agra

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so just found a cool internet cafe where i thought i'd plot up and tell you what i've been up to for the past couple of days. By the way i mean cool as in fresh not cool as in trendy! ha ha
An aircon place these days is the best!

Anyway so monday 15th aug, we decided that as Diana was starting to feel slightly better from her delhi belly, we would get back on the road, so said goodbye to our yoga school friends and took our taxi to Haridwar, normally an hour away by taxi, but not that day. It took nearly 2hrs as we just hit major traffic jams, totally chaotic situation on the roads through the jungly road to this nearby town where the main bus station was. This by the way was the first day that the heavens opened as well since we had arrived in India. Not the best day to get back on the road with our heavy backpacks, but our minds were set so we just had to deal with it and go with flow.

On arrival at the station, we just got dumped there and then we had to sort ourselves out. The buses that were parked outside did not look at all inviting and the thought of 12hrs on one of those did not appeal at all. We went inside the station to find a sea of people camping out waiting to catch overloaded trains and buses which were departing. We were told there were no trains or buses free that day and best thing was to overnight there and wait till the next day. We couldn't cope with this idea so we insisted and went out to the travel agents which lined the street outside. Here we were lucky to find one agent, who miraculously had 2 pushback seats for us on a "luxury" bus direct to Agra. Nightbus that was. We asked to see pictures of the bus but he didn't have them so we had to trust him and go with it. We had no choice it was that or nothing. We then boarded our luxury bus, to find our seats. I meaning of luxury is obviously miles apart from what we expect of luxury. During the night bus journey we paid extra to grab one sleep bunk bed which we shared, albeit it lovely and damp so really nice sleep on it, NOT!!!
The smells from the bus were enough to put you off eating for life, not to mention the stops en route to take a pee, but where most passengers just got off and either pissed or crapped around the bus or not far from it! i was looking for a proper toilet, managed to find one not far from the bus but ofcourse no paper in it. Thats normally here in india, there are toilets, but none have paper!???? so thank god i just needed a pee.
Anyway after a very bumpy long 12h journey, we arrived in Agra. By the way this was bumpier than flights with bad turbulence!

Having got chucked off the bus in Agra, we went straight to the hotel. Then the Delhi belly hit me. Felt rotten all day, fever and the rest, not to bother to mention. Only planned to be here one day in Agra to visit the Taj Mahal, but couldn't even be bothered to do that. Anyway was so ill that lay in bed sweating most of the day and night and decided to forgo the tickets we had bought to leave for jaipur this morning.

So now as we have stayed a 2nd day and i feel slightly better, we decided to head for the Taj this morning, and so glad we did. There was a reason I had to be ill yesterday, as it was rainy and i was ill and it meant we stayed today. The weather is sunny and hot today and our guided visit of the Taj by our little friend Elias, was great. It is truely a beautiful building, which was built by the king for his young wife who gave him 14 children in 19 years of marriage. She then died at 38 and that is when the Kind rdecided to build this palace in memory of her. It took 22 yrs to build and was built by 20,000 people to build it. All made in white marble and mosaics chipped out of precious stones such as jade, onix, lapidus, blue, coral etc to make the beautiful flowers patterns which engrave the walls as well as the some chapters of the koran which are signed on the walls, as the chapters of love to his wife.

So we are now off to a silk factory and then back to the hotel for a swim, as this is real luxury for us. Early night for us tonight at gotta catch our train on to Rahjasthan tommorow to our first stop, JAIPUR.

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