After our dramatic tour yesterday with the incompetent bandit Bob, we were more than ready to leave Delhi. To be honest, we never really had any intention of visiting North India to begin with, but our friend Jayson guilted us into going. One cannot go to India and not see the Taj Mahal. Nadine and I have seen the Great Wall of China, Colosseum in Rome, Eiffel Tower, Statue of Liberty, the Lost City of Petra, Jerusalem, and many other famous world landmarks. We had to add the Taj Mahal to this list.
This would be our first train ride in India, and we were prepared for it. It was a struggle just to acquire the ticket, and we were prepared to clash with anyone who stood in our way of getting ours seats and making it to Agra. The physical altercations to alight the train was 10x worse than anything we had seen back home in Israel, or even in China. Because Nadine is small and shifty, she masterfully weaved her way through the crowds of people and claimed our seats before others could. With two benches for three people on both sides, things were about to get packed. Fortunately, the top sleeper bunk was vacant, so Ben climbed up and squeezed his frame into the cramped space.
Directly across from our bench were two Estonian women traveling for a month in India. We would encounter them again several times later on as well.
Upon our arrival in Agra, we were swarmed by taxi drivers, most of whom simply owned private vehicles and weren't licensed or registered. 10-15 minutes of haggling resulted in a 50 rupee tuk tuk ride into town. Less than a buck for a 3 mile ride. We were dropped of 200 meters from infamous Taj Mahal.
Our first mission was to get some grub. Traveling sure builds up our appetites. Any time we visit a new store in a new city or foreign country, it is important for us to have one or two references items of which we are familiar with the price. It helps to gauge where a store or restaurant is cheap or expensive. In India, we use naan, the local bread. It should cost about 30 rupee. Once we found said naan, we settled in a hole in the wall and dined on Bengali Thali and Masala Dosa, for a bill of $2 US total.
Mission number two was to find accommodation. The town of Agra is centered around the Taj Mahal. Look no further than 200 meters in any direction and one can find hundreds of hotels or rooms for rent littering the streets. The quality of each no better or worse than any other. We settled on a place two minutes walking distance from the west entrance to the Taj compound, where we would enter in the morning, as indicated on our tickets we purchased online. Originally quoted at 1,200 rupees for a non-AC room, Nadine bargained the price down to 900 rupees. Score!
Since our tickets were for the following morning, the rest of afternoon/evening was spent zigzagging through the streets of Agra, dining at the hotel restaurant (where we saw the Estonian women again) and heading to bed early. The gates opened at 5:45am and we had every intention of being the first ones on the inside in hopes of getting an unobstructed view of the iconic building during sunrise.
Sleep did not come easy again, since the room was inhabited by fruit flies, who seemingly multiplied tenfold during our brief stay. When a room cost $11, bugs can be expected. On the other hand, we have realized paying more money does not necessarily result in a bug fee room, so why pay more anyway?
The alarm rang at 4:30 am, well before the sun came up. By 4:45 we were standing at the west entrance. Aside from the security guard, not a single soul was in sight. By 5:00 almost hundred people stood in line, with yours truly first in line, arms hanging over the gates, smiling in anticipation of seeing another New Wonder of the World.
The alarm rang at 4:30 am, well before the sun came up. By 4:45 we were standing at the west entrance. Aside from the security guard, not a single soul was in sight. By 5:00 almost hundred people stood in line, with yours truly first in line, arms hanging over the gates, smiling in anticipation of seeing another New Wonder of the World.
The number of visitors to the Taj Mahal is limited to 40,000 guests per day. According to the manager of our hotel, this number is reached daily. On October 8, 2019, we were the very first people to walk through the door.
An odd feeling comes over you walking through the premises, almost as if we had been there before. Countless times in our lives we have seen pictures and videos of the Taj Mahal. As beautiful as the structure is, physically being there is somewhat anticlimactic. The beauty is astonishing and overwhelming, but the feeling of being there is not so much, if that makes sense. Also, while the view is spectacular from afar, up close, the building itself is not much to look at. Neither of us have any sort of architectural design expertise and don't profess to know anything about interior design, but the Taj Mahal building is....boring.
Two hours of admiring the view was enough. The hotel breakfast of onion dosa and paneer Uttpam gave us fuel to face our next task, another daunting train ride, this way more than double our first ride.
