Sunday 5/4/2008- Tuesday 5/6/2008
It didn’t take very long into the train ride to realize that the SHTBDI trains are much better than the INRCTY trains. We didn’t get a free bottle of water and breakfast and the seats were not as comfortable. We did have air-conditioning, though… so the 5 hour train ride was not that bad.
The trains of India really give you a good view of the cross section of the Indian people. You see the less wealthy ride in the non air-conditioned second class (including people hanging off the sides and cramming into the cars) while the wealthy ride in seated class with AC. Either way a huge percentage of the population of the country relies on train travel to make their way around their country. The things you get to see on the train are really unbelievable… and Katie was slightly embarrassed when she realized that all of the people squatting by the side of the train are not praying….they are going to the loo.
We arrived in Agra more or less on time and felt like cattle at the mart as we squeezed our way out of the station. To say the scene at Agra rail station was chaotic would be an understatement. On the outside we found a tuk-tuk driver who we negotiated the fare for a price to our next home, The Trident Hotel. The drive to the hotel was crazy, even by Indian Standards. The road to the railway station was jam packed with big buses, tuk-tuks, motorcycles, cars, cows, large trucks and people. All of the aforementioned entities were in a sea of randomness. People walked in between tuk tusk, which weaved their way around cars, who avoided the large tourists buses who gave way to the lorry trucks.
We were a bit surprised we didn’t see any get run over or into before we arrived at our hotel. The Trident used to be a member of the Hilton brand of hotels and when we say “used to” we mean as of THREE days ago. Yes, the Trident and Hilton Hotel chain decided to part ways 3 days before we got to India, which meant our Hilton Gold Status meant absolute squat here….and we are pretty sure they were all smirking for that very reason.
The hotel was nice and relatively cheaply priced, though, so it didn’t bother us that much. After checking in and dropping off our stuff, we made our way to the pool area to play some ping pong (Dermot won 2-1…but Katie put up a good fight) and then take a dip. We had lunch at the hotel’s restaurant and then lounged around our room until night time.
For dinner, we went to “Only Restaurant” which was very good. The highlight of dinner was when the Japanese couple sitting next to us tried the rice pudding and told us that it tasted like medicine. After dinner we stopped at a crafts shop, because the driver told us that he gets a 25 rupee commission if we go in the shop and look around for a little bit. (gotta love working the system)! The shop had some nice wood carvings, but they were priced way too high for our liking, so we didn’t buy anything. Back home, we used the expensive Internet connection to try and book a stay in Goa and most importantly to wish Katie’s sister Jorie a Happy Birthday!
We arranged our 5:45am pick-up to take on the city of Agra. Our first stop was the ever- infamous Taj Mahal….for $18.75/per ticket (you have got to be KIDDING ME?!) it just further rubbed the absolute gluttony and wealth in the faces of the not as fortunate Indian People. To top it off, you aren’t allowed to bring your tour book into the Taj, so that they make you rent a tour guide. Out of principal, we toured on our own. (take that!)
We’re very surprised to find that a country deeply rooted in religion and spirituality is surprisingly dishonest when it comes to treating their tourists. The “touts” (people on the street attempting to ‘help’ you…) have no problem asking for unfair prices from naïve tourists; moreover, we find having to fend off unwanted sales pitches extremely exhausting.
Sorry, off our soapbox… the Taj really is a sight to see. You can hardly believe that one man (not really any man…the Raj) built this for his wife….who died birthing his 14th child. However, birthing your 14th kid?... you deserve a monstrosity of a mausoleum like the Taj. Built on the Yamuna River, it is made of all white marble, which is really less white up close and personal. The most impressive features are inside the Taj, as the walls are adorned with semi-precious stones made to look like flowers. And in the poorly lit space, they look as though they are jumping from the walls in life-like beauty. Some even claim they can smell them from their lifelike beauty….but little does he know its the women next to him attempting to cover her perfuse sweating from the 100-110F heat.
Our next stop was off to the Agra Fort, where we realized that we had to spend yet another large sum of money to see an old Fort of the Raj. The view of the Taj was worth the admission price alone—and it was pretty eerie to learn that the Raj was held prisoner by his son for eight years before his death. Stories claim that the Raj was so depressed after his wife died, that he was never the same person again, and he would stare out at the Taj Mahal everyday and long to be reunited with his wife. What a love story.
Derm and I found ourselves officially Fort’ed out, and we headed back to our one and only splurge in India to take advantage of the pool and nice amenities of the hotel. After napping and relaxing, we headed out to find Internet access and a bite to eat. We were intrigued with the no-meat menu at McDonalds, so we had a McVeggie burger as an appetizer. We must have tipped our tuk-tuk driver well, because he came running when we left the hotel’s gates… he took us to a very tasty Indian restaurant before we hit the hay.
We decided to have our last splurge with breakfast in the room at 4:30am…before we caught our tuk-tuk driver at 5:15am to the train station back to Delhi.