Just like every other tourist, I headed out the next day to Agra – a decent-sized city 120 km south of Delhi that's home to one of the wonders of the world... the Taj:
The train ride was great – the India rail network is cheap, reliable, and a great way to get around. Our car was pretty nice, with AC and comfy, if well-worn seats, but as we entered Agra station, we passed some other trains that were much much more basic.
Word to the wise – never, ever travel third class if you can avoid in India... it's chock-a-block with folks, who dangle arms through the barred openings in lieu of windows. It's worth the (literally) extra buck or two – really.
I got into Agra around 8:30am, and caught a rickshaw to my hotel. Again, the locals tried to hustle me – doing the standard 'where are you from/what will you do here' conversation to see if they can work out a deal to be my dedicated rickshaw. Since my plans involved a lot of walking, I passed politely, and after I kept saying “no, thank you” they eventually got the point...
Now, the area around the Taj is blocked to polluting vehicles. The downside was that instead of taking the long way around, these guys just dropped me off and said the hotel was 'just around the corner'.
Riiiight. It turned out to be another 1km.
The plus side was that my hotel was awesome – clean, spotless, and my room looked out on the Taj in the distance. A cold shower, a nap, and then I was off exploring.
The plan was to save the Taj Mahal for sunrise the next day – to avoid the crowds and have the best pictures. So the first day was pretty open – I grabbed a good veggie curry/naan lunch, and then walked over to the Agra Fort.
That's one thing that provokes odd looks – a tourist... actually walking.
It's only 2km, but I kept getting asked if I wanted a ride... when I declined, you could see they were slightly puzzled.
The fort was pretty cool – another Mughal relic from the 1500's, it's similar to the Red Fort in that it's big. Very big.
For some reason as I walked up to the fort, I neglected to check the map and just picked a direction to walk around the walls to the gate. Turned out that I picked the wrong way, and instead of a 100m walk, it turned out to be another 3km stroll around the circumference of the walls. Ouch.
And by this point, I made the classic blunder of being out of water in a very hot climate, so I was starting to bake out there on the asphalt – when I finally got to the town/gate, I powered through a liter of water in about 10 seconds flat.
Inside the intimidating exterior of the fort, it was bit disappointing – with the fall of the Mughals, all of the buildings were stripped bare, and the Brits had also leveled a number of them to make space for their garrison.
For all that though, it was still pretty interesting walking around – especially seeing the white marble palace prison that was where the sultan who built the Taj had to spend his last 20 years, gazing at his creation to his dead wife in the distance.
On the way back, I had intended to catch a ride to the river park across from the Taj at sunset. But, the rickshaws wouldn't bargain very much, and were getting testy to boot - so I got irritated and walked back to the Taj, and finally caught a bicycle rickshaw whose friendly driver dropped me near the hotel. Another shower and a curry on the roof, and it was off to bed.
The next morning was all about the Taj.
Woke up at 5am and was let in with the first handful of tourists by 5:45 – and for all the aggravation, it was worth it. The Taj is stunning and keeps growing on you, as you notice more and more amazing details of this monument to a dead wife.
There were a fair number of people already inside, but I was able to get some good pics at the classic reflecting pool:
The sun was growing brighter and it was actually really strong on the eyes – sunglasses by 6:30 were a necessity.
Pretty much I just kept wandering around looking for quirky perspectives or other shots:
Taj or no Taj, the river is still the local swimming hole:
After about 2 hours or so, it was time to head home for breakfast. The crowds were still piling in, and it felt great to miss most of the rush.
Now, I had an evening training to Delhi, but to be honest, I was absolutely uninspired to check out the myriad 'other' sights around Agra. The heat was part of it, sure, but I was turned off also by having to work my way through more gauntlets of touts and other guys wanting your money.
What to do... what to do? Ah, chill out by a pool in another 5 start hotel... perfect. That was a good day – just relaxing, swimming, being dried off by the heat in about 10 minutes, and repeating the process once more. Add in some really good food including a potato-filled dhosa pancake, and I was more than happy.
The train back was great and I was able to find my hotel back in Paharganj no problem. The only issue? Arriving so late, the water tanks were all empty, so it took 4 room switches to find one that would let me take a much-needed shower.
My last day in Delhi was spent around checking out their National Museum of Modern Art, which was interesting – you could see how the artists went from merely reproducing European styles in the 1700 and 1800's to developing their own as the push for Indian nationalism grew stronger.
Plus, all intellectual stuff besides, they had superb AC as well, so I was easy to convince to stay inside.
I did grab an amazing lunch at the United Coffee House – a Delhi institution from the 30's – that included some unique tandoori chicken and refreshing lemon juice sodas. The ride over was interesting - on surprisingly environmentally aware compressed gas powered rickshaws:
The rest of the afternoon was pretty much just spent wandering around to kill time – although I did see a shopkeeper feeding on the ubiquitous holy cows wandering the streets.
Finally, it was time to fly to Singapore... where I had yet more kids with blaring headphones next to me. I nicely asked their dad twice to just turn it down and got precisely nada. Wonderful.
I mentioned at the top that love it or hate it, one thing India is good at is causing a reaction from all who visit. As you can probably tell, it provoked a reaction in me all right... I'm very glad I went, and it was invaluable seeing a glimpse of Indian culture, and how they accommodate to the range of incredible poverty and wealth in their country.
That being said... it would take a lot to have me go back for a visit. Ever.
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