We spent some time downloading books and movies, knowing the 5 hour ride would be a killer. First we needed to actually get to the station, which is a journey in and of itself.
Along with the entry pass to the Taj Mahal, included is a bottle of water, shoe covers, and a free golf cart ride to the Agra Fort, the second most visited site in Agra. The fort is next to the train station, so we figured we would basically get a free lift to the station by way of the shuttle to the fort. Of course, of course, of course, in typical Indian fashion, there is always something hidden. The shuttle does not take you to the fort, but drops people off literally 3 kilometers away, thus forcing tourists to take a taxi or a tuk tuk the rest of the way. Keep in mind that this Taj Mahal package is sold directly from the government tourism, meaning that this mini scam has the seal of approval directly from the top. Out of principle, we decided to walk the 1.5 miles. We would rather punish ourselves by walking in the heat with all of our bags than pay $1 to these bandits. Rebels!
Outside of the train station, there was some sort of celebration with music and colorful powder. Somehow the two of us got caught up in the mix and had an impromptu dance party in the middle of the street. We would elaborate further but truly we have no idea what was the purpose for the festivities, vut
On the train to Jaipur, coincidently we sat next to the same Estonian women from the ride from Delhi to Agra. We had a new partner as well, a Russian girl around our age. Our assigned seats were currently occupied by other passengers, so we took available seats next to our old friends, whose original seats were also taken by Indians. About two hours into the drive, an elderly Indian couple alighted the train and requested to sit in the seats Nadine and I were in. At this point our two seats had been taken by a family of five, so we simply refused. Each bench had three seats; and in the sixth seat, the middle seat across from us, sat an Indian woman who continuously touched Nadine with her bare feet, and at one point tried to put her foot on the bench in between Nadine’s legs in the crotch area. She was a shifty woman. Also she was woman spreading and sitting Indian style (no pun intended!).
When the elderly couple tried to boot us, our Indian foot toucher protected us and told the guy, in English, that all the seats were occupied and he could sit on the edge of the bench if he so desired, thus relocating Nadine and Ben in new middle seat. This brief but mildly intense scrum continues for several minutes, with the conversation switching to Hindi. The end result was the elderly man took the Indian woman’s seat, and she sat on the edge, rubbing hips with Ben.
Another man appeared in the scene, the Indian father of two children who was currently located in our original seats. He also had nowhere to sit. He took the initiative and walked all the way to front of the train to summon one of the conductors to come sort out the issue. Twenty minutes later the father returned and informs us that the ticket checking conductor was ill. For sure this wasn't true, but why would he want to deal with our non-AC, peasant car drama.
A bit later on the ride, with about one hour until we were scheduled to arrive in Jaipur, the train stopped dead in the middle of the tracks. Why? God one knows. There wasn’t a station in site. There was no announcement, of course as there was no PA system. The train was inexplicably immobile for about two hours.
The train ride ended up being over six hours long. The best decision we had made all day was to download movies and shows.
** Shout out to Ann and Salo, or whoever pays for the Netflix account we use :) **
By 18:00 we were in Jaipur, the third city of the Golden Circle, the touristy circuit of North India. At this point, after the crappy hotels, our expectations of our first Indian AirBNB was very low. Rather than haggle with the taxi drivers, again we chose to walk the 2km. If nothing else, we were getting our cardio in.
The AirBNB was perfect. The place was cleverly decorated, fast wifi, and comfortable beds. Electricity worked. Running hot and cold water. The host was a well-spoken, educated entrepreneur. Finally we could rest easy.
There was one thing we had to do before getting our first good night sleep in India: Eat.
It occurred to us that we hadn't had a meal since 8am and we were starving. After one week of exclusively Indian food, we needed a break and McDonald's never looked so good. Because India is predominantly Hindu, the cow is sacred, so a beef burger was out of the question.
Rather than going home, we made a pitstop at a local festival to celebrate the ending of the Hindu holiday Dussehra that was ending that night. We watched in amazement as the locals burned an effigy of the Demon King of Lanka, Ravana, and two other Hindu gods, or maybe his disciples. Without fulling understanding what was happening around us, but we had loads of fun!
One hour later, our miraculous run of nearly a week without getting sick ended in dramatic fashion. Ben spent the majority of the night, and multiple times in the middle of the night, sitting on the porcelain throne :/
INDIAN HEALTH TRACKER
Diarrhea-free Ben: 0 days
Nadine: 5 days
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