So this trip across the world took me to Delhi, India.
And by far, this was one of my best trips to date! Just recently, I said my goal for this year was to hit every wonder of the world. This trip, I crossed out #2 on the list. My first was the Great Wall of China.
I took a while to upload this because I feel like I’m still exhausted from trip. When I flew to Delhi, Pakistan and India were in high tension and air space over Pakistan was restricted causing our flight to be extended an extra two hours as pilots flew longer routes to accommodate. Meaning, a usual twelve and a half hour flight was almost fourteen and a half hours long flying all over trying to avoid this airspace.
No complaints though, I’m not tryna get shot down….
We landed around 10:30 in the night into Indira Gandhi International Airport and immediately I was hit with the culture shock of being in a third world country. Now, “shock” is relative, because I’ve definitely had my fair sure of third world living in Trinidad. However, once I see stray dogs in abundance roaming near a popular bustling area, I knew it was going to be a little different.
I stayed in the Aerocity, which seemed like a string of hotels built for tourist and travelers coming into the country for short stays. The drive was relatively short to the hotel, but I do recommend staying closer to Agra if you plan to come see the Taj Mahal like I did.
Before I flew, I noticed a coworker visited the Taj Mahal days before, so I contacted him for details on transportation. He referred me to a Whatsapp number with no name at the time, who turned out to be Mr. Sanjeev Duggal from Getmecab. I booked our driver and tour with him, totally off the strength off of my coworker but after researching, GetmeCab is India’s Largest Intercity Cab service.
If you need his number, it is : (+91 90154 30355)
I arranged everything via Whatsapp messaging, explaining what I wanted to do and where I wanted to go. He in exchange offered me a quote in INR (Indian Rupee).
Keep in mind, 1 US dollar is about 69 Rupees.
I took out $80 cash before in the US and stuck on that budget. I don’t recommend using a debit or credit card in India, as skimming is becoming a big problem in the country. I know most credit card companies are fraud protected but I rather save the stress. If you have a prepaid debit card, upload money on it and use that there, just make sure it’s compatible (most are). I use the Mileage Plus Go prepaid card which also gives you United Airlines flyer miles, for every dollar you spend. You can’t beat that.
Also, if you can, change money at your hotel or at the airport to avoid having to try and do so in the bustling city. The exchange rate seems small, but a small amount of foreign money can get you a long way in India, so be mindful when withdrawing large amounts.
The plan was to see the sun set at the Taj Mahal and then head to Agra fort, eat breakfast and lunch, come back to the hotel and hit up a market on my lonesome.
Sanjeev arranged a car for myself and 3 other crew members to be picked up at our hotel for 3am. He sent over the drivers name, number, car type and license plate number after we discussed pricing. Now, while the story gets better, my driver WAS 45 minutes late, causing us to miss sunrise at the Taj, which is said to be a marvel. Additionally, we were given a small sedan for four people which was extremely uncomfortable for such long of a ride. I’m not sure if it was a misunderstanding BUT, I digress.
Note: If you are leaving in the wee hours of the morning, I would recommend bringing a light cardigan or jacket as it can be quite chilly and if you are using local car services, not all might have AC. It will get warmer as the day goes on, but it is quite chilly in the early hours.
The drive over to the Taj Mahal from Aerocity was about three hours and fourty-five minutes. A LONG 3 hours and 45 minutes. On top of that, inserting all the times we damn near crashed into a bull, cow, goat, donkey, tuk tuk, person and/or another car it was interestingly scary.
If I thought people drove bad in Trinidad, nope! India takes the cake. There is this disregard for courtesy and slight safety OR an over confidence in the trust of other drivers. I can’t tell which it is. Drivers will drive up to the closest possible inch before hitting a person then hard break to a stop, or swerve and somehow still remain calm.
So wear your seat belt. And no, I’m not exaggerating.
The drive to the city of Agra is very humbling. India is a very poor country and I looked past that when I was only thinking of the Taj Mahal. About two thirds of the country lives in poverty and that is drastically apparent on the drive from Aerocity and it’s five star hotels. Every toll stop we passed seemed to bring the quality of life level down a bit. Viewing the slums from the highway and from the roads really made me analyze the space and privilege I have to just to be able to fly to the country. Then we as tourists, contribute to a famous landmark, that will probably never make it back monetarily to it’s poor people, the majority of the population…
Before we arrived we stopped at some point to meet our tour instructor. There was some misunderstanding about the car size and space (obviously) and had to have him follow us on his bike to the Taj Mahal. Ordinarily, the tour guide would ride with us. When we got to the entrance of the Taj, we got out the car and walked up a short incline towards the wonder. On the way an abundance of Rhesus Macaque monkeys were either are swinging from the trees and running along the pavement while you walk up. You aren’t supposed to feed them as they are wild animals, but it is very tempting because they are EVERYWHERE.
