So around 10:40 AM, we were right on noida-greater noida expressway. The smooth drive with lots of fast moving vehicles. We didn't took NH2 rather wanted to experience the yamuna expressway stuff. After around 15 mins or just before entering Greater Noida, there is a left diversion to enter the yamuna expressway. Not many vehicles were headed towards it. So imagine an 8-lane highway with rarely any vehicle entering it.
Jewar was around 50 km after entering the expressway. Before jewar there is first toll booth. For a single day return(within 24 hrs) from Agra, they charged 510/-. Saved the ticket as it will be required on next 2 tolls and while returning as well.
Halfway till jewar I drove without cruise control. But the expressway was quite boring as there was nothing to overtake. Well it is advised that you don't keep your vehicle in extreme right. As it is used for overtaking. After Jewar, I graciously put the vehicle on cruise control at 110kmph and put my foot on rest. Now I saw vehicles overtaking me. BMW360d, Skoda superb, Fortuner and thats not all. Wagnor, SwiftDzire, Nissan sunny. Well I was not interested in braking my cruise so steadily kept on 110kmph. Even hatchbacks were taking lot of speed. But my XUV500 had first service due so I thought not to go beyond 120 kmph. I reset my mileage calculator and was amazed to see the whopping mileage 18kmpl. This was more than expected.
Second toll was at mathura and then the third one at agra. Diversion for jewar was not very well defined. It was practically 8 lane road merging in single lane. So a drastic change and fine acumen required for people going to Jewar.
For Mathura there is well defined flyway towards left. One thing I noticed, there was lot of friction between tyre and the road. As it was cemented road there was grrrrr noise. There were small patches of coal-tar roads also where this sound disappeared. Overall, I believe, this should be raising the temperature of tyres, more than usual. Though it was winter time so no need to worry. But during summers, it might be different story. So I would suggest to not continue at (120kmph+) high speed for long time during summers.
We reached end of yamuna expressway at Agra around 12:30 AM. So wow !! we are here in Agra in just 1 hr and 30 minutes. The expressway ends and NH2 begins. I stopped the cruise control and reduced the speed to 60kmph. One need to take U-turn for Agra in 500 meters or so. If you continue straight you will be on the way to Kanpur.
After about 9 km towards Agra, you will see a left turn for Tajmahal. And the left turn is a single lane road entering into old city of Agra which is full of redi-walas and the road was congested a lot. Its about 5 km like this. Then there is single lane flyover over yamuna. The speed was reduced to 15kmph and I couldn't go beyond 2 gear.
Finally I reached the parking of Tajmahal West Gate. There are 3 parking lots West gate, South gate and East gate. So you don't find parking in one, you may find in other ones. For 4 wheelers, the parking was 40/- for a day. It was almost full parking but we managed to get space for our car. From West gate to Tajmahal, it is hardly 500 meters of walk. But there are plenty of camel-carts and e-rickshaws. They will charge anything between 50-100/-. We chose camel cart and paid him 100/-. The camel cart guy was telling us about the specialities of Agra. Panchhi Pethha, Saree from Banana fibers, Namkeen from Agra, Shoes from camel skins. Some of these were handmade by workers in Agra jail. Even without our consent, he stopped us before Tajmahal and pleaded us to have a look at the small market where all these items were sold. we were already late so we din't give much thought to buying anything and told him to get us to Tajmahal.
After reaching the Tajmahal entrance, we saw a very very long queue. There were plenty of agents roaming here and there and giving offers that for a small fee he will make us enter directly. But didn't get into all that. I enquired about the ticket queue. Which was not that big. Within 15 minutes, I had the tickets in my hands. At the end of line I realized there was separate counter for woman which was practically empty. I could have saved around 10-15minutes there.
Then the big queue for entering tajmahal begins. It took us around 40 minutes in the queue before entering Tajmahal. There is separate queue for men and women. We had one kid in Pram which we believed they will allow. They were reluctant to allow pram but after a bit of haggling they did. Its allowed by rule but they were fuzzing just because they have to frisk a bit more. Anyways, finally we saw the first glimpse of Tajmahal at 3:00 PM.
We roamed in the premises for about 2 hours clicking photos, doing poses. And then there was another queue for entering the Tajmahal dome. We were tired of queues so decided to take rest in the garden. It was very crowded inside and more n more people were entering. It was probably not good time to visit Agra as it was weekend post-diwali.
We felt hungry by the evening. Unfortunately there is nothing to eat in the premises. You need to exit to find anything edible. We wanted to visit the Agra fort also but were late as it closes the ticket counter at 5:00 PM. After catching some quick snacks, we turned back to Noida. Yes, we grabbed a some panchhi petha. (Don't know if it was authentic one, but it tasted good.)
At 7:00PM, We took NH-2 and moved in the direction of Kanpur. If you move in the direction of Delhi, you will not find expressway and will continue till Noida via NH2 and will make it longer. After travelling around 9-10km towards Kanpur, we saw left diversion for Yamuna expressway. Just before entering expressway there are few make-shift shops selling Panchhi petha so you can buy one if you missed it.
As soon as we entered expressway, we felt we have reached delhi. speed is back to 120 kmph, 6th gear, 2200 rpm and 18kmpl mileage. However, I felt hungry at Agra toll. there is arrangement for sanitation and snacks at every toll booth. I asked toll booth guy if anything good available at the restaurant. He replied the one Agra is not functional. But Mathura one is running.
We drove another 50 kms to reach Mathura toll. It was low temperature and medium fog outside. So I put on my fog lamps and defoggers. But this reduced my speed to 100kmph. Restaurant at mathura toll booth was very basic kind. They sold maggie, patty, coffee (machine), tea (machine), chips, kurkure, cold drinks. And if you enquire retail cigarette also. we grabbed a cup of tea, coffee and maggie for kids.
We decided to take dinner at Spice Mall, Noida. But some friend called me up saying all the malls are closed today because owner of all the malls have died. I didn't know who was the owner. But I realized I will have to live with some khichri at home. Well we reached home at 10:00 PM. Total Km ran was 415 km and overall mileage was 17.5 kmpl.
Now, few tips.
1) If you intend to come back within 24hrs, better take return toll so that you don't need to seek change every time.
2) Avoid 120kmph+, on cement roads. Esp during summers.
3) Don't take any ride from Parking to Tajmahal.
4) Eat full before you enter Tajmahal.
5) don't expect nice food on yamuna expressway. ( I heard very soon haldiram's will start on toll booth restaurants.)
