August 1st 2011
Its August. wow, time flies when you are having fun!
The overnight bus ride went well, which is a testimony to how good we've gotten at sleeping. But after I was able to sleep coming down a mountain road in the Himalayas, this was no trouble at all. That's a bit of an exageration-the bus was much harder than the train, with more noise, including a horn that cheerfully blared an earsplitting hello to intersections, cars, cows, ghosts, you know, whatever, as well as playing Hindi pop music until about 11. But we both slept several hours, before being dropped off uncerimoniously by the side of the road 20 Km outside of Agra. We found an auto rickshaw willing to take us into town, and we headed in to see the city.
Our first sight of the Taj Mahal was coming around a bend in the river at about 6:45 AM with the hazy mist surrounding the building. We both thought, yep. That's the Taj Mahal. (People differ in their reactions-some are blown away right away. Its growing on us). Much more exciting was getting dropped off not exactly where we wanted to be, and hiking about 1km in to find a hotel, but finding one of the Lonely Planet recommendations that fit our needs perfectly, and was willing to give us a room for the night at 7:00 AM. We put our stuff down, and said to ourselves, selves, how hot it will be later in the day. Let us get up and go do touristy things now, and rest when the sun is high. And so it was.
We took a two km hike along mostly empty streets (they try to keep autos away from the Taj for polution purposes-its GREAT) to Agra Fort, the capital of the Mughal Dynasty during its heyday.
We were pleased to have a guided audio-tour, though the human guides are clearly put out about this new competition for their services. Its hard to compete with a soothing British voice with immense historical knowledge who isn't trying to sell you anything. The fort is huge-30 ft. walls, 20 ft. moat, lots of palace things inside. A few highlights including seeing the Taj through windows and lattices down the river-the better light and more romantic atmosphere helped, seeing the harem area, where the wives (and female family members) of the Emperors lived, and the ornate marblework around the Emperor's private quarters. It was definitely worth a visit.
After Agra fort, we took a rikshaw back to our hotel. At least, that was our plan. Instead, we were kidnapped by a rogue rickshaw driver, who took us to a shop for the commission instead. He did give us fair warning, which we sort of appreciated. We didn't shop long enough to earn him his commission, unfortunately for him. We thought he was taking us off to a second shop, so we jumped out at a sign for the west gate of the Taj, where we are staying, but actually, our route just didn't allow rikshaws.
After a nice lunch in a place with free wi-fi (updated blog! Hooray!) we did a bit of laundry, and took a much needed nap. After our rest, we decided on another adventure-this one to the 'Baby Taj' a 17th century tomb of an important Empire official. It is a little older than the Taj, and a lot smaller, but is filled with ornate carvings and marblework and lattices, and we had a delightful time exploring, being amazed at all the geometric patterns we could find in the building, wandering by the banks of the river, and climbing the walls. Samuel stiffed the guys guarding our shoes, since he had no small change, and felt a little bad about it, but its hard to pay someone a dollar to watch your shoes for 30 minutes. This probably demonstrates a deep moral flaw in his character.
After enjoying the Baby Taj, we returned to our hotel, freshened up as much as possible, and went for dinner at a rooftop restaurant just south of the Taj, known to have one of, if not the best views in the city. The food tasted distinctly as if the restaurant had one of the best views of the Taj, but we had the best seats in the house for sunset, and sat watching the building change in the shifting light with a great deal of peace and enjoyment.
Afterwards, we found a little icecream, and now are ready for bed, with the plan of getting up early tomorrow morning for our up close experience before heading back to Delhi in the evening for another adventure.
Its August. wow, time flies when you are having fun!
The overnight bus ride went well, which is a testimony to how good we've gotten at sleeping. But after I was able to sleep coming down a mountain road in the Himalayas, this was no trouble at all. That's a bit of an exageration-the bus was much harder than the train, with more noise, including a horn that cheerfully blared an earsplitting hello to intersections, cars, cows, ghosts, you know, whatever, as well as playing Hindi pop music until about 11. But we both slept several hours, before being dropped off uncerimoniously by the side of the road 20 Km outside of Agra. We found an auto rickshaw willing to take us into town, and we headed in to see the city.
Our first sight of the Taj Mahal was coming around a bend in the river at about 6:45 AM with the hazy mist surrounding the building. We both thought, yep. That's the Taj Mahal. (People differ in their reactions-some are blown away right away. Its growing on us). Much more exciting was getting dropped off not exactly where we wanted to be, and hiking about 1km in to find a hotel, but finding one of the Lonely Planet recommendations that fit our needs perfectly, and was willing to give us a room for the night at 7:00 AM. We put our stuff down, and said to ourselves, selves, how hot it will be later in the day. Let us get up and go do touristy things now, and rest when the sun is high. And so it was.
We took a two km hike along mostly empty streets (they try to keep autos away from the Taj for polution purposes-its GREAT) to Agra Fort, the capital of the Mughal Dynasty during its heyday.
After Agra fort, we took a rikshaw back to our hotel. At least, that was our plan. Instead, we were kidnapped by a rogue rickshaw driver, who took us to a shop for the commission instead. He did give us fair warning, which we sort of appreciated. We didn't shop long enough to earn him his commission, unfortunately for him. We thought he was taking us off to a second shop, so we jumped out at a sign for the west gate of the Taj, where we are staying, but actually, our route just didn't allow rikshaws.
After a nice lunch in a place with free wi-fi (updated blog! Hooray!) we did a bit of laundry, and took a much needed nap. After our rest, we decided on another adventure-this one to the 'Baby Taj' a 17th century tomb of an important Empire official. It is a little older than the Taj, and a lot smaller, but is filled with ornate carvings and marblework and lattices, and we had a delightful time exploring, being amazed at all the geometric patterns we could find in the building, wandering by the banks of the river, and climbing the walls. Samuel stiffed the guys guarding our shoes, since he had no small change, and felt a little bad about it, but its hard to pay someone a dollar to watch your shoes for 30 minutes. This probably demonstrates a deep moral flaw in his character.
After enjoying the Baby Taj, we returned to our hotel, freshened up as much as possible, and went for dinner at a rooftop restaurant just south of the Taj, known to have one of, if not the best views in the city. The food tasted distinctly as if the restaurant had one of the best views of the Taj, but we had the best seats in the house for sunset, and sat watching the building change in the shifting light with a great deal of peace and enjoyment.
Afterwards, we found a little icecream, and now are ready for bed, with the plan of getting up early tomorrow morning for our up close experience before heading back to Delhi in the evening for another adventure.
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