We set off after an early breakfast on a cold and foggy morning. Bhagi has been told by the office that there is another route to Agra that has opened and will cut an hour off the journey.

Initially there was a lot of roadworks and we had to take several detours around little towns. Generally we just passed through and got a really interesting look at rural Rajasthani towns and villages.

We were people of interest in everywhere, especially at the gas stations where we had toilet stops.

In one town Aunty Google told Mr Singh (our driver) that the quickest route was down this particular street. Might have been quickest for a car or bike but the low wires over the street and narrow lane was not meant for a bus. Half the town came out to photograph us as people reorganised their shops so we could reverse and do a twenty point turn.

The farming villages are very poor with many still in mud huts with the animals living in the courtyard with the humans. Everywhere you see these round dung patties drying on roofs and walls. They use them as fuel and they are round to fit in the fireplaces when broken in half or into 4.

We stopped for lunch at this restaurant that has gone all out to cater for tourists. It has lovely gardens and plants and is decorated with balloons like a party.

Best of all it has nice bathrooms. 400 Rp for a buffet cooked lunch excluding drinks and 1,100 Rp altogether- that’s about $24 for both Mike and I including 2 cans of coke. The food everywhere in Rajistan is a variation on a theme: some rice, potatoes, a paneer (cheese) curry, Dahl, cauliflower and/or zucchini of some description, chicken curry and dessert. Bread is served at the table and is either naan or roti.

Mostly they have Coke Zero for sale, which suits me. We’ve also noticed that almost no one smokes which is interesting compared with both Africa and east Asia.

The towns are also organised similarly to us. All the food places and clothes places together with snack shops all over. Then a collection of barber shops (all heavily patronised), mechanic workshops, building supplies and general household goods. Nothing like the same actual items as at home (more like a 50 year time warp backwards) but the same overall function.

There are signs periodically reminding drivers to use their horns (as if anyone could forget) and all overtaking is accompanied by much tooting, including to get the cows to move. The modes of transport are also many and varied and it’s great seeing so many things that are different.

We made good time to Agra and visibility was pretty good. The entrance to Agra itself is quite modern and not terribly attractive and you can’t see the Taj Mahal at all. We got dropped off about 1km from the bus and Bhagi organised an electric vehicle to take us almost to the entrance.

Bhagi has connections everywhere and it was an official vehicle that could take us further than normal. Then we got a set of shoe covers and our tickets and set off inside the first courtyard where we got a short history. The Taj is a mausoleum built by the 5th Murghal ruler in memory of his favourite wife.

It is exactly as per the photos you see.

The symmetry is wonderful. It was busy but not horrendously so and there were virtually no queues inside except for the optimum photo spots. You need to put the shoe covers on when going up to the marble terrace around the Taj and you follow around the inside in a clockwise direction. The inside is surprisingly small in comparison with the entire building but you don’t get to go to all the side bits or upstairs.

There are lovely gardens outside and despite the crowd it was remarkably tranquil. We were expecting the dome to be at least partially obscured by scaffolding but it was completely clear. It was also perfect lighting being late afternoon. We had about 2 hours free time there which was just right after the initial frenzy of photo taking.

Mike and I both have sinus trouble after the dusty time in Ranthambore and he was feeling pretty blocked up. Unfortunately that got worse by the time we got to our hotel and he pretty much passed out on the bed and missed the New Year’s Eve celebrations.

We stayed at another hotel in the Jaypee chain but this one was enormous and very palatial. As part of the tour we were booked in for the gala dinner with unlimited food and drink. It started at the 8pm and we all were in this huge dining room.

There was a stage at one end with a disco and some dancers came and performed during the evening.

The food was in this outside courtyard about the size of a hockey field with lights and braziers everywhere and different food stations on the outside with Indian main dishes in the middle.

I’ve never seen so many desserts in all my life and Pamodi and Riki did their best to work their way through them all. I was particularly pleased to discover the cheese and crackers. So much food. I stuck to the Indian food but there was every variety you could imagine.

At about that stage Jennifer noticed that there was an even bigger room filled with locals. Actually we all noticed fairly quickly as they had a live band and it was a full on dance club. Bhagi said the locals are separated because cultural differences can cause offence (code for “drunk men might be sleazy). Nevertheless after we’d all eaten Bhagi took us next door, which is also where the other westerners headed and we had a great time.

There was a film crew with a drone and dancers. It was quite a spectacle. By just before midnight half of the serving staff also joined the throng and were having a great time.

The band stopped pretty much immediately after the stoke of midnight and it was off to bed time. Given we had to be at breakfast by 7am that was ok with me. Mike was very apologetic but was feeling very unwell and slept without eating. I was sorry for him that he missed it as we had an excellent time. I need to have a week of no eating.