Day 14 - Agra
This was the most comfortable train ride yet! I had a really good nap despite a guy across from us that I'm pretty sure I caught taking pictures of our butts. We arrived in Agra bright and early and went to check in to what we had been warned was an armpit of a hotel, but received some unexpected good news. The hotel we were supposed to be in was overbooked for a wedding so we had been transferred to their sister hotel, a three star convention centre and spa hotel. It is still not as nice as the other hotels we had stayed in, so I don't even want to know what the budget hotel rooms looked like...
We had the afternoon to explore and plans to see the Taj Mahal at sunrise the next morning. Most of us jumped in tuk tuks to check out the other sights. First we went to Tomb Obitimad Ud Daulah, or the Baby Taj, nicknamed for the architectural similarity to the Taj Mahal. The tomb was built by a daughter to honour and house the remains of her parents in 1622. Again we encountered many cheeky children looking for a quick dollar and many monkeys just chilling out.
Back in our tuk tuks, we headed off for The Moon Gardens, Mahtab Bagh. The garden was built as an oasis for the new Mogul leader of Agra. In the park many groups of teen boys were hanging out, play fighting and interacting/bothering tourists. The gardens are very orderly and symmetrical, but the key attraction is the view of the Taj Mahal across the river. Although expecting the Taj to be crowded, I was not prepared for the sight of thousands of people slowly ambling around the massive monument like a swarm of slow, disorganized ants. Holy poopburgers we are in for a battle tomorrow!
I think Agra holds one of the most apparent and startling contradictions in India. On the one hand, there are the breathtaking monuments like the Taj Mahal, a modern wonder of the world and the most visited sight in India. Here we have seen a greater diversity of wildlife than anywhere else and I bird-nerded out to my heart's content.
On the other hand, the city is the dirtiest, least developed, and poorest of the cities we have seen. We saw genuine slums and whole families living in destitution on our way to the royal gardens including children without clothing having bowel movements on the side of the road. The pollution in Agra is astounding. There is a constant haze of smog and smoke lingering. The air quality is terrible!
Our guide was explaining that before modern tourism, Agra was very poor and struggling as a city. They turned to industrial production, mainly of chemical products, to boost the economy.
Making our way slowly back to the hotel, we met up with the British couple and the Danish guy and walked to a strip of local restaurants for dinner. We chose a small, clean restaurant and found ourselves the only customers. Subsequently, the service was really good and the food was excellent. The waitstaff was excited to have tourists in and even asked to take our photo. We may be featured on a front page of a menu or ad soon, I never know what they do with these pictures...
We had the afternoon to explore and plans to see the Taj Mahal at sunrise the next morning. Most of us jumped in tuk tuks to check out the other sights. First we went to Tomb Obitimad Ud Daulah, or the Baby Taj, nicknamed for the architectural similarity to the Taj Mahal. The tomb was built by a daughter to honour and house the remains of her parents in 1622. Again we encountered many cheeky children looking for a quick dollar and many monkeys just chilling out.
Back in our tuk tuks, we headed off for The Moon Gardens, Mahtab Bagh. The garden was built as an oasis for the new Mogul leader of Agra. In the park many groups of teen boys were hanging out, play fighting and interacting/bothering tourists. The gardens are very orderly and symmetrical, but the key attraction is the view of the Taj Mahal across the river. Although expecting the Taj to be crowded, I was not prepared for the sight of thousands of people slowly ambling around the massive monument like a swarm of slow, disorganized ants. Holy poopburgers we are in for a battle tomorrow!
I think Agra holds one of the most apparent and startling contradictions in India. On the one hand, there are the breathtaking monuments like the Taj Mahal, a modern wonder of the world and the most visited sight in India. Here we have seen a greater diversity of wildlife than anywhere else and I bird-nerded out to my heart's content.
On the other hand, the city is the dirtiest, least developed, and poorest of the cities we have seen. We saw genuine slums and whole families living in destitution on our way to the royal gardens including children without clothing having bowel movements on the side of the road. The pollution in Agra is astounding. There is a constant haze of smog and smoke lingering. The air quality is terrible!
Our guide was explaining that before modern tourism, Agra was very poor and struggling as a city. They turned to industrial production, mainly of chemical products, to boost the economy.
Making our way slowly back to the hotel, we met up with the British couple and the Danish guy and walked to a strip of local restaurants for dinner. We chose a small, clean restaurant and found ourselves the only customers. Subsequently, the service was really good and the food was excellent. The waitstaff was excited to have tourists in and even asked to take our photo. We may be featured on a front page of a menu or ad soon, I never know what they do with these pictures...
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