The Taj

We arrived in Agra yesterday morning and we're leaving tonight on the 11.30pm overnight train to Varanasi, so really it's an in-and-out-trip to the Taj! I got my first glimpse yesterday evening at sunset from the rooftop restaurant of our guesthouse as we were enjoying yet another pot of masala chai, and my initial impression was that it was just as beautiful as I'd expected but a great deal smaller.

We were up at 5.30am this morning as the Taj gates open to tourists at 6am and we wanted to be there for the sunrise. So did about three hundred other tourists it turned out, despite the fact that the early morning is supposed to be one of the quietest times to go! It's so annoying, if you're Indian it only costs 10 rupees (25 cents) for your ticket, butif you're a foreigner it's 750 rupees ($18)...blatant racial discrimination I say, seeing that the ticket seller didn't even ask if I was Indian! You may laugh, but a rickshaw driver asked Phil and I if we were Japanese today. Now THAT was one we haven't heard before.

Anyway, the Taj. It really didn't let us down. Yes it is smaller than I'd thought it would be, even up close, but the white marble it's made of glows and looks almost pearlescent in the sunlight, giving the whole building a really magical feel. We spent a couple of hours there and I have so many photos, but I think perhaps when it comes to photos of the Taj Mahal there is no such thing as too many photos. It's really a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

After we left, we had breakfast (yet another banana pancake. Every morning I try and be adventurous, but I keep going back to the bloody banana pancakes. It was only $1 though!) then walked the 2km from the West Gate of the Taj through the city gardens to the Agra Fort. It was magnificent, but like I think I've said before, I've lost my enthusiasm for forts a bit - I've just seen so many here in India. From there we got a cycle rickshaw to the baby Taj, which as it sounds is a smaller and more intricate version of the Taj itself a little way out of town.

I think that's the last time we'll be getting a cycle rickshaw, every time we have we sit in the backseat racked with guilt as some reedy little Indian man puffs and sweats and groans as he tries to navigate the little vehicle around the streets. Apparently we are so heavy that even on the slightest incline, the driver has to get out and push us manually!

Off to dinner now, a south-indian food restaurant down the road that serves 1.2m dosai! I do love my dosa, but even I'm not up for that challenge.

Love,

E xxx

PS: A postscript to the Rishikesh post. Remember the ex-roofer/hypnotherapist/stoner from QLD called Brad? Well, he turned up unexpectedly on our doorstep on our last night (God knows how he found where we were staying) when we were both in bed. Apparently he came to tell Phil that she is an amazing girl (well we know that already) and that he keeps seeing her in his dreams and every time he meditates (huh?) and that he can't ignore the connection between himself and Phil (?) and that he found his way up the hill to our guesthouse because 'the spirits' led him there (WTF??!!).
Rishikesh in a nutshell, my friends.