Day 3: Trip to Agra

First of all, I want to apologize for taking so long to post.  I have been so busy, and gotten so far behind that it has taken me a while to get caught back up!

On Wednesday, we spent the entire day traveling to, visiting, and returning from Agra, India to see the Agra Fort, and most importantly, the Taj Mahal.  Agra is about four hours away from New Delhi, so we left at about 9:30 to ensure that we would have plenty of time in town.  Along the way, I learned the first rule of India: you pay for everything.  As we stopped for a restroom break, we found the bathroom guarded by a local.  As we left, he provided us with towels to dry our hands, and, of course, expected a tip.  Since then, I have found that only in nice restaurants or hotels will you find bathrooms without someone asking for a tip.

At the same rest stop we found something else more interesting: monkeys.  There were several caretakers with monkeys, and even one kid with a cobra.  We stayed away from the cobra, but when the monkeys didn’t try to bite us, we let them climb on us before we continued on our journey.  Surprisingly, the monkey was very light and did not scratch or hurt at all.

I think he liked me

Just before we reached Agra, we stopped at McDonald’s to get a snack to hold us over until after we visited the Red Fort.  I can confirm that McDonald’s fries taste the same, even in India.  Fun fact:  Many people in India have never used a drive thru, so when going through the drive thru, everyone is given a guide that explains how to use it.  This is apparently even more of an issue in China, where they often have to have someone stand out front and explain the system.

We finally reached Agra and headed to the Agra Fort.  The Agra Fort was built in 16th century by the Mughal (Muslim) Emperor of the day, a couple decades before the Taj Mahal was built.  The fort was very impressive; far larger than either Greg or I expected, as it is more a walled city rather than just a fort.  Most of the fort is built with red stone, which gave it a very striking look.  There are dozens of buildings inside the massive walls, all of which were in very good condition.  From the top of the fort, we could see the Taj Mahal in the distance.

The massive walls from the outside of the fort.

This building was right at the entrance of the fort.

Whereas this building was completely enclosed in the fort.

After touring the Agra Fort, we went in search of lunch, and what we found was Pizza Hut!  The interior of the building was much nicer than that of a stateside Pizza Hut, and the food tasted just about the same, despite our reservations.  There were, however, some interesting toppings for the pizzas, such as miniature corns, and paneer (Indian cheese cubes).  I stuck with normal pizza.

Afterwards, we headed to the Taj Mahal.  The Taj Mahal was built in the early 17th century by a Mughal emperor as a tomb for his favorite wife.  Around the Taj there are three smaller structures built for the emperor’s not-so-favorite wives.  The entire structure is made of intricately craved white marble, while the other three are built of red stone.  After seeing it in so many pictures, walking up towards it feels like you are in a picture, and though one expects it to be large, the sheer size of it is incredible.  The base alone is more than one story high.  Being made of marble, the weight of the building must be astronomical.  Photography was not allowed inside, but there is a large main chamber with the inside of the dome and a replica of the underground tomb.  Our shoes had to be covered on all marble, so both inside and around the Taj we had them covered.  I was somewhat surprised by the low number of foreigners.  I had assumed at a large portion of the visitors would be foreign tourists, but probably less than 5% actually were.  The local tourists do like to take pictures with foreigners, however, and either Greg or I was asked for a picture several times.

The Taj Mahal

It's not that heavy after all!

Greg gazing at the sheer size of it, amazed such a thing could be built four hundred years ago.

We hung around Agra for the next few hours before heading back to see the Taj under the full moon.  Nighttime viewings of the Taj Mahal are only offered around a full moon, and are much more restricted.  Our group had less than fifty people in it, meaning everyone got a clear view.  Security was very high, for some reason.  There were around one hundred guards, and they had cleared the street in front of the Taj.  This street is normally packed with people trying to sell something to every tourist that passed.  Walking down a road without cars or people made those few minutes the quietest we have heard in India.  When we got to the Taj itself, everything was very dark.  The moon and the fading sunset were all that lit the massive structure.  As our eyes adjusted, we could see the Taj better, and it certainly looked very neat, though getting a picture was nearly impossible.

This was the best I could do in the low light.

After a peaceful viewing of the Taj, we started back to our hotel, four hours away.  By the time we got in at one o’clock, we headed straight for bed, as Greg had to get up and fly to Bangalore the next morning, leaving me to tour New Delhi on my own.