Thursday 2 March 2000

Slow towns and bazaars around the main through road are fairly standard for driving here.  However, we then had to stop for almost an hour at what we initially though to be a level crossing.  It actually turned out that it was a single track bridge that was shared by both the road and the railway.  We had to wait for 2 trains to pass and for the traffic heading in the opposite direction before we could cross. 

The next real holdups occurred throughout the 100km or so before Agra.  These manifested themselves as literally thousands of people (pilgrims?) carrying long sticks with a basket at each end on their shoulders.  Each stick was decorated with brightly coloured cloths and objects.  We passed streams of these guys walking side by side in the roads, heading in the same direction (to Agra as we later found out) and paying no attention to passing traffic.  It was not uncommon to have to slow to a walking pace before their was enough of a gap to pass them. 

We eventually arrived in Agra city and used the co-ordinates provided by Vincent and Marianne (Spanish Expedition we met in Delhi) to locate the Akbar Inn (not to be confused with the Hotel Akbar just up the road – anything in Agra that has made itself a good reputation quickly becomes the name of numerous terrible places that try to cash in on the good name).