Agra (Taj Mahal)

We took the Taj Express train at 7:15a to Agra, and arrived there around 10:30a. I had chosen that train because I'd read that it was very nice. My Uncle told me that it used to be but was no longer, but I thought it was worth a try. He was right, it was just a normal Indian train. I should stop believing everything I read in tourist books, but then, how else do you know? In the case of India, I should trust my family, so again, I live and learn.

As I've mentioned before, we're constantly approached everywhere by people selling goods or services, and in similar fashion, we were approached at the train station by a man offering his car services for a set price. I decided the price was reasonable enough and took him up on it since we did need a means of getting around the town. M lets me handle all these things here simply because I can speak Hindi, and he sometimes has trouble with the accent/volume even if the other person speaks English.

We headed to The Taj Mahal first, of course! The "foreigner" ticket at all these sightseeing places is quite outrageous compared to the "Indian" ticket, and would you believe I have to pay the foreigner price? I don't mind too much simply because I hope the money is helping the place be maintained/restored, and these are historical monuments that have been around for centuries, and I'd like for them to continue to be around. At The Taj Mahal, our tickets were 750 Rupees each, vs. 20 Rupees for Indians! Anyway, after waiting in line for about 30 minutes, we cleared security and went in. I was as 'wowed' as I was the last time I was here (in '95, with my parents) + I think I'm retaining details far better this time than I did the last time I saw some of these places. M said it was impressive, but he wasn't 'wowed' as he expected to be; I'd argue that's because the place is very hyped, and it's hard for an archetype to live up to that. He also says he is jaded because he has seen so many other amazing works, that this just becomes one of them. Please don't let his lack of enthusiasm convey to you that it's not worth seeing. It truly deserves its spot as one of the 7 Great Wonders of the World!

After that, we went to eat lunch. We did not appreciate the driver/guide clearly leading us to a restaurant where he probably got a kickback, and it was clearly a tourist trap, so we left and asked to be taken elsewhere. We enjoyed a nice meal at a normal restaurant and then continued sightseeing. We went to the tomb of Itmad-ud-Daulah (known as the mini-Taj), which was neat, and then went to the Agra Fort, by which M was wowed!!! He always surprises me; he was wowed by this place due to the sheer enormity of it.

At this point, it was sunset, so the attractions were closed, and there wasn't anything major left to see in Agra anyways. We were pissed that the driver/guide insisted on taking us to a couple of shops (probably also places where we would get commissions), but we went along with it to kill time, and didn't purchase anything. This is the kind of crap that really makes traveling in India not fun, but the sights are worthwhile so you put up with it.

We decided we'd rather be dropped off early at the train station than deal with any more of it, and then took the train back at 8:30p. The Shatabdi train we took back to New Delhi was much nicer (again, my Uncle was right!), and we got back in 2 hours. I'm disappointed that M didn't get to see Fatehpur Sikri, a nearby place of great historical significance, but we simply did not have enough time in our day-trip. He's not perturbed by this too much, figuring that we'll be back in Agra in the future, either with our kids, or with his parents.