I am now on the train writing this while Phill snoozes,
nothing changes then!
I am trying my best not to annoy the guy to the right of me anymore than I already have by jiffling in my seat because my back and pelvis is killing me like never before unfortunately :( and there cockroaches around that keep landing on me and i am not a huge fan!!! Anyway....
Today we got a taxi to the train station to get the 7:10 train to Agra Cantt and although Sian had really put me off the whole getting a train thing in India it was fine. I don't know what all the fuss is about. Yes, it took like forever to organise the tickets from the Uk and yes the train stations are busy, that normal hustle and bustle that you get everywhere, especially the places we have already visited. I haven't found the trains any different to Vietnam, they seem to run on time ( i may change this in a few weeks time and regret saying anything!) and generally they are ok. SO, we got the train on time and headed off for the 3 hour journey to Agra. Whilst on the train I have been surprised with the amount of food choice there is on offer and at a really reasonable cost. I have suddenly taken a liking to coffee!!
I hate coffee normally but the Indian coffee is really yummy, it is sweet and milky and very moreish. Phill loves it of course! Just in our short journey there was tea, coffee, samosas, omelette, tomato soup and more, better than in England.
So we got to Agra and were hounded by rickshaw drivers.......of course we were, this we fully expected and are so used to it in Morocco that it was all good, its business and they have a job to do and we are tourists looking to get around with a few rupees in our pocket, end of!! So, we got the rickshaw of Manish, a young lad who lives with his parents, three sisters, two brothers and has nieces and nephews. He has never been to school to learn English and yet he was an incredibly clever, articulate, polite and lovely young man.
His English was better then some peoples in the Uk. He wasn't pushy and just dropped us off at the Taj Mahal and we organised for him to pick us up an hour and a half later. Now, for those of you who are used to reading our blogs by now, you know that we like to do things ourself and find stuff and be our own travel guide, get lost, end up in random places etc but we only had a day in Agra and so we decided to go with Manish all day and have him take us around a few places, so thats what we did.
The Taj Mahal is simply beautiful.
Just before Phill took this photo of me I set him a boom challenge ( bear in mind that this challenge thing was not mine in the making, it is silly and childish but very funny nonetheless) and he got his glasses out and went to stand on top of a bit of marble where you were allowed to stand and then the next thing we had three security guards speaking to us and telling us off about advertising at the Taj Mahal and just about ready to throw us out. After a little discussion and me and Phill trying not to laugh we were allowed to carry on our visit...as long as we kept the glasses in the bag. Ironic really that we were not allowed to take a pic in some novelty glasses and yet there were countless men spitting as they walked along!
It is so well kept, the grounds around it all lush and green and the marble itself has been so well restored. It is a wonderful sight and I am so glad that we were able to see it in our lifetime. It is a hard thing to look at in some respects and I don't really know how to put this. ......So far, what I have seen of India has not come as a surprise. It is rough around the edges, mostly dirty and as expected unfortunately the streets are littered with homeless people and only today on the train to Agra I was stunned as to how many men I saw crouching by the train tracks going for a poo. In Delhi they have an amazingly expensive Commonwealth stadium and then you stand and look at the Taj Mahal and it all just doesn't sit quite right in my head or heart for that matter. I know that the UK has a big gap between the very rich and those who live in poverty, i know that the gap is getting even wider and things like the government spending a shed load of money on things like the olympic games gets on my nerves also. But, here in India that gap is so visible walking around everywhere and yet the Taj Mahal sits there among the sewage, the people sleeping Inbetween the train lines and the little street kids and it is beautiful. Its a hard juxtaposition to explain really and its not like I have not been in this position before. The Taj Mahal is a little too touristy for me to be honest, its not peak season and it wasn't really busy but its just the way it is managed, the access, the touts and the army guard presence that is a bit uncomfortable, that maybe the wrong word and I don't really know how to explain it. I suppose that in some way the sense of calm, the serenity that I expected from a place that is so precious in India wasn't there for me. However, it is definitely one of those places that everybody must go and see in their life.
Gem xx
Location:Agra
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