मैंने अंततः भारत जाने का निर्णय लिया (दिल्ली/आगरा/जयपुर)

Today was the day we decided we would go see the Taj Mahal. It was a VERY EARLY start for us. I set the alarm for 05:20 so I could get up, shower and get ready before meeting the driver to take us to the guide. You aren’t allowed to take cars close to the monument so there was about a 5 minute walk to the ticket window.

The driver told us yesterday that seeing the Taj Mahal at sunrise would be best. We took him at his word. He said it would only cost ₹100 to get in.

He took us to the guide and that guide told us it was actually ₹1300 to get in. I think the ₹100 must have been for citizens. It still sticks in my throat that they charge around 10-15 times more for a foreigner than they do a local.

As we were walking down to the ticket office there were stray dogs and monkeys everywhere. The monkeys reminded me of when we were in the Batu Caves in Kuala Lumpur (you can read about that here).

I was enjoying the slow walk down and enjoying seeing the monkeys run around and the dogs just not care that they were there.

We got to the ticket office and the guide tried to take our money to buy the tickets. I’m not sure if it was obvious to him but I’m an adult and capable of buying them myself. This is what started it off for me. I wasn’t a fan of his after this.

We had to go through a metal detector and get frisked as we were passing through. They don’t allow food of any kind or any kind of weaponry or smoking paraphernalia. It makes sense since the monument is white marble and they want to keep it that way.

Once we were through here the tour started. I was just enjoying myself walking around and taking pictures. I felt rushed with the guide and this is when I never enjoy the visits. I did keep up but if I wanted a picture I would stop and take some. I thought I got some pretty good ones from the entrance.

On this part of the tour the guide was wanting to walk fast and I can understand it as he wanted us to see the Taj Mahal with the sunrise in the background.

We stopped for more pictures on the way as we had time and we had the space around us to take them. I got some of the buildings we entered through and they made for pretty good pictures too.

We carried on walking and he took us to the bench that Princess Diana sat on with the Taj Mahal in the background. He said that people often get confused with the benches and sit on the one furthers away from the monument thinking this is where she sat. She sat on the one closest to the monument and it wasn’t as busy as the other so it allowed us to get some good pictures.

We then headed away from here and to the point where we could get some good sunrise shots. We stood outside the Friday Mosque and got some good pictures (you can see those below).

We went to the entrance of the mausoleum and then waited our turn to get in. We had to put on shoe covers whilst we were inside. They do this to try and keep it pristine. The only thing that wasn’t fun was that you couldn’t take pictures inside (understandable as people would just stop and clog the narrow walkways).

The tombstones were for the emperor and his wife. The smallest of them was that of his wife. The bodies are buried underground and all you can see are both of their tombstones. They also showed us how translucent the marble was. This was pretty cool that it was that sturdy but also that translucent. They also showed – with a torch – how differently coloured the stones were in the marble. It was so ornate.

We left here and then looked out over the Yamuna river and I got some shots of that before we headed back to the entrance. The guide had left us alone at this point and I was able to get the pictures I wanted and I didn’t feel rushed.

During the walking around he told us that it took 22 years to construct the monument and around 20,000 men to do this. They had to bring the marble from Rajasthan state on elephants because of how heavy it was.

We left the monument and headed back to the entrance to meet the driver. As we were doing so, he reminded us not to make eye contact with the monkeys because they would go for us. We were also swarmed by sellers wanting to sell us souvenirs. I bought a magnet for about ₹50 and then carried on walking up to the entrance of the site. Once outside, I was accosted by others selling magnets and remembered I needed to bring some more back. He was trying to sell them to me for ₹200 each. I told him they were ₹30 inside and that I didn’t want them. He agreed to take ₹60 for two of them.

We left and went back to the hotel. I wanted to sleep for about an hour before we had to meet the driver at 10. We went up and had breakfast. It was nice to have some toast and eggs.

I went back to the room and packed everything away and just lay on the bed until it was time to leave. I’ll admit that my stomach was starting to feel a little funny at this point and I was nervous for the rest of the trip.

The rest of the trip was a drive to Jaipur. I asked the driver if we could stop at the I <3 Agra sign so I could get a picture. Ken didn’t want to get out here so I went and got the picture instead.

