Kyle:
We started our morning with another fabulous spread of food at The Shanti Home’s rooftop restaurant overlooking the city as the sun rose in the backdrop. The morning sky was thick with haze that nearly blocked out the sun. Bal was patiently waiting outside by the time we finished our breakfast and checked out of our room. We said good morning and thanked the hotel staff once again and were ready to start our journey to Agra. As we piled in the car with our bags, we could hear the ever so familiar sound of car horns filling the early morning air. It was only 9:00am on a Sunday, but already we could tell, the streets were crowded with cars, trucks, rickshaws, tuk-tuks, and a mixture of pedestrians on bikes and on foot pushing carts filled with a smorgasbord of items.
Anna Kristen:
Tuk-tuks made to hold three people held 12 or more, with people sitting on others’ laps and sometimes even riding on the roof with the luggage! There were cows eating from garbage piles, dogs running down the side of the road, and even an elephant carrying its rider down the highway. While most women were covered in bright, jewel toned saris, Kyle happened to see a old woman running down the street with no pants at all! Poverty abounded and yet the people continued to smile. Along the way, we made a pitstop for a snack. We enjoyed breaded cauliflower and cottage cheese bites and chai masala. When we made our way around the corner to the bathroom stall, there was a man showering in his underwear adjacent to the bathroom! Like many bathrooms in the Middle East, it was a squatter stall, complete with a unisex urinal in the floor, with no toilet paper!
We made our way through a few more towns, then stopped to stretch our legs in Sikandra, India at the Tomb of Akbar the Great. Our driver warned us not to allow anyone to give us a tour…and we thought we’d been successful…until we reached the tomb and a man just started explaining the history to us and showing us around…only to ask for money as we left!
After about five hours of driving by villages and through highway markets, we made it to Agra, home to the Red Fort and the Taj Mahal.
Kyle:
We first stopped at our hotel, The Taj Villas, to check-in, drop off our bags, and freshen up. Baal suggested to us during the drive to Agra when we should visit the Taj Mahal in order to get the best photographs. We had originally wanted to take photos during sunrise and sunset, but it seemed sunrise would not produce any worthwhile photos because of the early morning haze that plagues the sky this time of year. Anna Kristen is a bit of a photograph fanatic and seeing the Taj Mahal was the focal point of our trip, so we decided to go directly to the Taj Mahal to give us the most time for photos before the sun went down and left us in the dark.
It was already 3:30pm when we arrived at the ticket office for the Taj Mahal. With only a few hours until sunset when the Taj Mahal closed, we hurried to buy a ticket and get on the bus to the entrance. Stepping off the bus we could see the south gate entrance along with a line that seemingly continued forever filled with Indian people awaiting entrance for India’s most well-known monument. Luckily for us, we were forced to buy a ticket nearly double what the locals buy that allowed us to gain entrance through our own line both to gain entrance and once inside the gate for the main entrance of the tomb.
After all the security and and waiting in line, we had finally arrived at the destination sparking the desire for our trip in the first place. The first glimpse of the gigantic, ornate monument did not remind us of all the pictures in the history books and on all the postcards. In fact, we were rather disappointed by the crowds of people that put DisneyWorld to shame and the poor lighting because of the haze still in the air. We spent the first ten or fifteen minutes fighting off would-be tour guides who continued to harass us for their service until we just pretended they were not there.
Standing just inside the gate with the Taj Mahal a few hundred yards away across a reflecting pool similar to that in Washington D.C. at the Washington monument, we soaked in the view in silent wonderment - we were finally here! We lazily made our way closer to the base of the tomb stopping here and there to find a worthy photo-taking location. If the poor visibility was not enough, trying to get a frame-worthy picture with thousands of other people trying to do the same thing proved nearly impossible.
At the base of the Taj Mahal we noticed another long line wrapped all the way around the monument and thought about just turning around and skipping the interior tour of the Taj. Again though, our expensive tickets proved useful for entering, and only entering, the monument. We jumped to the front of the line and we immediately introduced into Indian culture. Knowing how the Indian people will squeeze fifteen people into a three person tuk-tuk and having seen the public buses and cars packed like a clown car, Anna Kristen and I should have known better or, at least, have not been so surprised when we were no longer Anna Kristen and Kyle, but instead were just part of the blob of people moving as one unit in a circle around the tomb of Emperor Shah Jahan and his beloved third wife Mumtaz. The interior of the tomb was absolutely beautiful with its white marble carvings and designs. We would have enjoyed a more private experience with the ability to stop and go as we wished instead of being at the mercy of the group. Never before have I seen such aggression by so many women to get nowhere. We struggled to stay together as we reached each bottleneck doorway and the Bernoulli effect took over with and added force by the pushing and pulling of the Indian women. During all of this, I found it difficult not to notice the sweat and smell of the people pushing up against me. Everybody had the choice of either removing their shoes before walking on the marble or wearing shoe covers. While most of the foreigners decided to leave their shoes on, the Indians, who outnumbered us ten to one, all took off their shoes. The combination of sweat and feet coupled with the constant shoving was overwhelming and a rather unpleasant experience to say the least. The sight of the sun and gust of fresh air was a satisfying relief.
With the sun creeping closer and closer to the horizon and our daylight running out, we headed back towards the entrance stopping along the way to take some photos and enjoy the fantastic view. We found our way outside thinking the most exciting part of our day was behind us. Boy were we wrong! We were waiting for the bus to bring us back to the parking lot with a large group of locals who had also just left the Taj Mahal. After missing two buses because the locals would chase down the bus and fill it past double its rated capacity, we decided to join in and anticipate where the bus would stop to ensure us a spot. We were standing right next to the door when it stopped but were quickly shoved out of the way and blocked from entering the bus by this short Indian woman who resembled a hockey player more than a Hindu. With a little bit of luck and some pushing of our own, we made it onto the bus as standees, or should I say sardines. As the bus was leaving, we noticed another bus with english writing on it full foreign tourists sitting in their spacious looking seats not being poked and prodded in every which direction. It was a long ten minute bus ride back to the parking lot where Bal was waiting for us. Immediately when we saw him, we were relieved it was over and exclaimed to him that we had survived the Taj!
Comments