Agra

The day before yesterday we caught the train to Agra. For me the journey to the station, and waiting on the crowded platform, was particularly strained because, inevitably, I contracted a thankfully mild case of what they call "Delhi Belly". I won't go into details.
Watching the other trains coming and going, the economy class carriages were full to the point of (literally) overflowing. People were crammed into the entrances so that they were hanging out of the doorways...there were even some kids hanging on to bits of the outsides of the carriages. Inside it was crammed, but the stuffiness was allieved somewhat by the windows just being holes in the carriage with bars across! The trains don't go incredibly fast, but they are remarkably long. Really, really long.
When our train arrived, we strolled up to our carriage. We weren't in economy, thankfully, but 2nd Class AC, which gave us a couple of bunks in a compartament of four, sharing with two -thankfully polite and reasonably un-starey- Indians. The AC was a godsend!
Agra was only three hours away.

Our hostel here is quite nice - we have a room with a view of the Taj Mahal, which is brilliant, and from time to time you can also see monkeys hopping around on the rooftops. The shower is awful, and by now we've given up on the prospect of hot water, but apart from that everything's fine.
Agra itself is a lot like Delhi. Slightly cooler because it's not in an urban heat dome of smog and pollution. There's few main roads, which means that auto-rickshaw rides are even more manic, and you see more cows, dogs, goats and monkeys on the streets (actually, the monkeys don't come down much).

So anyway, that's Agra. Yesterday, we got up early to catch the Taj Mahal before the heat of the day. Getting in was fun - once you've faught your way through the tour guides trying to get you the hire them, and the other people selling tourist stuff, and the rickshaw drivers still, inexplicably, trying to persuade you to get a rickshaw away from the place, you have to pay 750Rs (about ten pounds) to get in, if you look like a tourist. Otherwise, it's 20Rs, about 30p.
Still, you can't come to India and not see it!
It's exactly like I imagined. The outer walls and buildings that you see first are beautiful too, all made of red sandstone. After walking through a large, central arch, you see it for the first time, at the end of the long twin paths and the stretch of water in between. We took a few pictures, and strolled down towards it. First of all, we walked onto the raised sandstone platform that sits underneath the Taj itself and the buildings on either side. The one on the right is a mosque, and the one on the left is there for no other reason than to make it symmetrical! We looked at this one first, and then walked round the back of the Taj and into the mosque (taking our shoes off, of course). The mosque and supporting building are not so widely known, but they're executed with the same attention to detail, and they're impressive buildings on their own.
Then we walked up the large marble plinth to the Taj Mahal. One thing that you don't see in most of the pictures is the detail in the marble edging, and the patterns cut into the rock. From close up there's lots to see. There are flowers and leaf patterns, and lots of calligraphy (in Hindi, of course). We walked all the way round. We ambled inside. It was surprisingly dark and echoey, and much smaller than I thought (although we could only go in the central chamber). There was the same decoration all over the inner surfaces, and the screen separaring the tombs were ornate. There's two tombs, the tomb of Aurangzeb's wife, and then Aurangzeb's tomb, which sits to the left, the only unsymmetrical part of the building. Apparently, Aurangzeb was arrested shortly after the completion of the Taj Mahal, and imprisoned in Agra Fort...he spent the rest of his days there, gazing over at the resting place of his wife (you'll see why I mention this in a minute).

We wandered back, taking a slightly different path through the gardens, watching the squirrels.

It was a good job we went early, because it rained heavily in the afternoon. We stayed in our room and watched the drip from the roof, and the monkeys sheltering from the rain outside.

Later in the afternoon, when the rain had subsided, we went to see Agra Fort. Again, we had to fight our way in, but it was large and peaceful inside. We wandered round, reading the signs and looking at the monkeys and parrots. We saw the (fairly luxurious) chamber where Aurangzeb was imprisoned by his son, looking out over the Taj Mahal. There's a good view of it from the fort, across the river.

I'd like to say more, but we've run out of time at the internet cafe! This afternoon we take the Rajdhani Express south, for 28 hours (in first class AC!) to Bangalore.

Take care!