by Debbie Ross
Womens Travel Network founde
Day 02 India tour – Drive from Delhi to Agra
This morning we visited the Gurudwara Bangla Sahib, the city’s most prominent Sikh Temple. You must go in barefoot and have your head covered. Lucky for us they gave us bright orange caps to wear. The temple was a very moving experience. This is one of the most important sites in Delhi. The visitors are not just tourists, there are many sikhs that come here to worship. We felt honoured to be in this holy place while the men and women went about their daily prayer ritual . There was a wonderful calm feeling and and the marble structure is a site to behold. Inside the temple there is a trio playing soothing music and the priest is seated under the elaborate gold dome. He is there to guard the holy book. We took a seat on the side to bask in the positivie energy of this magnificent place. Outside there is a large pool where the worshipers dip their hands and feet to cleanser themselves.
Our next stop is at the cottage industreis to see a silk carpet weaving demonstration. They seated us in a private room and served refreshing tea and cookies. The gentleman that owns the rug shop is very knowledgeable and passionate about this dying trade. The hand woven rug deisgns have been in the families for hundreds of years. The ladies enjoyed the demonstration and a few ladies bought some exquisite silk rugs . These are incredible works of art. They also had traditional pashmina’s which some of the ladies purchased. Afterwards we enjoyed a nice lunch at the Intercontinenatl hotel.
Our last stop in Delhi was the Baha’i Lotus Temple, designed by Canadian architect Fariborz Sahba.
We said our goodbyes to Priti and started our 4 hour ride to Agra. Some of the ladies took a nap, a few chatted quietly at the back of the bus and others took in the scenes of rural life in India. Farmers working the fields, children playing and cattle and goats grazing in the fields. You can feel the tension of the big city slipping away as we move through the tranqui setting .It’s dusk as we arrive at Agra. The city streets and markets are bustling with people and the women are in awe at the scene outside of the bus. Tomorow we will visit this interesting town.
We arrived at the Radisson, Agra, hotel shortly after 7pm. We had just enough time to take the bags to our rooms and then go for buffet dinner. Afterwards we had a birthday party celebration for Rowena. It was a few days earlly but that was ok because we got to eat cake.
There are some lovely shops in the hotel. A few ladies went to check them out, while there we were treated to a puppet show. The gentleman working the puppets also makes them. They are wonderful handicrafts. it was a fun day,
We’reoff to bed early as we must get up at 530am to go to the Taj Mahal for sunrise.
