Agra (the city of the Taj Mahal)

Yesterday, we drove five hours from Jaipur (known as the "Pink City") to Agra, thus completing our visit of the "golden triangle." The "golden triangle" consists of three cities which are major tourist attractions - Delhi, Jaipur, and Agra.

We arrived in Agra early enough last night that we were able to experience the Taj Mahal at sunset. We woke up early again this morning to witness the Taj before all the tourists got there. Both times were majestic. The Taj changes colors depending on what time of day it is. It is more magnificent than anything we could have imagined. Photographs cannot do it justice (still, we will be including photos on a later post.....)

Today, after returning from the Taj Mahal and taking a much needed rest at our hotel's pool, we visited the fort where the king who built the Taj Mahal was imprisoned by his son in a coup d'etat. Our tour guide seemed to have his own plans for the rest of the day - to take us shopping us thus keep us from witnessing the poverty is the city. Everytime we suggested going into a market, or just simply getting out of the car and walking around the city, we wound up at another speciality boutique. Fortunately, we were cheap and refused to shop just for the sake of it.

When we got back to the hotel, we were told that the overnight train that we will be taking to Varanassi later this evening is delayed by four hours. This gave us the opportunity to explore on our own. The poverty here is intense! It's much more blanant here than in the other cities we visited. This might be, however, because our tour guide have been careful to shelter us. We are a little bit relucant about having to spend so much time at monements and in the car, but we also felt how dangerous it was us as American women to be walking through many of these areas. Whenever we get out of the car (or even, at times, when our driver stops at an intersection) we are assaulted by beggers tapping on our windows, pulling on our clothes, or grabbing our arms.

The temperature here is excruciatingly hot. When asked, tour guide nonchalantly remarked that it must be about 40 degrees centigrade (aka about 111 degrees Fahrenheit). Unbelievably, everybody in the city continues to wear long shirts and pants without complaining. We are wondering what's up with this non-existent monsoon season. Thus far, we have only gotten caught in one short rainstorm.

There is much more to say, but not enough time on the Internet. We cannot wait to talk to all of you back in the states.

With love,
Barbara and Rachel