Agra

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December 17th 2006

Published: December 19th 2006

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Wilko

Taj Mahal

I was the first one to think of taking a photo from this spot, seriously

After four days, Nick, Chris and I are just about to leave Agra for Delhi. My impressions of this city are mixed. It's reputaion amoungst travellers as a postcard city (the city built around the Taj Mahal as one of our friends described it) was partially true, indeed it is fair to say that without the cities tourist attractions it wouldn't be worth the visit. However, we've still enjoyed our time here and i think i'll come back if i get the chance.

This time the train was four hours late arriving. This actually turned out to be a blessing as Chris (who we had planned to meet in agra under the detailed instruction 'lets meet in agra on the 14th') ended up arriving at the station from delhi at almost exactly this time. After a brief group hug on the platform, we managed to pack ourselves with our packs into an autorickshaw and set sail for Taj Ganj- the main tourist area of the city situated just below the Taj Mahal.

The hotel we managed to stumble upon turned out to have the best view of the Taj in the area- see below. Our first act in Agra

Agra Fort

Agra Fort was huge, most of it is still inhabited by the Indian Army

was to reintroduce our stomachs to the wonder of the banana pancake, which has become our staple breakfast diet in india. After catching up with Chris for a few hours, we wandered around the city and walked up to the historic Agra Fort- around two thirds of which is still populated by the Indian army. We were amazed at the quantity of palaces and buildings within the fort. We were able to stand in the area that the creator of the Taj Mahal -Shah Jahan- was imprisoned for the last days of his life.

We were similarly amazed at the scale of the buildings at Fathepur Sikri- the Mughal capital before Agra. It took us almost two hours of wandering around taking photos before we had finally seen both the palace and the Mosque- the former was practically deserted of even tourists. This complex was built with the slave labour of over a million people (so our reliable guide told us), but was abandoned after a decade because it was not close enough to water. How's the irony.

There are elements of Agra's destinctly tourist nature that can indeed be quite a hastle. For instance, all of the

Sunrise in Agra

This tower was just beside Taj Ganj

taxi and rickshaw drivers make most of their money by taking their passengers to emporiums and overpriced gift and gem shops for commissions. We found it almost impossible to avoid this with many drivers, sometimes when you refuse to get out and look in the shops they ask for more money- it's a pain in the ass.

Later that day we met another friend of ours Hannah, which was good. In timing for her arrival, we waited until the last full day to go and see the Taj properly, at dawn. 750 rupees (more than two night total accomodation for all of us) and a healthy frisk later, we made our way in and camped out at the end of the reflection pool while the sun rose.

The taj is amazing. It's something that i've found in my travels- even if you know exactly what you're about to see -which we did- you can't really know how much you're breath will be taken away by the sight in reall life. We spent two hours seeing the monument, awe struck at the miraculous level of detail in the marble.

My (and all of our) most lasting memory of

Fathepur Sikri

Inside the abandoned palace at Sikri

Agra, will however be later that night at sunset. We scrambled to get our indian snacks, chocolates and kingfishers in order in time to make it to the other side of the Yamuna river to watch the sun set behind the Taj Mahal- which we were extremely close to. We spent the time talking, eating taking photos of kids and camals, and it was quite simply amazing.

Well next stop is Delhi, where I'll say goodbye to Nick. I know that this blog is a little more 'we did this, then we did this' than the last ones- my apologies. I did manage to put a lot more photos on this time that the last few, I hope you enjoy. I'll right when i get to Delhi, keep it real back home and wherever,

Sam

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