Golden Triangle Bus Tour
For our
first complete trip to see the famous “golden triangle” between Delhi, Agra,
and Jaipur, we hired a bus and had a great adventure with Barry and Sara
Little and their three children (OSC 07 Nanjing). This was an ideal way to
see the triangle area, and we added a leg that took us further into
Rajasthan to Ranthambore National Wildlife refuge – in hopes of seeing a
wild tiger. Historical sights along this route included the Taj Mahal, Agra
Fort, Fatehpur Sikri, Ranthambore Park, Japiur’s Old City (Jantar Mantar,
City Palace, etc.), Amber Fort, Jaigarh Fort, Neemrana Fort, Purana Qila,
Humayun’s Tomb, Qutb Minar, Gandhi Smriti, and Old Delhi’s Red Fort, Chandi
Chowk, and Jama Masjid. This whirlwind tour was an amazing journey through
hundreds of years of Mughal and Rajput history, as well as some of modern
Indian history. Being able to see India on the ground from the bus was
fascinating and exhausting journey (Indian roads and traffic carzy) that
gave us an intimate view into the life of the masses of those that live in
northern India.
Perhaps the
most important aspect of our trip that made it such a memorable success was
having another Olmsted Family there to experience it with us. The Littles
brought a fresh perspective with them, and we often spoke of what we were
seeing in India as it compared to what is happening in China. How these two
civilizations have progressed in their histories, as well as how they were
coping with economic growth, poverty, corruption, social ills, and a hundred
other topic swirled in our conversations. We were already good friends from
our language training days in Washington DC, but after this trip the Littles
became our lifelong friends. We look forward to seeing China at the
beginning of our second year (this summer). I highly recommend the
destinations and the travel modes (private hired bus) we undertook to see
the highlights of the Golden Triangle, and I strongly encourage Olmsted
scholars to include other scholars in their planning whenever possible.
