Agra, the Taj Mahal and SO MANY PEOPLE

somebody took our picture for us!

      We have officially seen one of the new 7 wonders of the world. After the hassle that it took to get to Agra, Utter Pradesh, we would both have to agree that the Taj is pretty amazing. As a memorial built to his wife after she died, Emperor Shan had a massive mausoleum/mosque built out of white marble that took 16 years (finished in 1648). It was pretty amazing to see all the work that had to be done without modern machinery.  We had oooone small setback when we got here due to my trip planning though-we got it and 2:30, planned on seeing the Taj Mahal early the next day (Friday). The Taj Mahal is closed on Fridays. Oops.
   Nevertheless, we hurried up to go see the wonder before it closed at 5 pm. It didn't take long to walk through it and there are SO MANY PEOPLE there that it was a big crowded. It really is majestic, and a lot of our pictures look fake (yes we had to buy a new camera). You have to take your shoes off when you go actually inside the mosque part (if you have seen Slum Dog Millionaire you know that this is where kids steal your shoes-naturally KC made us store them with a guy who expected a tip so that that didn't happen) and then were free to walk through. You were also not supposed to take pictures of the inside...but literally everyone did. The nice thing is that there is pretty much no trash within the Taj-very different from the rest of India.

A sign at our hostel in Agra

     We had an Indian Thali dinner (a huge plate with several different Indian foods-chippati, 2 curries, curd, and sauces) while sitting on a "roof top restaurant with a view of the Taj Mahal" (the view had a large pole through it but it was nice) to watch the sunset. We met some Australians who gave us suggestions about where to stay in Delhi, and who explicitly told us to NOT book any tours in Rhajastan (apparently theirs was a nightmare). Friday we had absolutely nothing planned, so I made KC get up at exactly 5:18am to walk the 2 kilometers to the Agra Fort nearby, in order to catch a famous picture of the Taj Mahal during sunrise-we walked in the dark.  Of COURSE we got lost, and so actually didn't make it quite at sunrise- (there was a lot of yelling) but it was still beautiful, and I fed a monkey.  We got back to our hostel in time to take a nap before checkout, then attempted to find some nearby bazaars. That in itself is a nightmare. It is hard for us to get used to the people's pushiness. 'You want autorickshaw?' No I don't want a rickshaw thank you 'Good price, cheap price. Taj mahal? Baby Taj?' NO I don't want an auto rickshaw and I have already seen the Taj Mahal. 'Maam hello mam hello, please good price mam' (all the while following us trying to run us over in the rickshaw-one guy actually pushed his Tuktuk into us, then backed it up when we tried to go around so that we couldn't get through ) Finally I lost my temper a couple times and started yelling ' NEIH NEIH I DO NOT WANT A RICKSHAW PLEASE LEAVE ME A LONE' and throwing my hands up which was not very Christian of me and I had to apologize to God later. It would be fine if they would leave you alone after you say no, but they don't-one kid who said he was 6 followed us around for 10 minutes trying to get us into his bicycle rickshaw. There is no way he could have pulled us. I tried to ask him why he wasn't in school-that was a fail. I also yelled at several people in the train station :(.

The Taj on our walk to the fort

    After a lot of walking, crying, yelling and consulting the guide book we found a clothing store made by cloth recommended by Ghandi himself. Most of the politicians (according to the guide book) still wear this material because it is made safely and it is very breathable. Unfortunately it was outrageously priced, so sorry-no souvenirs from there guys. We did find a giant marble emporium which was pretty amazing, they showed us how they carve the marble and had beautiful pieces similar to work in the Taj Mahal, and most of the work is only found in Agra. I absolutely LOVED the table tops-beautiful white marble with intricate inlaid gemstones-but they are thousands of dollars and something tells me that our family and friends did not support us to come to India to buy beautiful marble tabletops for our house.  KC is pretty excited that I bought some small things from there, and that he now has to carry around MARBLE in his backpack :).

The hostel in Jaipur

Our favorite picture of the Taj Mahal

          We took an evening train to Jaipur, and were able to find an extremely cheap hostel right next to the train station. Of course I didn't plan ahead and it was one of the first ones available so KC is a little perturbed but hey I slept on the mattress on the floor quite well so I'm okay with the$6.50 that we spent on the room! Our day is planned to go to the Amjer (or Amber) Fort, possibly ride a camel, and then do a self guided walking tour around the 'pink' city of Jaipur. It is famous for shopping, particular gemstones, but I do not know anything about gems so I think it is safe to say we will not be buying any. After that we will either take a bus or train to Delhi (we are currently arguing about that-the bus is cheaper and we can leave when we want, but KC hates buses and the train is actually pretty comfy!) I am currently sitting at a rooftop restaurant that amazingly has FREE wi-fi (you find that nowhere) waiting on my pot of Chai and enjoying the beautiful sunshine. I promised KC I wouldn't set an alarm today so he is still sleeping.  It is actually quite chilly here (ok 70's compared to 110), esp in the morning, which makes us think that perhaps we are under-dressed for Darjeeling. Guess we will find out if I have to buy a shawl when we get there!
      Ok well we are off  to our day as KC has arrived and said we are already behind schedule. Hope everybody is having a great weekend :)

Raina (and KC)