[gajadonga]

Some more pictures of Taj

[gajadonga]

Spent close to two hours in the Taj and we headed for breakfast and started to Delhi by 11.30am.

SECOND LEG FROM AGRA TO DELHI

The road leading to the outskirts of Agra was very congested and lot of traffic jams and the traffic was crawling.
Delhi - Agra is a four lane road lot of traffic and Tractors in the opposite direction with towns Palwal (20mins) and Faridabad(40mins) consuming a lot of
time as there were no bypass.

[sami316]

Hi Gajadonga,
That is one amazing trip you have done here. Really appreciate your feat. The pics were really good. I loved the foggy pics of the Taj. I have been there thrice but you can never get tired of this beauty. Waiting for more and thanks again for sharing.

[gajadonga]

Originally Posted by sami316

Hi Gajadonga,
That is one amazing trip you have done here. Really appreciate your feat. The pics were really good. I loved the foggy pics of the Taj. I have been there thrice but you can never get tired of this beauty. Waiting for more and thanks again for sharing.

Thank you sami316 Taj is really an masterpiece some of the facts for building this structure is amazing

[gajadonga]

Our first stop was to see Qutab minar.
I took the Mehrauli-Badarpur road which had a huge flyover as I paid the toll and entered the flyover.
On reaching Qutab minar I took the audio guide and were on to see the Qutab minar.
It evening time and lot of crowd to see the monument.

[gajadonga]

Some more pictures of Qutab Minar.
After finishing we were fascinated by the Metro so took my car parked at the Qutub Minar station for the ride on the Metro.
I was impressed by the Metro stations and there was lot of security checks.
Travelled upto Rajeev chowk the trains were full upto the brim but it was an experience in the Metro train.
Went to Palika bazar shopped for some time made my purse lighter.
The pendrives from 32Gb to 64Gb which were being sold for less than Rs600.
This pricing never allowed me to buy the pendrives.
After shopping back in the Metro train to Qutab Minar station.
It was becoming pretty cold and my halt was at my uncle house in Vasanth Vihar.
The next day it was to Lal kila (Red Fort)

[gajadonga]

Our itenary was to visit the Red fort, Chandni Chowk, India gate and Sarojini market.
As per my uncle suggestion went into the Delhi city least we were thinking that the gol chakkar is going to trouble us.
I was really impressed by the road flyover Metro trains the local public transport and was feeling good
about the capital city of India.I was proud for a momment about my country's capital.
I was to reach the Central Secretariat for parking the car missed a circle and started asking for directions.
There were so many circles and Is Gol chkar mein right ismey left .I must have run atleast twice on the Akbar road. Finally the Central Secretariat but the parking was full.
So I chose the Patel Chowk station parked my car.
I was taken aback when I saw the owner of the parking having all the car keys with him and was parking the cars.
It was real driving skills and he was effortlessly reversing and parking the cars.
I took the Metro to Chandini chowk.
It was ten minute walk to the Red fort through Chandini chowk.
After hearing the history of the fort was really amazed the way the kings enjoyed the luxury and ruled from here.

[gajadonga]

Some more pictures of Red fort.We spent about 2hrs going round the fort went to the museum the collections were very good.
As it was lunch time by the time we finished went into the Chandini chowk the kulfi was tempting with the malai had two of them and were searching for hotels and found out this chat guy.
We had some lip smacking chat items.
On the way to the station on the pavement we saw a guy selling sweet Kova and it was one of the best I have tasted.
We were back on the metro to Patel chowk.
The metro rail museum at Patel Chowk was good.
The effort taken in running the Metro was commendable.
My uncle joined us at Patel chowk and we had a run through India gate and to Sarojini market for shopping and then called it a day as the next day early in the morning we were planning for the trip to Manali.

[gajadonga]

Some more pictures of Chandni Chowk and Sarojini market

[gajadonga]

THIRD LEG FROM DELHI TO MANALI

We were woken up by the alarm at 5am.Ready for the next journey to Manali by 5.30am.
There was not much of fog little that we realized that plenty of fog is in store for us.
There was minimal traffic on the road reached Azadpur and took the turn to Karnal.
After reading so much about the food in Karnal our stop was planned at Karnal but to our
dismay the fog was so thick and we were just follwing the state transport buses and instead stopped at Ambala bypass
for refuel and breakfast

[gajadonga]

After crossing the Amabala bypass followed the road to Chandigarh and Zirakpur.
We were in two minds whether to continue to Manali in this fog or go to Shimla and get back.
I was voted out of the crucial voting between Manali and Shimla and so Manali was the target.The traffic was heavy and the fog continued till Chandigarh.
I took the Chandigarh bypass to Ropar.
Once we crossed Chandigarh the fog was minimal and there was sunshine and never had a problem driving till Manali.
Reached Kiratpur Sahib took the turn towards Swarghat.
Finished our lunch near Nauni.
Crossed the Aut tunnel and took the Naggar route from Kullu and reached Manali 6.30pm
Took an accommodation near the Mall road went to chop sticks restaurant for dinner.
I booked a local Mauruthi van for site seeing the next day.

[gajadonga]

Some more picture on the way to Manali

[gajadonga]

We were ready by 9am after a heavy breakfast for our site seeing in Manali and our cab man was on time.
Our first visit was to the Solang valley where there was plenty of snow.
On the way we picked up our dress to be worn in the snow with the rubber shoes.
The dressing changing took us some time as we had to select our dress which was suiting us.
Our guide was there for the ski in the snow.
We were all set for the dream that my children wanted.
Some pictures on the way to Solang valley.

[gajadonga]

Some more pictures on the way To Solang Valley

[mobike008]

Gajadonga ( Btw, what your name?). Your visit to HP has rekindled my memories of last year when i was there for my annual vacation.

I see that you encountered heavy fog from Delhi and Ambala which has also been my experience each year. Its strange the fog disappears after this stretch.

Many pictures have come out hazy which shows you "too" clicked them in haste. I know some restrictions while driving but, some of these pictures should have come out little better.

Not sure if you saw my last year trip to HP. Here it is :-

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...just-snow.html

Do continue with your story.