Agra

After a 2 day train journey from Goa to New Delhi, a stop over in New Delhi, we got a morning train to Agra.

Agra's main attraction is the Taj Mahal, but we decided to spend a few days here and see more of the city. Lucky we did, as we arrived on a Friday and the Taj is closed for cleaning each Friday. Our room in New Delhi! When we got to the station there was the usual onslaught of Tuk-tuks looking to get your business, we got in a pre-paid one and he drove us to our Hotel Saii (with roof terrace with TM views). The Tuk-tuk was not very expensive, but tried to book us for a tour of Agra next day and we had to spend the next 30 minutes brushing him off.. After this we went for a walk in the neighbourhood, to get a real India experience.

This is the girl that wanted Mariano to adopt her

Does my bum look big in this? All the goats in Agra were wearing sweater!

This was so nice, once we got out of the main tourist area and into the local's market there was people coming up to us just to talk or asking for us to take a picture of them. We couldn't believe there was no scams. All of the kids were lovely, so sweet, one girl asked Mariano to adopt her, more were just looking for pen's for school. We spoke to one kid who worked in an inter cafe each evening after school until 1pm and he earned 1000rps per month. 200 0f this went towards his school and the rest he gave to his mother to pay his way. He was 10 years old. We decided in the afternoon to go to Agra Fort (fantastic) we took a bicycle tuk-tuk and thought the old guy would have a hernia in order to get us there. You only get to see a fraction of the fort (unless you bride a willing officer!) but what you do see is amazing. We walked back into town (30 minutes) and on our way what did we see? We really couldn't believe our eyes, Free Wifi. So we had a coffee and uploaded loads of photos. One of the great things in Agra is the number of restaurants with roof terraces, we tried few all in the name of research. They weren't very expensive the one with the best views (the waiters name is Honey!) has the cheapest beer in Agra. Here we discovered something odd, most of the restaurants hadn't beer on the menu but most announced that they had some for sale (scam we thought) until we asked about it and they said that the drinks licence was 400,000rps per year and they didn't make enough money for it. So they all hid the beer (even while you drink it – napkins around the glass, drinking from a tea pot to ceramic jars).

Agra Fort

One thing to remember about watching the Taj is that they don't have any lights on it at night. so after sunset thats it. Poof! Our second day started very earl 5am, as we wanted to see the sun rise at the Taj Mahal. This is an expensive monument to visit at 700rps for tourists, but it is worth it to get up and watch the sun rise before all the tour groups get there at 9am. Remember this it is important: Get your ticket at the West Gate and not one of the other 2. When you go in head to the east side of the Taj Mahal to get the best light for sunrise. The Taj has to been seen to be believed, but as with so many of these monuments they look even more powerful from afar. After lunch that took a bus to Fatehmar Sikri. Visited monument and palace. Monument was free of charge (mosque inside) palace 260rp. The visit is a calm within the palace in comparrison to the town itself which is mayhem. In all we spent 4 hours in Fatehmar Sikri before making it back to Agra for sunset.

Checked out from Saii and moved to Lucky's. It turned out to be a little bit of a disaster day. Walked as far as Agra Fort and visited the Mosque right behind Agra Fort Station. Crossed the river using the train bridge (just like in the movies) and started walking at the other side of the river, great views of the Fort and saw how they were doing their laundry at the river and drying their clothes. When we arrived to the monument across the river we realized we hadn't taken any money with us and had only 30 rp left. A tuk tuk driver offered us to bring us back to the hotel and pay him there (an offer we could not decline cos we had to walk back at least 11km). Arrived back to the hotel and went for lunch, order noodles chow mein, it took ages and was disgusting (noodles were like fried piece of wood and the sauce was awful) paid and went to the restaurant across the road, where we had a coffee and a lassi. Met two canadian guys and were chatting with them for a while and saw the sunset over the Taj. The room we got at lucky's turned out to be another little disaster on its own too, the window over the door didn't close and the one over the bathroom's door either. Had to ask for an extra blanket. The next morning we were up very early to get the train to Jaipur (running across train tracks, jumping the people asleep on the platform...) when we got on board the Canadian guys were there as well and off we went to the pink city.