was being delayed. The only accommodations available were 2nd class, not first. First class is a bare minimum most of us would agree to and is not expensive ($15). We decided to take this 7:45 train and insure our arrival as we planned on seeing the Taj Mahal at sunrise. The upper berth we were given was roomy for an infant but not an American. Laying flat on my back, my right shoulder touched the wall and my left touched the rail, even so, I was happy to be on the train and headed to our destination. I was able to nap for a while, no surprise considering we walked 8 miles that day. The trip was generally uneventful and we arrived in Agra at 11:15 PM.

Up early to grab breakfast and take some photos of the Taj Mahal in the early day light before the harsh sun reflected off of everything. Most of you will remember my earlier blog comments about hating to take photos of buildings but for the Taj Mahal, I was willing to make some exceptions. One early photo shows the softer morning light…



So what is the Taj Mahal? For years, I have only known the location as the answer to a very popular crossword puzzle clue that was typically worded as, Taj Mahal site. Anyone who spent much time doing these puzzles knew that the answer was Agra but until last week, I didn’t really know much else. The Taj Mahal was erect by a mere 20,000 people over a 22 year period as a place to put the tomb of a Shah’s wife who died in childbirth of her 14th child. (Maybe she was just tired.) It has ornate marble work and is perfectly symmetrical from all four sides. The construction of the pillars causes an optical illusion making you think they are angled, they’re not. On the exterior wall, the marble is set such that as you look up at it, it appears to be a raised surface, which it’s not. The building itself houses the tombs of the Shah and his wife.





Of course, while I’m very interested in all of this and I will probably never return, it didn’t take long until my interest waned. I went off on my own to see what strange creatures I could find. Well, there are some birds that inhabit the grounds that I have only seen in the wild in Ecuador and then it was from quite a distance.





After another excellent Indian lunch and a nap, we did return that evening to try and capture sunset at the Taj Mahal and found a few interesting photos.





Agra didn’t strike me as a nice or fun place and I was happy to be leaving the next day heading Jaipur, the third leg of the triangle. This time because we couldn’t get a train ticket, we were traveling by Air Conditioned Deluxe Coach bus for 5.5 hours. We were warned not to take the non-AC vehicle.

Waiting for the bus I found a barber shop...


So off we went in this monster sized bus on these crowded streets. We would have a break in 2.5 hours, so we settled in. The bus driver was working hard to get through the narrow areas and the bus rocked around for a while before we got on decent, somewhat open roads. We observed some amazing gatherings and movements of animals, people, vehicles along these narrow streets in pretty impoverished areas. We did see many instances where cattle were walking around in the "high" speed lane on a highway. At one point, a bus passed going in the opposite direction with more than 40 people riding on the top of the bus. I guess those were the non-Deluxe AC vehicles we were told about.

About ten minutes into our drive, I heard a noise behind me that sounded like spitting. Well, the lady sitting directly behind Susan tossed her cookies and in her attempt to cover up, redirected some of the “spray” onto the back of my neck! No amount of wiping could remove the feeling. Let’s just say that made me a little uncomfortable for the two hours or so until we got to a wash room.

After reboarding the bus, we were able to make some good time until we got near town. I did notice the young man next to me (4 years old or so) couldn’t wait so his mom was helping him relieve himself into a water bottle. I guess that’s similar to what they do in Jaipur where I observed some outdoor restrooms across the street from our restaurant…



We did spend our AM in an interesting fort, where the ticket seller tried to rip me off by not providing any change. When he initially denied it, I just told him to reach in his pocket and give me money back, which he did. At the fort, there were some interesting things to see among the ruins but what captured my attention was a single bright color among the earthy ones…



And a sea of a single color among a gathering of religious men…





Besides the people we were able to photograph along the streets, we came upon these people waiting to be shipped out at a mannequin factory…



The final photo from this trip is a composite of five photos taken from the base of this temple. The result of taking these from the peculiar angle and then stitching them together in Photoshop is an appearance of a curve in the building, which is definitely not there. I liked the effect and wanted to share…



On this trip we traveled by plane, train, bus, car, taxi, electric rickshaw and pedi-cab. We walked around 28 miles in 4 days and were actually quite happy to be back in Mumbai, which I would have thought to be a silly idea a few weeks ago but really is true.