OK, back in 2020, we had planned a week trip to India to explore the “Golden Triangle” which includes the cities of New Delhi, Japour and Agra. Of course, we all know what happened and that trip got canceled. So, since we were hanging out in Asia and had an opportunity, why not give the triangle a second try.
I searched for travel companies that could arrange a land tour and stumbled on the “Tour Radar” site. This company is much like Viator but seemed to cater more toward Europeans. Anyway, they had lots of options for India and we ended up booking a six night small group tour. The actual tour operator was Swastik India Journeys. Unfortunately, Yellow Fever Vaccine retirements required that we not enter India for at least 6 days after visiting Kenya. If you read my blog on travel health and individual country restrictions you would understand. Anyway, we had to cut the trip to three nights to meet the India Government requirements. I was pleasantly surprised when Swastik agreed to make the change and convert the tour into a private three night tour and reduced the cost. The total price ended up being $722.29 for the driver, hotels and guides.
The three “Golden” cities are just a few hundred kilometers apart, but with traffic, you tend to have about a four to five hour drive between them.
We arrived at the Airport in New Delhi around 2:30 in the afternoon. We had our VISAs and passed through immigration fairly quickly. We found our driver and headed out to Japour. The driver didn’t speak much English…at least English we could understand. The roads were crowded until we got out of Delhi proper. There was a lot of farmland and I thought we would make good time. The van we were picked up in was decent, but not fantastic and certainly not new. The driver in his broken English advised us that although the speed limit was 120 kph the van was speed restricted at 80 kph….this was going to be a long ride. We had had a long day and the extra 5 hour drive was tedious. We checked into the V Sarovar hotel which would be our home for the first two nights around 9:00. We had an upgraded room and the hotel was clean and modern. We opted to skip dinner and just have a few snacks.
This might be a good time to describe this part of India. It is very hot at this time of the year, the roads are packed, everyone feels the need to blow their horns, there are no road rules, Moterbikes designed for 2 end up holding 4 or even 5 passengers. There is trash everywhere and no one seems to care. The driver pointed out several police officers stopping vehicles and demanding bribes. Not a very good indication of an up and coming country. On the positive side, crime was not much of a concern.
We went down in the morning and enjoyed a very good breakfast. The buffet offered a good variety of Indian and European food. Unfortunately, Reva wasn’t feeling great, and she opted to skip the tour of Japour. So I headed out to meet the driver and have an abbreviated tour. The guide, Krishan, was quite knowledgable and passionate about Japour. He was gracious and even took me to visit a Hindu temple.
This was the end of their celebration of the New Year and he educated me about their practices. The city itself was quite dirty and congested. The fort didn’t accept credit cards, and I didn’t have any Rupees, so I opted to skip touring it and just took pictures from the outside. The guide offered to pay my admission, but I declined. The fort was massive and situated above the City. It seemed as if everyone had a goat and the cows roamed free. So this was the Paris of India, I thought…I had never seen that in paris. I was glad we had opted to stay three extra days in Dubai!
I got back to the hotel and went out to find some lunch on my own. The area where the hotel was located was filed with little shops. There were sidewalks, but that is where everyone parked their scooters. Pedestrians walked along the roads dodging the traffic. Some people road bikes loaded down with building supplies…metal, pipes, bricks. The one constant was that everyone had a horn and was blowing it continuously. Some locals were eating rice from street-side vendors with their hands….no utensils needed here. They did wash there hands before and after eating….but is didn’t look appetizing.
As I passed an alley, I noticed a Pizza Hut. The Pizza Hut looked reasonably clean so I went inside. I asked the counter worker about a meat pizza. He just shook his head slowly. “No, how about pepperoni” Again, the young man shook his head “no” and gave me an odd look. A couple of vegetable personal pan pizzas it was to be with two diet sodas. The total cost was about $5. Later for dinner, we opted to eat at the hotel.
Luckily, Reva was feeling better and the next morning we started the four hour drive to Agra. The drive to Agra was uneventful, and the driver showed us his temple along the way.
Agra, and the Taj Mahal, was the reason we came to India. We were staying in a very nice Radisson Hotel. We were upgraded to a room with a view of the Taj. The amount of trash around the city was surprising and very visible from our hotel I have been in many third world countries and seen lots of trash, but I had expected more here. The Indian people I know, are professional and proud of their heritage. There was nothing to be proud of here. It was poor, hot and dirty.
That afternoon, we met our second guide, who was a Muslim, which was appropriate since the Agra Fort and the Taj Mahal are both Islamic.. He was articulate and passionate. He had been a stock broker before he became a guide and gave city tours daily. It was interesting seeing the difference between the Hindu and the Muslim Tour Guides. There was obviously internal religious issues between the groups. The Hindu’s did not like the Muslims at all and were very vocal about it.
The Agra fort was impressive and the guide gave us a good overview of the history of the Taj. The fort overlooked the Taj and was built by the Emperor for his favorite wife. She died during childbirth of their 14th child. He promiced to build her a grand masuleum and he spent much of his life building it. He was deposed by his son and was imprizoned in Agra Fort. He could look at the Taj where his wife was entumbed but he could never visit it. He had wasted too much money in the endeavor.
The following day we were picked up at 5:30 and taken to see sunrise at the Taj. I was surprised by the number of monkeys running around. Luckily, we had beat the crowds and had a nice tour before it became hot and overrun with tourists.
The Taj is impressive. Unlike Agra and the rest of India we had seen, it was clean and well maintained. The white marble was beautiful and the building was beautifully constructed. We wrapped up our tour around 8:00 and headed back to the hotel for breakfast.
Next, we had another four hour drive back to New Delphi and have a quick tour before we departed India. Our driver picked up a guide and we did a quick drive by of the Capital. We did make one stop to see the site where Mahatma Gandhi was cremated. The site was interesting, but the guide was a pompous asshole.
We were glad when we arrived at the airport and said goodbye to our driver. I tipped him and he smiled and told me it wasn’t enough. I politely told him, that it was enough and we headed into the airport. We had a several hour wait before we could check in and we made the most of our time. Security at the airport was intense and I had my backpack dumped out for inspection. Their rules were ridiculous. It was a fitting end to our visit. I was glad to get out of the country….even though the Taj was worth it. I was glad we only spent three nights.
Recommendation: If you want to see the Taj, fly in and spend one or two nights in Agra. See the Agra Fort and the Taj and leave. Japour and New Delhi are not worth your time. There are many nicer places in this world to visit and spend your money.
