At 6:15am. we left our hotel, with rain covers over our backpacks to head to the train station. On the way, we passed India Gate, which looked beautiful in the moonlight. We arrived on the platform, surprised to find out that seats need to be booked 6 weeks in advance-but being on an organised trip we didn't need to worry about these things. 2.5 hours later, we arrived into Agra, and jumped into impressive battery-powered auto-rickshaws. First stop was the Red Fort, which was grand, the guy who built the Taj Mahal was imprisoned there for the last 8 years of his life, by his son! After dropping things off at the hotel, we excitedly headed for the Taj. Bea read us a moving poem in the sunset, to set the scene, but this was after taking a ridiculous number of photos- the quantity was impressive rather than the quality-picking it up with the finger tips etc... We also became celebrities for the day-with random men wanting photos with us, to display on their mantle pieces. Agra's actually quieter than it used to be- as the price to visit has increased to 750 I.R.s (about ten pounds), rather than the 20 rupees that locals have to pay. This puts off backpackers, because the ticket also does not allow repeated free entry, as the cheaper ticket before.
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Agra: 4th March.
At 6:15am. we left our hotel, with rain covers over our backpacks to head to the train station. On the way, we passed India Gate, which looked beautiful in the moonlight. We arrived on the platform, surprised to find out that seats need to be booked 6 weeks in advance-but being on an organised trip we didn't need to worry about these things. 2.5 hours later, we arrived into Agra, and jumped into impressive battery-powered auto-rickshaws. First stop was the Red Fort, which was grand, the guy who built the Taj Mahal was imprisoned there for the last 8 years of his life, by his son! After dropping things off at the hotel, we excitedly headed for the Taj. Bea read us a moving poem in the sunset, to set the scene, but this was after taking a ridiculous number of photos- the quantity was impressive rather than the quality-picking it up with the finger tips etc... We also became celebrities for the day-with random men wanting photos with us, to display on their mantle pieces. Agra's actually quieter than it used to be- as the price to visit has increased to 750 I.R.s (about ten pounds), rather than the 20 rupees that locals have to pay. This puts off backpackers, because the ticket also does not allow repeated free entry, as the cheaper ticket before.
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