7.17.11. 3:03PM. Day 16. The Taming of the Agra.

We left Friday night. Five of us, Mary, Rayleen, Maggie, Christian, and myself all packed in fairly comfortably into the same car, with the same driver, we had the previous weekend. The plan was to leave late on Friday night, drive through the night and arrive Saturday morning. A 10ish hour drive. We had been thinking to spend the night in Agra and come back Sunday morning but then Mayank said, "why would you spend the night and pay for a hotel? Just drive back Saturday night and be home by morning." I liked that idea. Why pay to sleep when  we could  sleep in the car and be heading back at the same time? So that was that, none of us planned on staying.

Ours was the original group who wanted to go this weekend but then three more girls wanted to go not even 4 hours before we were supposed to leave. There was a frustrating moment because 5 was a reasonably comfortable number in our car because we still had our bags to bring. Now 3 more wanted in. Luckily Mayank said no to them coming in our car. They rented another car and we ended up caravaning the whole way there.

Our driver is a good man. Quiet, but is very helpful and is always looking out for us; he is a saint compared to the driver of the other car. The other driver is a small, nippy fellow who is basically the tough little dog if compared to our bigger, mellower Great Dane. He got us lost'ish twice until our guy took the lead and never gave it back. When we finally reached the parking lot to the Taj Mahal (Ahhhhhhhhhh!) the two drivers spoke for  a while and then ours said that he wouldn't be driving back that night. We were at a loss for words, and ended up calling Mayank to have him talk on our behalf. We could see the little dog wag his finger and shake his head at our driver when he was on the phone. It seems like he was the instigator behind all of this. His group was going to spend the night because they were going to go to Jaipur  in the morning. He must have told our driver that he should spend the night too. We went back and forth on the phone with Mayank, and what was annoying was that the little dog would be the one to come get the phone and talk to Mayank before he would hand the phone to our guy. Mayank said that our driver was very tired. We said that he could go sleep if he wanted, we would  just make our way around on our own and we were planning on spending most of the day in Agra, so he could go sleep if he wanted. In the end we had to buy a room for him to sleep. It was about 8:30AM and the plan was to meet up with him at 6PM at the same place he dropped us off. Little dog was defeated, our guy got to rest, and we would get to go back home that same night.

We were at the Taj Mahal! Well, the parking lot anyway, but we got to take a camel pulled carriage ride to the entrance.
The tickets for the Taj cost 15 rps for Indians and 750 rsp for foreigners.

 The girls tried to get me to see if I could get away with passing but I declined. My major lack of language skills is the only thing holding me back from apparently being indistinguishable from the real deal. I paid the 750, totally worth every cent to see the Taj Mahal. Understandably, we had to go through security in order to get in. This was an amusing scene because in a very old building there were metal detectors that we all had to pass through. People were split into lines of men and women, and each had to step through the metal detectors, which weren't even on, and were patted down loosely by guards of the same gender.

That was all there was by way of security.

We walked into a fairly  large courtyard where we saw  that were actually three entrances, on the South, West, and North sides. The east side was were the Taj was on the other side of a grand archway. At the center of the archway the Taj Mahal was perfectly visible inside the silhouette of the archway's walls. There it was. The Taj Mahal. Just like in the post cards. It was as if it were a painted backdrop on a beautifl and grand landscape. I am trying my best to describe something that leaves me with a complete loss for words. Unbelievable. It was a cloudy day so the pictures might not have captured it.

 Nor do I think they could have anyway. I totally played my tourist card and went to town taking pictures from every angle and ones of us doing silly poses and the ones where we act like we are holding up the Taj by its point.

It became quickly apparent that people were taking more pictures and videos of my whities than normal. It is quite possible that this is because they are touristing it up too so cameras were with them at all times. Since the Taj is completely symmetrical, I got pictures from every angle rather quickly. I decided to start taking pictures of the people taking pictures of my whities. It got to be pretty fun. Often times, they smiled and posed. Other times it became evident they thought they were being stealthier than they obviously were.
We had given our driver a good 8hr window to get his much needed sleep so we really had plenty of time to be leisurely and enjoy the environment. After about 3 hours at the Taj Mahal we all began to realize just how hungry we were since we had not eaten since dinner the night before. We hired an A. Rick, somehow fitting 6 people in an, at most, 4 people vehicle, and made our way to find some food. Mayank had recommended one place and one place only to eat at while in Agra. "The best place in town," is more or less how he put it. So, after about 10 minutes or so we arrived at a very upper class, swanky establishment. Pizza Hut, in India, is at about an equal standing with such eateries as California Pizza Kitchen or BJ's. Compared to how Pizza Hut is at home, this was basically a 5 star restaurant.

