2nd Day in Agra, or "I can't think of a title".

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2^ndDay in Agra



Day 23. Saturday 23^rd December



About 10am we decide to walk to Agra Fort, about 2km apparently. We try to find a path through the parkland between us & the fort, but it is harder than we thought. We had to double back once and head for the West Gate to the Taj (½ Km), then after ½ Km we come to the bus park for tourists visiting the Taj, mostly school outings it seems. Eventually we find a narrow path fenced off from the rest of the park. This is about ½ Km long, then we follow a road with inaccessable parks on each side for about a Km, then another busier road from one roundabout to another and after crossing some very busy roads we were actually following the walls of the Fort to the entrance (another Km, making the total 3.5 Km).



We didn’t have to join the big que as Westerners pay Rs750 + Rs 25 for camera (kids are free at all sights), and have their own booth, whilst locals only pay Rs20 but have long queues to their booth. Same with the security frisking, as we were singled out for fast tracking and Rocco nearly got me done by saying I had an electronic cigarette!



Inside we had to walk up a long ramp which took us to a level equal with the top of the 20m high walls. The circumference is 2.5Km. It was built by Emperor Akbar in 1565, but changed by his son & grandson over the following century. The top was laid out in gardens which we wern’t allowed to walk upon or pick leaves or flowers from (Esmee stop that! She was bitten on a finger by a chipmunk as she feigned feeding them). The basic structure was in good condition but most of the detail was missing which was a shame, it has been looted by 4 other invaders, the last being the British. It is still home to an army base today. The many open rooms with pillars (as in Amber Fort) were in good nick. On the East side there were good views of the Taj beside the river in the near distance. We were purloined by a teacher with his class who wanted photo’s of us with them all (they were very shy). After an hour or so we had pretty well seen it all and headed for the entrance/exit. Now there were huge crowds waiting to enter, seems we got in just in time!



Outside it was a hussler hell (yes it was hell out there!) This wasn’t the quite friendly “you want tuk-tuk?” or “you want to buy a plastic Taj” No, this was following you down the road with “you must have”, “you must buy”, “where is your hotel?” and a reply of “No” cut no ice. Very aggressive hussling, we had been warned by guide books and other hotels that it was bad, but this was very bad. All you can do is blank them out and walk away. At one point I got a large Tonga (big electric tuk-tuk) but the others had escaped into the distance so I had to follow them.



Eventually we got an auto-rick to the nearby train station, just to escape the mob.



Then we had to get another auto-rick to a restaurant (posh Indian – kids shared a chow mien, I had thali.



Then another auto-rick for which we did a deal with the old driver for Rs350 for the rest of the afternoon, First we crossed a bridge over the river where we could see women washing clothes, and Bill had the kids in fits of giggles by saying that there was 10 people there just washing Shirls knickers as they are so big (they handed washing in this morning). Not far across the river is the Itimad-ud-Daulah, nicknamed the Baby Taj. Built in 1628 this was the first marble tomb, and also the first tomb on the riverside, which used to just have a series of pleasure gardens. It was very picturesque. We took a leasurely stroll around and within. Nice grounds and great views of the river, not only washer-women but on the far bank there were large herds of cows.



Then we took our auto-rick to Mehtab Bagh, which is a park, built long before the Taj was conceived and now one of the best places to view the Taj from. We didn’t spend long here but enjoyed the serenity and especially the fantastic views of the Taj with the little people strolling around it.



Then took the auto-rick back to Hotel Kamal and arranged a car taxi for 10am tomorrow to take us to Fatehpur Sikri, a deserted city about 30miles away.



I had dinner at a restaurant next door, for ½ price at Kamal, could see others on our rooftop. I had paneer butter masala with rice, large pot of milk coffee, and a honey pancake all for Rs250. Quality was a bit low, but service was quick compared to Kamal who take ages. I could hear Esmee at one point calling me and looked up to see her waving away from their rooftop above mine. After my meal I wandered back and up the many stairs to their roof to find that they had not been served anything yet, whilst I had eaten and paid for mine! After half an hour their drinks arrived, after another half hour 3 meals, after another half hour Esmees pancake arrived. She was asleep by then. Very poor service! We plan to eat at the one I went to, for breakfast tomorrow….

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