Tantalising Taj Mahal!

Thursday, November 08, 2001
Agra, India
Namaste,

Okay so last time i left you were we going to have dinner at the Thai
"restaurant" at the top of the hotel. That night we met up with my brothers
Indian friend, Naveen and his father, and had a drink at a nearby bar. Due to
jetlag and a cow mooing all night outside out hotel i got less than 2 hours
sleep the whole night and woke up at 5am for the 6am bus to Agra (the city near
the Taj Mahal).

IMT, Indian Median Time is a very interesting thing. Nothing is a rush. Our bus
driver guided us through the maze of the bazaar area around cows, people,
litter, markets, some more cows, to where our to the waiting "tourist" bus
(which incidentally had nothing tourist about it since we were the only white
faces!) We eventually only left at 7am. fairly boring bus ride, but Dave and I
did manage to catch up on our sleep!

As part of the "package" which we had as we took the "tourist" bus we had a
rickshaw (known as a tuk-tuk also) + driver called Riki ride us around the rest
of the day wherever we wanted. Was really fantastic. We went to a place called
Agra Fort (http://travel.indiamart.com/uttar-pradesh/forts/agra-fort.html)
which actually housed the dude who built the Taj Mahal when his son deposed
him. Stayed at another "hotel" near'ish the Taj Mahal. Really chilled place
with a lawn and a very helpful and attentive guy who worked there called Boona!

These "hotel" rooms cost about 150 rupees each (less than 2 pounds!) for a very
basic room. Oh, the bathrom. Jeezes, it smelt like something had died in there.
We tried burning mosquito coils to kill the odour, but this was of biochemical
strength.

This morning we woke up really early and headed off with this Kiwi bloke we met
at the hotel last night to watch the sunrise at the Taj Mahal. Breathtaking is
all I can tell you really. Spent the morning there, then back to the hotel for
breakfast lunch, Raita and Roti and lay in the sun for the afternoon playing
backgammon (well I taught Dave) and chatting and just chilling really!

Tonite we are taking a harrowing 16 hour train ride to Gorupkur, and from there
to Sonuli where we will cross into Nepal and with luck and time we expect to be
in Nepal very late Thursday evening!

My impressions so far. Walking around the small part of Delhi that we did walk
around and walking around Agra today was seeing utter poverty first-hand. It's
there and in your face. Cows walking in the streets, dogs, kids, old people,
young people, people bathing in dirty water, street vendors trying to sell you
food with a thousand flies all around. It's a lot. But I'm finding it very
interesting. I dont feel at all threatened by the people. Of the people who
have not tried to rip us off, not many I'm afraid, they are most hospitable and
so kind. Sadly, most of the people who see us, just see money and as a result,
a lot of the amazing and warm culture is being lost.

Right, must go and carry on wandering around this town.

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