We left here and went to pick up the guide from before so he could take us to a sales pitch. They show you the marble craft and then take you to a room where they put on the hard sell. I’ve seen it numerous times and each time it makes me mad and I just want to be out of there. Ken declined the offer to buy anything and we left. I got my phone to check the temperature and the guide told me no photos outside. I told him I wasn’t and he proceeded to tell me 2 more times. This just annoyed me even more.

The driver told us last night to tip the guide for his time. I decided I was dropping my tip to ₹200 because of what had just happened and Ken decided to top it up. I tipped what I felt it was worth after everything. ₹200 was what I thought it was worth.

We left here and made the journey towards Jaipur.

The traffic on the way was crazy. We got stuck at a level crossing for about 10 minutes and it was just gridlock. It took us about 5 minutes to get across the tracks once the barriers had lifted.

On the way, the driver took us to another fort (yet more money for the entrance and guide).

We got out here and then went to the car park and there we had a guy ask us if we wanted a guide and then if we wanted to take the cart up to the fort. We (Ken) decided to do that and it was fun but scary.

The place we went to first was called Fatehpur Sikri. The guide was taking pics of the other people with us and he asked me and I said no. He then asked another 4/5 times and I was really irate now. Just listen to me the first time I give you an answer. That’s all I ask!

The guide was trying to rush us round here and I was happy taking my sweet time and seeing the buildings there. The person who built this palace had 3 wives: A muslim wife from Turkey, a Hindi and a catholic wife from Goa. He built each of them parts of the palace. It was cool to see what he had built different for each of them.

We saw some paintings from one of the wife’s buildings and it was cool to see that they were still visible.

We also saw a bedroom from one of the other wives. She had a 10×10 bed that was about 8ft off the ground. She had an entrance that you had to bend down to get through and she said this was her way of being respected.

As we were walking around here, our “white faces” attracted some other touts and our guide quickly told them to leave us alone. That in itself was worth the exorbitant ₹100 that Ken kindly paid.

We left here and then went to the other part of the palace that was here. This one has one of the largest gates in India. In fact, I think he said it was the largest.

We had to remove our shoes here before we went inside. They have people out the front who will take your shoes and put them in a bag and look after them for you and you pay them a tip.

We left our shoes with them and went in with another guide. At this point I was way too hot and super frustrated with the other guides of the day that I didn’t really pay much attention to him. I let Ken deal with him whilst I just took pictures and slowly followed behind.

Inside this complex is a cemetery, the Buland Darwaza gate, the Friday Mosque, and a tunnel from this fort straight to the Taj Mahal (it is about 25 miles/40km from there to here). We went inside the Holy Tomb of Hazrat Salim Chishti and had a look around. Inside here, you can touch the fragrances and cloths and then tie a string to the holes in the marble and you can be granted 3 wishes. Afterwards, you give some money and they say it goes to helping the poor. The cynic in me isn’t so sure about this though.

Once out of here we decided that we would just head to the shoes and then the carts to go back to meet the driver. As we were walking our feet were nearly burning because the ground was so hot from the 34o heat. I don’t know how hot the ground was but it was hot enough for us to want to put out shoes back on quick.

We took the cart back down to the car park and I went looking for Fanta and a magnet. I found both. I wanted to veer off to a shop where I saw the magnets but the guy who accosted Ken on the way in made us go to his shop. His magnets were ₹100 but I could have gotten it for ₹10 from another stall. I know it’s only 90p more but I don’t like feeling cheated. Oh well. Lesson learned: go where I was going to go and not let someone take me elsewhere.

We left here and then made the drive to Jaipur. It was about another 2 hours from where we were to get there and we wanted to get to Jaipur before it got dark so we could walk around if we wanted to.

The drive here was super crazy. So much traffic. So many horns. So many crazy pedestrians.

At one point an ambulance came speeding by and wasn’t very far ahead of us most of the time. Then all of a sudden the sirens went off and then back on once he saw traffic.

I’ve been sat in the back seat for this trip and the seats are so uncomfortable. I was super glad once we got to the hotel so I could get out and stretch my legs and get some feeling back in them.

The road to the hotel made it look a little sketchy but it’s actually a nice hotel. Apparently, it’s a newly built hotel so the rooms and everything else is still to a pretty good standard. It’s definitely way better than the crap tip in Delhi. Mind you, a roach-infested cess pool would probably be cleaner than that.