[SS-Traveller]

One year.

One year since H-4® went on a roadtrip.

Work. Workplace headaches. Class 10. End of Class 10. Career plans. Planning. Re-planning. Finally, a family visit. Long Easter weekend. Pack the bags.

Friday morning. 1:30 am. 93.5 Red FM playing this. Not to my taste. The music. Not the long drive.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iodo4K5KJA0

Overcast skies. Steady drizzle. Cool breeze. All aboard. All 7.

The storm breaks. It's 3:30 am. Lightning. Thunder. High winds. Constant steering corrections.

Across Alwar, onward to Sariska. Fallen branches on the road. The rain refuses to stop.

Special thanks go to gd1418. Hari Singh knows we are coming.

The dawn breaks. The rain stops.

And we enter Sariska Forest.

Flaming red.

[SS-Traveller]

No tigers.

In this photologue. Quite a few at Sariska though.

Tracking them.

Hiding in the undergrowth, where Gypsies don't go.

It rained. It's cloudy. Nip in the air. It's peacock season.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6e7DE2JIZI

Langur season. Family bonding session.

[SS-Traveller]

Some birds 'shot'. Some poor shots. Some angry birds. Some VERY angry birds. Some wise birds. And some that got away.

The day of jackals.

Of blue bulls.

[SS-Traveller]

Morning safari done. Now what? Dunno, ma.

Peddle bats. Ride bananas. Relaxing potoons? At Siliserh. No one wants to!

A palace. A hotel. RTDC inefficiency. Beautiful, however.

Lunchtime. RTDC menu unappealing. Sasuji is vegetarian. Baba is not. We prefer Baba.

H-4® meets its elder sister. THAR-DI.

Chilies aren't hot.

Chicken. Lotsa love added. Brilliant preparation.

Baba's rooms. New. Not bad. Quite economical.

Back to Hari Singh.

[SS-Traveller]

Afternoon safari. Back on track.

No tigers appear. Lots of deer.

Thirsty sambar.

Sambar chewing idly. Spouse's name = Chutney. Eaten by tiger.

Sambar is a tiger's favourite food. Hence tigers originate from the southern parts of India. QED.

AP view

Lateral view

More bird-spotting...

Elusive little bee-eater

Tigers beware. 'Canter' is here.

Overnight at RTDC Alwar.

Decent rooms. AC dripped all night.

LPG-fired geyser - the LPG cylinder outside the room.

[SS-Traveller]

Deeg. Jat rulers' palace. 250 years old. Why not call it the JAT Mahal? Impressive palace complex.

Maharaja's passion. Cage for pet tiger.

Wall of 600,000-litre water tank that feeds the fountains.

Pavilion that recreated thunder and rainfall

Indoors. Candid photographs.

Manually operated giant-sized desert cooler

[SS-Traveller]

Fatehpur Sikri. Much information available. Audioguides are nice, but the ones with 2 sets of earphones are entirely avoidable.

Signs in Braille. Met no blind person taking in the view though.

Just a few glimpses.

Tansen's seat

Jama Masjid complex and Salim Chisti's tomb

Buland Darwaza

[SS-Traveller]

Glimpses from the Agra Fort

There's more Braille here too

"The Mughals came from Afghanistan. Like Bin Laden. He was a Mughal," said a guide to a foreigner. In French!

Overheard another guide explaining to a foreign tourist at the Agra Fort: 'Shah Jahan was **captivated** here.' Maybe he's right...

Forget the Mughlai cuisine... my daughter thinks it's the perfect size for a nice wood-fired pizza oven!

[SS-Traveller]

Before we actually see the Taj, a bit of fun early in the morning at the East Gate.

Want a... er... goli at 6:30 AM? No way, golis are banned!

You've been there and done that? Sure, done and dusted! In the dust been!

One young lad to another: Now, which Miya is this road named after?

Battery operated vehicles to take you to the entrance from the parking lot.
The old...

...and the new. The new ones operated by the Agra Development Authority are mighty comfortable too! Apparently private shuttle operators don't have access to these and have to make do with the antiquated stuff.

Mighty hot later on. Hats and umbrellas...

Ticket counter

No rush at the East Gate at 6:30 AM

Security screening

Walking in

Taj Complex map

World Heritage Monument

Panorama - South Gate and West gate entrances

The main gate

Enter to see magic...

[SS-Traveller]

The Taj Mahal. Eternally beautiful. There are probably more pics of the Taj on the net than any other world heritage monument! But then, I've been there and clicked a few this time too, and so I must put them up!

Bear with me - just a dozen more photos to end the photologue!

The writing's on the wall...

...but the Yamuna flows by mutely and won't tell you what's written there.

* * * T H E * * E N D * * *

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to Travelogues. Thanks for sharing!

[Jeroen]

Looks like a pretty amazing trip, very nice pictures!

Jeroen

[anandjha]

Seems you had incredible time.

But you really missed Itmaduddaullah Tomb. In fact 99.9% visitors are not even aware of it and, except for the signage, no body seems to promote it just because it is situated on the other side of Yamuna. It will stir your emotions in a way that perhaps Taj Mahal won't match and if not more than as beautiful as Taj Mahal, it is an all marble edifice erected by Shahjahan's mother, Nurjahan for her father Itmaduddaullah. I am planning to visit it one of these mornings and will post photos.

[W.A.G.7]

The Taj Mahal is an absolute beauty. I was really mesmerized by the monument when I had visited in Dec-2012. Looks like you really had a great time and a great mix of wildlife + history. Nicely written travelogue.

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by anandjha

But you really missed Itmaduddaullah Tomb.

Itmad-ud-Daulah's tomb, Dayal Bagh and Akbar's tomb at Sikandra are some of the places we have visited earlier (and loved the experience), but not on this trip - only because of a lack of time.