It's well after dark. Our trusty Ambassador is zipping between the traffic in downtown Jaipur. Huge TATA trucks loom up out of the pollution haze, no tail lights, following the 'might is right' road code. Joining the melee are bicycles, rickshaws, motor rickshaws and motorbikes - every permutation of motive power, but only a few animals. The camel drivers and buffalo herders have called it a day. We peel off a roundabout and almost collect two motorbikes - the riders and passengers having a chat as they travel. That's two riders with four passengers each, a total of ten people on two 125cc motorbikes.
Our day began before dawn in Agra, with a short walk to the Taj Mahal to see the sun rise. The pictures don't do it justice, but here is one anyway. Probably the most sublime building in the world (and I take a personal and professional interest in things building related). It has been a long-time wish for Shirls to see it and she is not disappointed.
The crowds are terrible, particularly the tour groups. The mausoleum rises above the fatuous comments and the banter ("Is that it, George? Have we seen everything on the list?") to look serenely out over the morning mist.
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