Taj Mahal

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When the train started to get close to Agra, it was just getting light. We were only a half hour late-so far no LONG delays. As we were passing the small villages, we noticed tons of people out squatting right next to the tracks. Apparently along the tracks is where they go to the bathroom… sometimes in groups… and in full view of others and everyone passing on the train. How horrible- I have been complaining about the squat toilets. Oh, quick note, I forgot to mention that we saw a small child, maybe 1-2 yrs old, sleeping in the alley with no pants on and flies all over his eyes, nose and just really everywhere. It was so sad. We arrived in Agra on time, which was around 6am, and decided just to head straight over to the Taj Mahal. That's the main thing there, and we weren’t interested in spending our money to see any of the other sites. When we got to the gate, there were monkeys everywhere. They weren’t around when we left, so I guess they get out and eat before it gets hot. Mom and I were enjoying taking pictures of them, and I guess I got a little too close to a mom and her babies. She came running at me swinging her arm, so I decided I would just keep my distance after that. Other monkeys had come up and put their hands on people’s legs, so I thought they were used to people. I guess not that one. Luckily we found a locker room and were able to check out packs because they are VERY loaded down with all of our "treasures" and it’s incredibly hot out. The fee for foreigners is so much higher than what they charge the Indians, I think it’s kind of insane. It was 750INR for a foreign tourist ticket, and 20INR for an Indian Tourist Ticket, but whatever, it’s the Taj Mahal. It’s not like we weren’t going to go just because it was $15… but all of our train tickets for the week were only $22 if that shows you how expensive it was. It was beautiful, as expected. I was actually shocked that there weren’t more foreigners there. We maybe saw 30 out of the thousands of people that were there. I’m guessing there aren’t many white people around here very often because everyone stares at us and takes our picture. I don’t mean that they walk by and look as they walk. They will stand directly in front of us and stare and then get their cameras out and take pictures. It’s insane. We felt like both celebrities and animals at the zoo. A group of school children and their teacher came up to us and asked if they could practice their English with us. That was actually pretty interesting. We told them all about our lives and learned a little about them. It is pretty shocking to everyone that we do not have husbands with us. Every man that we meet seems to ask us where our husbands are. The school group(especially the male teacher) was surprised to find out that not only am I 29, not married and living away from my parents’ house, but I am also allowed to choose anyone I want to marry. They told us that a few people are starting to choose spouses, but for the most part, they all have arranged marriages. Then another teacher that was with the group asked us how we feel about Pakistan. Not a question I want to answer while I’m in Indian province that borders Pakistan. Luckily the other teacher put an end to that line of questioning. We had a full day in Agra with really not much to do, but sitting around enjoying the view of the Taj Mahal was not much fun with all of the attention. We decided to get our packs and hike to the Pizza Hut that we saw on the map. Pathetic, I know, but we seriously needed a break. It was fantastic! Super clean and no one staring at us!! An oasis of calm in the chaos, and that’s what we needed after several hours of fending off the paparazzi. Then we took a long hike back to the train station for the night train to Jaipur. At the train station, the celebrity status continued, and many people approached us to take pictures with us, and especially to take pictures with their children. Getting my computer out was probably a bad idea, but I had time to kill and needed to update the journal. That attracted a huge crowd that was absolutely amazed. Even many adults were very intrigued by my computer, so I finally put it away to get the crowd around us away. Such an odd day. When the train arrived, we discovered that a group of Indians were in our tourist quota compartment. They vacated our seats, but still stayed in the others even when another group of german tourists showed up. They just scooted over and made room, but the germans ended up having to share a bunk when they paid for 2. They didn’t seem to mind though, and the Indian couple had a cute little boy, so they weren’t bad people to have in with us.

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