India 2017, part 3 - Agra

Agra, August 10-11, 2017

The night before we left for Agra, we found out that the Taj Mahal was closed on Fridays.  After going over the trip itinerary we found that our trip to the Taj Mahal was actually scheduled for Fridays.  Now, we may have have been able to forgive the planning for the Red Fort, even though it was only about a week before Independence Day (though they probably still should have known, or advised that it might be closed in the lead-up to the holiday), but it was pretty hard to forgive them for planning a trip to the Taj Mahal on a Friday, since it's always been closed on Fridays (being a Muslim monument and all).  My best friend and her husband were irate.  So we decided we'd go to the Taj Mahal on Thursday, the day we'd arrive, instead of Friday, because that was an impossibility, and you know, it's the Taj Mahal.  We went to bed early, planning for an early start to the day so we could get to Agra as soon as possible, and enjoy the Taj Mahal.

August 10.

We woke up to the news that the engine in our bus couldn't get started that morning.  We were supposed to leave at 6 am, and we didn't end up leaving until around 11.  Apparently no one was open yet to help, and no one on the street was even willing to lend us any kind of a hand to jump the battery or even do anything to get it started until a garage opened so the battery could get jumped.  My best friend's husband was livid, and stated to all of us that "this is why everyone in India hates Delhians and Delhi in general".  We weren't about to disagree.

We finally headed down the Delhi-Agra Highway, past brick factories and vast fields.  It's a major highway that links two of the main tourist attractions in northern India, so it was paved, frequently updated, and generally seemed to be a pretty standard highway by all accounts.

The nice thing about looking at my itineraries on Google is getting to remember things like rest stops.

Frangipani/plumeria is my favorite flower, okay.

Uttar Pradesh countryside, with chimneys from the brick factories in the background.

We arrived in Agra four hours later, and our hotel turned out to be literally a kilometer from the Taj Mahal.  Like, follow-this-street-till-the-end-and-you're-there-within-fifteen-minutes close.  It also had a pool, and a direct view of the Taj Mahal.

The Taj Mahal from the hotel.  My camera has amazing zoom but still.

And, guys, let me just say.  The Taj Mahal is more than worth the price of admission and then some because it is truly deserving of being called one of the Seven Wonders of the World.  It is no joke one of the most beautiful structures I have ever had the pleasure of seeing with my own two eyes.  I really have now way to fully express in words what it felt like to be there.  I know it's like one of the most visited tourist destinations in the world, and it's swarming with people, and yadda yadda.  I normally avoid these places, or at least I try to (I've still never been inside the Sagrada Família, and I can only only be outside for no longer than maybe an hour, and that's making my way around the entire complex).  But this place...this place is worth the touristy-ness and the rep it gets for being swarmed with foreigners and locals alike.

So I'm just going to share some pictures and we'll leave it at that.

True story though, our guide (who was actually awesome) explained that just that week the scaffolding that had covered the Taj for the past couple years in order to do cleaning work for the first time since it was built (it was the first time the tools necessary for cleaning without damaging the marble was available) had been removed.  So I was actually one of the first people to see the Taj Mahal as it would have looked right after being completed in 1653.  There were still hooks in the dome that were used for aligning the scaffolding, as well as some distinct staining, but other than that, it was pretty awesome.

It was definitely great to have an awesome guide.  He'd lived in Spain, loved Spain, was trying to go back to Spain, and spoke better Spanish than he did English.  He could tell a good story, knew his stuff, and was an all-around awesome guy.  He was able to make conversation with us instead of sitting back and doing his own thing, and was actually engaging.  We were all chatting at one  point and he goes "Wait, so you're the American?  Your Spanish is amazing."  To which all the Spaniards cracked up because my best friend's family has known me since I was thirteen, and I'd had conversations with everyone else on the trip so they all knew I could more than hold my own..  He was like "I'm serious, I saw your passport and freaked out because I didn't want to have to revert to English."  The Spaniards were all like "Nah, she hasn't spoken much English on this trip at all!"  Which was true; I only really spoke it with my French roommate when we weren't using a mix of Spanish and French, or with my best friend and her husband when they were together.

Anyway, shameless self-promotion aside, he was a great guide.  Everything about the Taj Mahal was great.  Worth every penny.

Detail of the marble inlay work on one of the arches.

Inside the mosque

A parrot.

We walked back to the hotel, and we all hopped in the pool, because when you spend half the dayy practically swimming in the air, it feels amazing to take a dip in a nice clean pool.  It was tiny, but oh man.  Did it feel good.

It looks far, and maybe I'm "too European", but it's only about a mile from the hotel to the Taj Mahal.

August 11.

Due to the change of plans and switching the Taj Mahal to the night before, we could only do the  Agra Fort the next day.  It's the complex the Red Fort in New Delhi was modelled after, and even though a tiny fraction of it is open to the public due to it housing military barracks and training exercises, it's well worth a visit.

Diwan-i-Aam, Hall of Public Audiences

Section of one of the many parts of the Red Fort at Agra that is closed to the public.

Diwan-i-Khas, Hall of Private Audiences

View of the Taj Mahal and the Yamuna River

Inside the Diwan-i-Khas

The quarters given to Jodhaa, Shah Akbar's Hindu wife.

After the Agra Fort, we headed to a workshop for the marble inlay work that's the same as what was done on the Taj Mahal, where we picked up some souvenirs.

Every single chip of glass and stone is cut and polished by hand.

After we got back to the hotel, we split up.  I was starting to feel a bit off (without getting into any gory details, all the Indian food was finally starting to catch up to my Western stomach).  My best friend, a few others, and I went looking for a place to eat before settling on just eating at the hotel restaurant and taking a dip in the pool.  Others went to go off down the main road to do souvenir shopping.  Later on, some of us in the same group decided to go into the market district of Agra (Sadar Bazar) to do some shopping of our own.  We bought kurtis and Indian-style pants (I believe they're called patialas) to aid in the flow of air, as I had been wearing the same skirt for days and it was starting to get gross. I wasn't planning on it being so humid, but I would have died wearing normal pants, and I am totally not a skirt kind of person.  It was kind of on a stroke of genius and "just in case" that I decided to pack it, and boy, did I get some use of it.  I haven't worn it since, though it has been washed.  I should have probably disinfected it though, too...

Anyway, Agra was fun.  The Taj Mahal was gorgeous.  I was just very sad when my digestive system decided to rebel.  It wasn't as bad as it could have been though, that's definitely for sure.  Thankfully there was someone with medical training who'd brought along supplies, so that saved all of us, for sure.

Again, the crazy straight lines have to do with me having my phone on airplane mode. J K Cottage Industries was where we saw the marble inlay workshop.

Next stop, Jaipur.