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We arrived in Agra last night after jumping the train from Delhi (the first of many train journeys to come!) It's completely crazy here, dusty & dirty which is pretty much what I expected & why we are only spending one day here. It's much more like the 'real India' that people go on about & it does properly stink of s***! There are touts everywhere & everyone trying to get you to take their rickshaw, eat in their restaurant, buy their postcards etc... this is what I was expecting in Delhi but we somehow managed to avoid! So was good to finally see this Indian madness! Having said all this, Agra does house the Taj Mahal, which makes it a very special place, despite the stench!
Last night was our first night of roughing it too, as the 2 main backpacker hostels were full by the time we arrived, so we ended up in the only place we could get, but for 300 rupees (around 4 quid) we couldn't complain. Vish didn't even say a word - think he was just thankful we weren't on the street! We planned to get up early to see the Taj at Sunrise & probably shouldnt have bothered setting the alarm as a pack of wild banshees (dogs) woke us at 4.30am, going completely nuts in the streets outside!
The Taj did not disappoint. It was pretty eerie wandering through the dark streets this morning, with the Muslim yodelling providing us with atmospheric background music! We got there at the best time as it was still pitch black when we made it into the grounds & it was amazing to see this giant marble palace gradually come into focus out of the mist, as the daylight started to kick in! It was everything I wanted it to be & more. At that time it was so peaceful too, apart from the Arabic yodelling, which just made it all the more special, but then of course the annoying American tourists arrived & then I remembered I was at one of the world's biggest tourist attractions. But I did have a moment there, it is a very powerful place! We also discovered that it is impossible to take a bad photo of the Taj as the marble & the reflection in the water always look amazing! It changes in different lights & it truly is the best building I ever seen & well worth the early wake up call! Of course, I did the obligatory Lady Di shot, so that & the rest of the photos will be up here soon!
After the Taj we hit Agra Fort which houses more impressive marble palaces & all that, although I'm now starting to worry that we are all Fortressed out & we still have about 10 more to see! The Fort is also where we raised our celebrity status, I had to pose for 2 photos with Indian men & we also caught numerous people taking cheeky snaps of us when they thought we weren't looking! We also had a very wierd little scarf boy stalking us for a while, we were confused about what he wanted as he just stood staring at us, but eventually he asked us for a chappati & we realised he was a beggar, not a fan. We're not sure whether this is all down to my pale skin & vish's good looks, but apparently I also look exactly like a Bollywood star called Preity Zinta, so I think this may be the real cause of all the attention! A guy in the hotel came over with a DVD saying how we had the same face & now all the boys are calling me Preity Zinta! I have actually been told this before, when we were in Goa, so perhaps this will help me on my quest to be the very first Bollywood Blonde!
Tonight we're off to Jaipur & then we're off to the Thar Desert so will send more news once we find an internet connection...
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