Monday, March 28, 2005

Taj Mahal

UP at 5:00am, showered, packed and went downstairs for my 6:00am bus pickup to Agra. Another girl from Taiwan, Heather, also came down. She speaks perfect english, I thought she was American. She did live in the the US for many years. She was on a one day tour to Agra.

About 6:30, a guy came and picked us up, and we walked down a bunch of back alleys, finally emerging on a big, busy street with lots of tourist busses waiting. Buddy motioned to us to wait, while he tried to find the bus we were supposed to be on.

So, we stood around for another 30 minutes, finally he came and got us and stuck us on this bus. Her and I were the only foreigners. We both thought we were getting a tourist (backpacker) bus. A couple of minutes later, another foreigner, Soness, from the U.S., now living in Japan, joined us. The three of us foreigners sat together on the back seat of the bus.

The bus left shortly after 7:00, and stopped a few minutes later at another stop, and a German guy got on the bus. He was very unsocialable, turned his CD player on and that was about it for him.

It was a long, hot bus ride, on a bus with no A/C (we thought we were getting an A/C bus too), bad shocks, even worse cushioning on the seats, and a highway that made the Laos highways seen freshly paved.

Soness was hilarious. Very funny girl. Here are a few stories she told us.
1) When she was standing outside waiting for the bus Agra this morning, she saw me and Heather appear from the alley, me, the man, walking around like I know exactly what I was doing, I wasn't lost, and Heather, straggling about 10 feet behind me, looking like she's upset, mad, tired, and thinking "I hope he asks for directions". Soness assumed we a couple, and she thought to herself, "That couple will never make it."

She told us that story on the bus, and we started laughing hysterically. I guess to someone who didn't know, I guess maybe we looked like a dysfunctional couple.

2) Soness is single, 30 years old, and very attractive and funny. When she was in Western India (I can't remember the city now), she went to a fortune teller. The fortune teller told her that she would meet a man on the bus to Delhi, she would fall in love with this man, and she would move to Canada. What happens? She meets a Canadian on the bus from Delhi, compatible in the age range. Given different circumstances (i.e. more time), perhaps something could've happened, but alas, she was on a one day tour of Agra (like Heather...and she was flying back to Japan the following day as well), so I would probably never see her again. She thought that whole fortune teller episode was quite intriguing, especially after meeting me.

3) She told a story from her one trip her and her family made to Canada (Banff in particular). They were driving in two vehicles, through Banff National Park, her dad driving one car, her mom the other car (there were a bunch of them). Her mom saw an Exit/Sortie sign along the road. A few miles later, another one. After a few more miles, she saw a few more of these signs. Finally she remarked about how many Exit signs she had seen to a place called Sortie, and figured Sortie must be a pretty big place to have to many Exits to it. Heather, not knowing any French, didn't get it, but I was laughing my ass off.

Anyway, Heathers stories made the travel much more bearable.

We finally arrived in Agra about 12:30. Everybody filed off the bus, but the driver kept me back, because I wasn't on the tour, I was just along for the ride to Agra. He asked me what price range I was looking for for my hotel, I told him about 300 rupees, and he said he would have a tuk-tuk driver take me to his hotel, the tuk-tuk ride being included in the cost of the bus ticket to Agra. So, what could've happened between me and Soness, we'll never know. :-)

I got to the hotel, it was much nicer than the one in Delhi. AFter I checked in, I went to the restaurant and looked at the menu. EXPENSIVE! Oh well. I ordered food, and while I was waiting and eating, the hotel manager chatted me up. He told me about the tour he recommends in Agra. He told me not to go to the Agra Fort. I could take pictures outside, but I'll see much better forts in other cities in Rajasthn. He also suggested that I don't go to the Taj Mahal, because of the cost (750 rupees). Instead, my "guide" would take me to the Baby Taj Mahal, which is only 110 rupees, and pretty much the same as the Taj Mahal, only being quite a bit smaller. The Baby Taj is made of the same marble, and was built before the Taj Mahal. Then he would take me behind the Taj Mahal for a picture...I guess you can get a nice picture of the Taj from behind it. Sounded good to me.

AFter eating and hearing of the tour, he told me he would knock 15% off my restaurant charges as well. I booked a ticket to Jaipur for tomorrow, then off on my tour.

He took my down some back alleys of Agra, then stopped along the road for some good pics of Agra Fort, then of to the Baby Taj Mahal. Very interesting and fascinating. Then he whisked me to the Yamuna river for some rear shots of the Taj Mahal (it looks the same from both directions). All this time, he would advise me not to talk to the kids or locals, they just try to get money from me, etc., etc., etc. He would swat at the kids, like they were flies, when they came rushing to the tuk-tuk.

Finally, for my last stop (SCAM ALERT!), a stop at a marble factory. I sat through a demonstration of the how the marble in the Taj Mahal was manually done, why it took so long to build, etc. They showed me there wares, then the sales pitch. I did end up purchasing three small marble elphants for 500 rupees. They are very nice, will be a nice keepsake.

Got back to the hotel about 4:00, and went to my room, and an old episode of The Amazing Race was just starting. In this episode, they were flying to Mumbai, India. I just had to watch. It was hilarious to watch. It was hilarious. What I saw in the show was exactly what India is like. The part where they had to take the train across Mumbai was hilarious. The women were freaking out, "I'm being groped...someone keeps touching me" and "This is my worst nightmare". It was all very entertaining.

About 6:00, I walked outside and down the street for a bit, and saw a funeral procession. It was just like you see on TV, where they carry the dead body above their heads, with a mass of people following down the street. Interesting, but I didn't have my camera!

Back to the room about 6:30, watched MTV India for a bit, then fell asleep about 7:30.

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