On the walk up, you’ll see little boys with goods for sale (called hawkers) and they’ll be really passive aggressive in asking if you’d like to buy. If you are truly interested, you can purchase, but bargain your way down to a lower price. Their tactic is to start high and once you state your disinterest, they start chopping the prices in half. Our tour instructor guided us to be wary of them, as sometimes these boys try to distract one tourist while the other picks your pocket.
We walked up the entrance, which was a fee of 1300 INR = $19 US and proceeded through security. Inside the Taj Mahal they do not allow large bags, food, drinks or other big items so make sure the items you pack are to a minimum. They will confiscate anything they do not allow at the entrance, so leave anything unnecessary at the hotel or your place of accommodation.
Once cleared through the screening, you are given a bottle of water and shoe covering and allowed to wander as your heart pleases.
I won’t bore you on my step by step tour of the Taj, so here are some photos.
Some points:
- This place is GORGEOUS and so much more breathtaking in person
- There is a mosque on site and you will either have to cover your shoes before stepping up to the platform of the Taj Mahal and Mosque or take off your shoes completely
- There will be photographers ( hawker like) who will offer to take your photos and sell you them either in digital or print. (I took about fifteen photos and chose three which I got digital and printed copies for 300 INR= $5. The photographer usually meet you at your hotel or accommodation. Ours met us at breakfast with the copies and we paid him there The photos..
- There will also be men offering to take photos of you on your phnoe to get good shots and angles. If you have the small change, DO IT. People are everywhere and these men know where all the good spots are. Me, self photographing queen couldn’t finesse my usual fire shots.
After our Taj Mahal tour, our tour instructor advised us that going to the Agra fort wouldn’t be worth it as the army is occupying most of it and only 20% is open to the public, so we skipped it and went straight to breakfast. Breakfast was organized by Sangeev and while I was anxious to try a traditional Indian breakfast, my crew was skeptical. Through the Whatsapp conversations we requested American and Indian options.
As I stated before the breakfast and lunch cost was included in our tour. We ate at Hotel Pratap & Restaurant. We were offered coffee, tea, juice or water and had the selection of fried egg and toast for the American option and kachori and potato sabzi for our Indian option. The potato sabzi was AMAZING. I love spice and it was full of flavor with the perfect kick of hot pepper. My crew couldn’t handle the heat so I ended up eating all there sabzi, while they ate their eggs.
Amateurs….
Our next stop wasn’t requested in our tour but more so added in on behalf of the tour instructor. It was one of those things where they tell you a little history, offer you a drink and then try to get you to purchase items.
Craftsman showing how the crystals were edged and carved into the marble at the Taj Mahal
This time around it was marble household goods for really expensive price tags. I wasn’t interested, but the salesman got one of my crew members to spend $176 on a tiny elephant.
After the sales show, we went onto lunch at Haveli Resturant. Now after breakfast I was expecting to be blown away by this lunch set up, but boy I was DISAPPOINTED. For Indian food, there was no flavor in the food at ALL. Zero, zip, zelch!
I’m not sure if they were trying to cater to a tourist taste, based off how we looked but, I was thoroughly saddened. I digress.
After lunch, we drove back to the hotel, this time with rising temperatures and rush hour traffic. The highways were complete madness. Once again, honking cars and sudden stops and breaks were a common theme for our four hour drive.
When I got back to the hotel, I took a shower and met up with another coworker. We asked the downstairs staff for recommendations on local food that wasn’t one the hotel restaurants and were directed to a restaurant named Tappa. Unfortunately, I only took video because the food was so GOOD but here is a blurry photo from a video screengrab. 
The waiter was extremely nice, writing out what each dish was on my phone. So above is
- Combination of soya chaap masala
- Chana masala (chickpea with indian spice)
- Raita(made with curd and Indian spices)
- Salad
- Kulcha( indian stuffed bread)
I wish my lunch quality was to this caliber.
We ended up packing our dinner to go and rushing to the hotel to get ready for our flight back.
The Taj Mahal was amazing.
Next up: Christ The Redeemer Statue
— Choonks ❤