DAY 8 - AGRA

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Well, first of all I guess I should describe the trip to Agra from Varanasi since it took a good portion of the day. We were supposed to arrive in Agra by 6:45, about 13 hours after leaving Varanasi. My wife and I both woke up around 4am, figuring we’d had a decent night’s sleep, and that we be arriving in a couple of hours. I slept better this time because I didn’t have my backpack in the little bed with me, and I wasn’t on the top bunk, but the middle, with my wife below me. Nothing went well from the time we got up. I kept looking for and expecting the “chai guy” to come by but I never saw one, even the night before. Secondly, we found out around 6am that the train was delayed at least an hour or two. Fortunately, we did have water left over or the extra hours might have been very tough. My wife knew I was looking for a chai and finally around 10am my wife heard the chai guy and bought one for me. I was spending most of the time standing at the open door watching all the goings on. We finally pulled into Agra at almost 11am, 4 hours late, for a total train trip of 17 hours!

When we left the train station, there was a mini-bus waiting to take us to our hotel for the night, Hotel Atithi. The trip was fairly long, but the streets didn’t seem nearly as crowded. We passed the Red Fort of Agra along the way, and it looked pretty cool. We were going to visit it later that day, along with the Taj Mahal. We’d gotten in so late we ended up being on a tight schedule. Hotel Atithi was probably the most modern and clean hotel so far. They had a decent small restaurant below the lobby, air-conditioned rooms (if you had your key in the holder), and even a swimming pool, which we would not be able to take advantage of on our tight schedule. The bed was very wide again, but the bathroom had a shower curtain so we didn’t make as much mess on the floor. On a side note, the room we were first assigned to had not be cleaned up at all, with the bed unmade, another unmade bed on the floor, and glasses and paper on the tables. We ended up trading with the guide, who waited until that room was cleaned up.

Our guide gave us some time to get settled in and take a shower, then we all piled into the same min-bus as before and headed to the Red Fort. A separate guide met us at the entrance, then escorted us throughout the fort with some very good information. Unfortunately, I couldn’t hear about half of it, and some of what I heard was not understandable. My fault mostly due to my hearing aids, but the guides do all tend to have heavy British/Indian accents, like you hear in the movies. The Red Fort is enormous, and more like a series of palaces. I think there must have been at least four separate courtyards, and not small ones, besides all the rooms in numerous buildings. I won’t recount the history, partly because you’d be bored and partly because I don’t remember it well. Basically, one of the “emperors” or muhalas (sp) had it built in the 16^th Century, before the Taj Mahal. The ruler that had the Taj Mahal built did live there with his three wives though. The Red Fort is a must see, if you are in Agra or even just visiting India. One caution however, they are very strict here and at the Taj Mahal about what you can bring in. No pens, pencils, lipstick, creams, cigarettes, lighters, matches, etc., etc. I’m not sure of all the restrictions, but there are many. I got lucky at the Red Fort because I’d head our guide talk about what not to bring to visit the Taj Mahal, but not that it applied to the Red Fort. Thank heavens our guide sort of pulled us through the security, because I did have cigarettes and lighter, and one lady had pens and lipstick.

When we left the Red Fort, we were taken back to the hotel for lunch and to freshen up. We only had a couple of hours because he’d already arranged transport and tickets for the Taj Mahal at 3:30pm, so we ate lunch in the hotel. Manoli ordered a Hawaiin salad, and I had the Hotel Atithi Thali Vegetarian Plate. My plate, or platter, consisted of 4 pita type breads, one crispy bread, six small tins containing yogurt, mixed veggies, steamed rice with veggies, a cold pea and yogurt dish, and 3 tins of sauces to dip my bread in. Everything was very tasty, and only 1 of the sauces was spicy, and not that spicy at that. It also included coffee and ice cream. See the photo to get a better idea of what it included. I think my plagte was only 300 Rupees. They have the same thing, with chicken added, for about 500 Rupees.

Soon after lunch, we all piled back into our mini-bus for the trip to see the Taj Mahal. Our guide restated the rules about what not to bring, so I left my whole fanny pack in our room and Manoli went through her day bag and camera bag to be safe. We had no problem with security, except the lady asking what was in the little pouch of the camera bag, as she opened it, and I told her memory cards, so she just unzipped and rezipped and waved us through. There is a rule about no gasoline-burning vehicles being allowed within 1 kilometer of the Taj, so we had to park a ways outside. We picked up our tickets, complimentary bottle of water, feet covers for the marble floors, and boarded an electric mini-bus. When we were dropped off near the East Gate, the guide asked if anyone had any of the forbidden items, and sure enough one of our ladies had pens and lipstick and another had two bottles of sunscreen and face cream, so he left them with a friend outside the gate. The streets closest to the Taj Mahal are full of souvenir vendors, along with the typical food, drink, and snack vendors. Our guide told us we had until 7pm, But we were back soon after 6pm.

We returned to the hotel, with a stop at an ATM since there wouldn’t be any tomorrow at Tordi Garh. Most of the folks went out for dinner somewhere, but Manoli wasn’t hungry, so I stayed in the room with her and ordered mixed fruit and a Coke, which the waiter brought up to our room. After eating and finishing yesterday’s blog, we both went to sleep. Tomorrow we will take a long public bus trip, then a jeep of jeeps to our next stop, Tordi Garh and the Tordi Palace Hotel.

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