Delhi to Agra, India

Saturday morning, June 1, Jeremy and I were on a 2 a.m. flight to Delhi, India.  "Grandma and Grandpa" Wood had planned a 5-week trip to come visit us in Singapore.  We thought that this would be a great opportunity to leave the kids with them to go see the Taj Mahal.  Two things of note as to why this was a good idea, other than the obvious free, competent babysitters:  1.  Most people who travel to India end up sick (they actually refer to it is "Delhi Belly" and we decided not to chance it with the kids, and 2.  our kids are fair skinned and blonde haired...minus the fact that they would not want to stand staring up at this beautiful monument for hours on end, we were quite sure none of us would enjoy all the visitors who wanted to take their pictures, touch their hair, and pinch their cheeks.

Here are some random-ish pictures we took on the drive from the airport in Delhi straight to our hotel in Agra.  It was a 5-hour flight, but we'd changed time zones and lost 2-1/2 hours.  Therefore, it was only about 5:30 a.m.  We'd only had one carry-on and customs was pretty easy.  We'd arranged for a driver during our whole stay.  I'm not a big fan of always having a driver and/or guide, but in the craziness of India, this proved to be a good idea.

These pictures sum up that craziness:  old, dirty buildings; green and yellow three-wheeled auto's; ticket purchases in parking lots to cross states; dogs comfortable with standing in the middle of interstates; Hindu language signs; more people crammed in vehicles than you'd think to be a good idea; cattle walking down streets; laundry being done on riverbeds; monkeys (that tend to show up in every country we visit!); and trash (which I don't think I could have done justice except for one upcoming picture in Old Delhi).  I was semi-sad that I never really got a picture of the poverty some live in--tents in the middle of wherever held up by sticks and sheltered with rugs.