Day 3- Agra

Asia
May 3rd 2010

Published: May 3rd 2010

Today we awoke at 5:30; which believe it or not, was late. We had a train to make that was headed for Agra. What is in Agra you ask; the Taj Mahal of course! We took a rickshaw through the early morning traffic realizing in no uncertain terms that we were going to be late for that train; praying that it would be late as well. Our wish was fulfilled, and we made the 'Taj Express' to Agra. The train was as advertised: crowded! We quickly realized that in our hurry to get on the train we entered the wrong car. We got kicked out of our seats by some kids and were told that a man would come and check the ticket, and realizing we were in the wrong car; made us pay a fine. After standing in the aisle of the train for two hours while vendors came through at a frequent rate; the man came. He asked to look at our ticket and Brad showed it to him. He told Brad "6,500 rupees". Brad looked at him with a confused look then he said, "450 rupees". Brad who is a master at playing possum kept giving him a

Streetview

confused look. The man sat Brad down and gave him a ticket and told him to pay 40 rupees. Brad gladly paid the man. When we got to Agra we got an all day taxi. The man took us to a restaurant so we could eat and I could change my pants; since the ones I bought were not the greatest quality and completely ripped out in my crotch area when I sat down briefly in the train. After a change, food, and some great coffee we headed to the Taj Mahal. Brad and I had the concept of the Taj Mahal that you get from pictures. We felt it was a tourist hot spot that was most likely overrated. When we passed through the gate our jaws dropped! The grandeur, magnitude, and splendor of the architecture is truly a wonder. When we left our taxi driver told us the train to Jaipur would leave at 5:40. We had some time to kill. We wanted to see Fort Agra, but he kept taking us to these real nice shops that sold things like jewels and gems. When we told him we had no interest in buying anything of the sort

Another Cow

he explained to us that he gets a commission if he brings us to these shops and we don't buy anything. We had time and felt like being nice; so we helped him by going to these stores. Brad felt bad leading these store owners on, but I acted like some hot-shot interested in buying these pieces of jewelery that are worth several thousand of dollars. I'm a part-time actor; if you didn't know. We got done with that and realized the train's reservation office was closed; so we would have to stand for four hours if we wanted to go to Jaipur last night. We opted to stay in Agra for a night and relax. Our main goal for today was to find an internet cafe and update our photos and blog, but finding a cafe with enough internet speed to upload photos was a chore. So here we are at a decent internet cafe! We will head to Jaipur tonight, and we hope we will be able to keep all of you updated on our adventure a little more frequently.
-Atma Namaste

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