Agra, India 08.05

We took a short train ride from Jaipur to Agra in the morning. We dumped our bags at the ‘Left Luggage’ room at the train station, where we had to convince the caretaker to take our baggage. He was in the process of cleaning out the room, and was not keen to have any more bags in there.

The Taj Mahal!
After a quick auto-rickshaw ride through Agra, we arrived near the outer walls of the Taj Mahal. Drivers can’t take you right to the entrance because of the damage that air pollution had inflicted on the Taj Mahal. Apparently acid rain has eroded a lot of the marble. On our walk towards the entrance, we attracted the attention of some locals. We had stopped to put on some sun-screen lotion, and they wanted to know what it did. They thought it was to protect you from the heat. They asked to try some and then had some fun smearing it over each others faces.

We bought our tickets to the Taj Mahal, which were pretty expensive for India – we obviously paid the foreigners price, which was 20 times as expensive as the Indian one! We managed to avoid the guides who chase you all the way to the entrance trying to sell you their services. Once again we were frisked in male and female lines, and sent through metal detectors. After all the fuss, we entered through the gates and saw the beautiful Taj Mahal!

Apparently the Taj Mahal was built by a Emperor Shah Jahan as a monument to his wife, who died while giving birth to his fourteenth son. He loved his wife so much, that he couldn’t forget her, and after he had completed the incredible white marble Taj Mahal, he wanted to build another one in black marble. One of his sons heard about this and had him arrested and put in prison, so that he would stop wasting their money. The poor, heartbroken emperor died in jail. He was buried next to his wife in the Taj Mahal. The Taj Mahal has been described as ‘a teardrop on the face of eternity’.

The Taj Mahal was beautiful, but after seeing so many pictures of it, we had high expectations. It seemed so much smaller than we had imagined. We also thought that there was a lot of water in front of the Taj Mahal, but the lanes of water and fountains are only about two metres wide. The pictures that we’ve seen were just taken at flattering angles.

We were surprised at the size of the mosques at either side of the Taj Mahal, they were so tall! The gardens and lawns around it were also huge. There were areas that were like little forests.

There was also a great exhibit along the walls surrounding the Taj Mahal grounds. It showed all the big archaeological features in India. We were shocked at how many there were. The buildings were as incredible and complex as Angkor Wat in Cambodia, but there were maybe 60 or more all over India! You could tour for months and not see them all.

After seeing the Taj Mahal we spent the afternoon in an internet café, which was nice and cool compared to the extreme heat outside. We spent most of the afternoon in there, until Loren started feeling unwell again.

Agra Fort

We decided to go to see the Agra Fort which was right next to the train station, because tourist attractions like these are the cleanest, safest place to lie down and rest in. The lawns are well-kept and spacious, compared to the filthy, noisy and crowded train station. Loren lay on the grass while had a look around the fort. That way Loren could see the photos, even though she was too sick to walk around herself.

The Fort was beautiful and the walls around it were enormous. The walls were a pink colour like all of the buildings in Jaipur. There wasn’t many buildings that you could actually go inside, but you could wander though the huge courtyards made of white marble, and the expansive lawns and gardens.

While Artur was exploring, a dust storm started tearing through the Fort. Loren was completely oblivious, and thought the things blowing against her face as she lay down, were falling from the tree above her. It was a big shock when she opened her eyes and saw that the sky was barely visible. Everyone wrapped scarves around their faces to filter the dust. We decided we should find shelter in the train station and wait for our train.

The sky turned grey from the dust, blurring buildings nearby.

We managed to find waiting rooms for the first and second class passengers. Unfortunately, the guy that booked the tickets couldn’t find tickets in the second class for us this time, and booked third class tickets. There are six classes overall! We snuck into the first class one, because the other was very crowded, and hoped that we could either pay to stay or that no one would notice.

A fat Indian guy that looked like Pavarotti, came over to us and asked to see our tickets. He took them, wrote our details on his book, then said thank-you and returned them! We were surprised, but didn’t question it. We figured he was hoping for a big tip when we left. He noticed that Loren was sick, and brought a sheet for her to lie on in the adjoining room. She lay on the ground passed out for a few hours until the train arrived. It turned out that Pavarotti was in charge of the toilets and charged us for using them, not for using the waiting room. We collapsed on the train when it finally came, taking us away to Varanasi.