‘It was just 120+ Kms for today to Agra & that too after visiting Gwalior Fort which would open after 8:00 AM’. This was the reason for me to get up late by 7:30 AM. As I had to check out soon after visiting the fort, packed my stuffs & went to Indian Coffee House for a breakfast. Post breakfast, rode to Gwalior Fort West gate negotiating the narrow & dusty city streets. Shit! My horn again refused to work todayL. As I rode up the hill, I saw some of the Rock Sculptures & thought to check them out while coming back. Once inside the fort, Man! This is huge. Walked for a while & took entry ticket to Man Singh Palace. A local approached me saying there is an underground rooms inside the palace & he will show them all.
“Kitna lete ho batao??”
“Sir hum authorized guides hain. Jo bhi government rates hoga woh hi dena…”
“Kitna rate hain bolo…..”
“190 only..”
What??? Is he writing any bank slip where ‘only’ has value???
“Sou se zyada nahi milega…”
“Ek so pachaas kardo…”
“Nahi chahiye bhai.. chod do..”
“Teek hain sir! Chalo…”
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| Man Singh Palace! |
He showed me the Man Singh Palace in detail like meeting rooms, Man Singh’s queen’s rooms, dancing room & so on along with the history behind it. After some time, he took me to underground rooms & it was worth it. There were places where queens used to take bath, Aurangzeb hanged one of his brother & so on. There were 2 levels of underground rooms & believe me! It was damn cool there in spite of sweating outside. Was wondering how that can be possible. He showed a big area which used to be queens swimming pool & when the king died in war, queens set themselves on fireL. Once done with all the places inside Palace, came out & got some nice shots of the Palace outside & city view from the hilltop. On our way back, I asked the guide about some place which he dint show me. He said it’s the king’s guest house & nothing special there except couples busy on their work!
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| Dance room of the palace! |
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| City as seen from the palace window! |
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| Getting into the underground rooms... |
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| Palace from other angle! |
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| Palace & Fort! |
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| Gwalior city viewed from Fort! |
After that, he took me to 3 main temples. First one being Teli Ka Mandir!
“Iss mandir ko gyarah sou saal pehle banaya tha xxx maharaj ne!” Man, why the hell do I forget names???
“Iss mandir main raja logo ki shaadi hota tha. Aur uss ke baad, woh yaha pe honeymoon mana te the!!!”
“Kya?? Honeymoon aur is ke andar???”
“Ha…” I thought better not to dig more on thatJ. Guide was more curious on my bike & asked many questions like how much does it cost, mileage & about my ride.
“Aapki gaadi badiya hain!” was his conclusion & was happy it ended soonJ.
Next was Saas Bahu Mandir. These are 2 separate temples situated one beside the other. The bigger one being Saas Temple dedicated to Vishnu & the smaller one is Bahu Temple dedicated to Shiva. On the way he also showed me Scindia School & said admission per year costs 4.5 lakhs here. Salman Khan did his schooling here itseems.
“Bhaiyya humara ek photo keechloge??” one of the 2 young guys asked me.
Man! What’s wrong with the crowd I am facing???
“Par tumhe nahi milega!!!”
They wanted one snap for themselves & as they dint get their mobile, they were missing camera a lot. After couple of shots of the temple, visited the last temple Suraj Kund. It was some temple surrounded by pond & this was the place where king’s serious decease was cured. I forgot again about which king & what decease! Great Krishna…
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| Teli Ka Mandir... |
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| Saas Mandir |
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| Bahu Mandir... |
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| Suraj Kund!!! |
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| Rock Caves on the fort |
It was already 10:45 AM & came back to same yesterday’s place to get my horn back. This time after checking for a while, mechanic confirmed that the relay is not working & needs to be replaced. As the shop where new relay is available was still closed, thought will reach Agra & get it checked.
On the way back, had Masala Dosa & vanilla shake in Indian Coffee Shop as part of my lunch program. Came back to lodge, loaded the bike & it was already nearing 1:00 PM by the time I rode out of Gwalior. Although the initial few Kms till the bypass was not in good shape, later on it was 4-Lane smooth road to cruise on. Thought this will end till Agra but near Dohlpur, the flyover is under construction & road is patheticL. Luckily, it was just for 2-3 Kms & back to smooth road again.
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| Agra calling :) |
Without any break, reached Agra & enquired route to Taj Mahal as there are plenty of stay options available near Taj Mahal West Gate.
While enquiring the route to Taj Mahal with a bunch of cops,
“Yeh badiya pehenke raka hain aapne! Mujhe bahut achha laga. Bahut safe hain…” a cop got interested in my knee pads than telling me the route.
After getting to Taj Mahal, got into Hotel Pratap. As the time had already crossed 3:00 PM, decided to check out Fathepur Sikri tomorrow & went Agra Motors RE showroom to get my horn fixed properly. A mechanic soon started to work on it & replaced the fuse, relay & made a new wiring. 150 bux was worth for getting the horn back with new fuse & relay I thought & came back to lodge to get some blogs updated. Lodge manager had told that Taj Mahal ticket counter would be open till 5:30 PM, gave a visit to wonder Taj once again. Man! Why don’t I get bored of seeing this monument of love??? Taj Mahal is just wonderful. But it was not worth for good photos as it was completely packed with tourists. They were more interested to get themselves clicked as though they are holding Taj Mahal in their hand, lifting Taj Mahal in their hand & so on.
After getting to Taj Mahal, got into Hotel Pratap. As the time had already crossed 3:00 PM, decided to check out Fathepur Sikri tomorrow & went Agra Motors RE showroom to get my horn fixed properly. A mechanic soon started to work on it & replaced the fuse, relay & made a new wiring. 150 bux was worth for getting the horn back with new fuse & relay I thought & came back to lodge to get some blogs updated. Lodge manager had told that Taj Mahal ticket counter would be open till 5:30 PM, gave a visit to wonder Taj once again. Man! Why don’t I get bored of seeing this monument of love??? Taj Mahal is just wonderful. But it was not worth for good photos as it was completely packed with tourists. They were more interested to get themselves clicked as though they are holding Taj Mahal in their hand, lifting Taj Mahal in their hand & so on.
After spending quality time looking at Taj & walking around the premises, came back to lodge. Then on, it wasn’t anything special than blogs, dinner & sleep early as I had to visit Mehtab Bagh tomorrow early morning.
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| One of the 7 Wonders! |
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| Loved this angle of the Photo |
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| Yamuna flowing... |
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