Again, as in Orchard, I noted the types of people who came to eat here. Lots of foreigners and upper class Indians. I couldn't help but wonder how many of the people here thought that this is how this supposedly American restaurant chain is on its own home turf. They even had the delivery bikes. We got the 6 people meal deal, which fed us all quite nicely. It was an interesting experience, and pretty darn good food too. After this we killed some more time at the coffee shop next door, digesting in the A.C. I got a hot chocolate. We chatted for 20 or so minutes and made the plan to go to the Red Fort (Agra Fort) where Shah Jahan (guy who commissioned the Taj Mahal to be built was a tribute to his dead wife) was imprisoned by his bad-seed of a son, so that he could only just have a distant view of the Taj through a small window until the day he died. He was then entombed next to his wife in the mausoleum within the Taj. Sad story - romantic though. So we went there.

The Taj Mahal was the kind of prettier, sweeter, younger sister to the Red Fort. It had a beautiful structure and was fun for a little while, and most of it was off limits. The Red Fort was that shrewish older sister, with a nasty reputation, who once you go through the first few rough layers turned out to be quite a magnificent creature in and of itself. I found that here there were more stairs and ruins to climb, dark tunnels and rooms to run scared from (bats), and some very gorgeous architecture in the innermost parts of the massive compound.

We spent another 3 hrs here. I took lots of pictures, and again of people taking them of us. We saw all that we could and then made our way back towards the Taj because Mary and Maggie wanted to get some souvenirs. After an hour of shopping, we went back to the parking lot, found our driver, and began our 10 hr trek back to D. Dun.

The 10 hour journey ended up taking about 13 hours because we got two flat tires along the way. Our driver was awesome because he noticed before the first tire got dangerously low. He pulled over randomly and stopped in front of what was apparently a house. A whole family was sitting our front with the family dog enjoying the night's cool. When they saw us pull up, get out, and start changing the tire the men came over and one began to help while the other two insisted that the rest of us go over and sit with the family. Since Maggie and I had nothing in our hands to show that we should stay by the car, we obliged. We began walking toward the chairs in front of the house, and even though I saw it, one of the men grabbed my hand to lead me away from the big pile of cow poop in my path. He let go after we passed it. They had us sit. One of the women brought us water in open cups. We tried to tell them that we weren't allowed to drink it, but they claimed it was "mineral" water which I guess was equivalent to "clean." When we didn't drink, they insisted so I took a sip. It tasted fine. I took another, this seemed to satisfy them for awhile. Maggie refused to trust steamed rice, so she sat statue -still and basically shut down. They were very friendly and joyfully conversed with us about our travels so far. The man who helped me over the cow poop sat close to me and seemed more interested in me than in Maggie - which was something I was not used to. THis guy seemed to be in his mid to late 20s. His younger sister, late teens, early 20s, told me how Indian I looked (the 4th time someone told me this that afternoon). The guy said that he has a sister and a brother-in-law in San Francisco. That was cool. After about 20 minutes our driver motioned that they were done. Maggie and I got up to leave, and we said our thank yous and goodbyes. Maggie turned and walked off quicker, but i was only a few steps behind. The same guy as before came up to  me and walked me to the car. On the way he took my hand again to shake it but then he held on and kissed it...I thought it weird but not much more until he did it a second time. We reached the car and as I tried to get inside he came in for a hug, hand around my waist, and then tried to kiss me. Before he could, I pushed him away. He smiled and tried again, and this time I pushed more forcefully, said, " NO!" firmly, got into the car, locked the door, and never looked back. I guess I was in shock for a little while. I didn't say anything until  we again pulled over at a tire store to get another tire. After I told the others and they just found it amusing - saying that he just wanted to make me his bride or something. No thank you. I was just as bothered by the fact that the guy tried to make a move on me right in front of his family. But what ever, the farther we drove the better I felt.

At some point a few hours later we got the second flat tire and this time the driver changed it on his own. Uneventful - good. We eventually made it back home safe, sound, tired as all hell. We'd had a crazy-amazing time, but now only wanted sleep.