All that is what our day was about. We started out with a great train ride of about 2 1/2 hours through the countryside from Agra to Khujaharo. Our Agra Enchanting India person got us from the hotel and onto the train with no problem. The big suitcases went on the luggage racks above our heads but the seats were good and the leg room was fabulous. We really enjoyed the train ride and really wish it could have taken us all the way to our next stop!
Backing up, at breakfast we had one of those small world stories. We got to the restaurant at the same time as another guest who was by herself and we were waiting for the man to come check us off the list. We struck up a conversation and she was on a tour with Rhodes Scholars and was from Columbus, GA! We came half way around the world to meet someone who lived that close to us! We talked and enjoyed hearing about each other's plans. We swapped emails so we can exchange trip stories when we get back home.
Now back to the travel story. The next leg was getting off the train and finding our new driver which we did with no problem. He is very gregarious and speaks English well except he is missing his front tooth so it makes him speak with a lisp and that, plus his accent are giving us a challenge! But he is so nice and boy, is he a good driver! Let me tell you, this trip is truly an adventure. It is just impossible to describe the things you see when being driven like this. At best lanes are suggestions here when driving. Most of the time, there are bicyclists and motorcycles coming and going on either side of you and you are meeting big trucks headon vying for the one lane road that is paved. Or should I say it is paved some places-the potholes would almost swallow a car in places. Sometimes it was pushing it to go more than about 10 miles an hour if that much. Other times we zipped along and twisted in and out and passed on the right and left and dodged cows standing, sitting and lying in the road. The same is true of goats. There are goats everywhere and a few hairy pigs too. Even people sit in the road sometimes! I am not kidding! But everyone honks their horn and waves and somehow, most of the time there is no accident. HOWEVER, that is not always the case. The funniest thing we saw we are still laughing about. We came to a small town that had a fruit and vegetable market and the usual chaos going on every which way and we came upon an accident where a motorcyclist had bumped a lady's car. They were out of the vehicles having a "discussion" and let's just say she was not a happy camper. She had an umbrella and all at once she started hitting the man with her umbrella as she continued to yell-goodness knows what she was saying but we could guess! I have to say it was really funny looking and we got a great laugh out of it, especially our driver!
We spotted all sorts of things from the car windows-another female antelope and lots of ladies in their saris out in the fields and rice paddies working. We saw lots of water buffalo, some in the fields and soime in the road and some in the water wherever there was some.
We reached our hotel and were glad to have a few hours to unwind and grab a nice pizza for dinner/lunch. We took a nice walk around the hotel gardens where I spotted a small spotted owlet in the hole of a tree. That was neat as I have never been able to spot one before without having it pointed out to me. Saw lots of parakeets and another interesting bird that we will have to see if we can check out tomorrow as we had to hurry back to eat and get ready for the sound and light show at the temples here.
I am glad we saw the show before touring the temples or I am afraid I would have been really bored but not having toured them yet, it was at least a chance to see the temples and hear some of the story of how they came to be.
This is us with Rishi, our first driver. He was excellent and we hated to say goodbye to him.
that was our car behind us with Rishi too. This is jsut a shot of traffic at one point but there is truly no way to photograph it. And it is best not to look at it out the front!
my owlet
Backing up, at breakfast we had one of those small world stories. We got to the restaurant at the same time as another guest who was by herself and we were waiting for the man to come check us off the list. We struck up a conversation and she was on a tour with Rhodes Scholars and was from Columbus, GA! We came half way around the world to meet someone who lived that close to us! We talked and enjoyed hearing about each other's plans. We swapped emails so we can exchange trip stories when we get back home.
Now back to the travel story. The next leg was getting off the train and finding our new driver which we did with no problem. He is very gregarious and speaks English well except he is missing his front tooth so it makes him speak with a lisp and that, plus his accent are giving us a challenge! But he is so nice and boy, is he a good driver! Let me tell you, this trip is truly an adventure. It is just impossible to describe the things you see when being driven like this. At best lanes are suggestions here when driving. Most of the time, there are bicyclists and motorcycles coming and going on either side of you and you are meeting big trucks headon vying for the one lane road that is paved. Or should I say it is paved some places-the potholes would almost swallow a car in places. Sometimes it was pushing it to go more than about 10 miles an hour if that much. Other times we zipped along and twisted in and out and passed on the right and left and dodged cows standing, sitting and lying in the road. The same is true of goats. There are goats everywhere and a few hairy pigs too. Even people sit in the road sometimes! I am not kidding! But everyone honks their horn and waves and somehow, most of the time there is no accident. HOWEVER, that is not always the case. The funniest thing we saw we are still laughing about. We came to a small town that had a fruit and vegetable market and the usual chaos going on every which way and we came upon an accident where a motorcyclist had bumped a lady's car. They were out of the vehicles having a "discussion" and let's just say she was not a happy camper. She had an umbrella and all at once she started hitting the man with her umbrella as she continued to yell-goodness knows what she was saying but we could guess! I have to say it was really funny looking and we got a great laugh out of it, especially our driver!
We spotted all sorts of things from the car windows-another female antelope and lots of ladies in their saris out in the fields and rice paddies working. We saw lots of water buffalo, some in the fields and soime in the road and some in the water wherever there was some.
We reached our hotel and were glad to have a few hours to unwind and grab a nice pizza for dinner/lunch. We took a nice walk around the hotel gardens where I spotted a small spotted owlet in the hole of a tree. That was neat as I have never been able to spot one before without having it pointed out to me. Saw lots of parakeets and another interesting bird that we will have to see if we can check out tomorrow as we had to hurry back to eat and get ready for the sound and light show at the temples here.
I am glad we saw the show before touring the temples or I am afraid I would have been really bored but not having toured them yet, it was at least a chance to see the temples and hear some of the story of how they came to be.
1 comment:
The traffic/driving sounds like the Dominican Republic. How anyone can go unscathed is beyond me!
Post a Comment