Agra and The Taj Mahal

We were looking forward to arriving in Agra because this is where the notorious Taj Mahal is. After a 12 hour journey from Jodhpur, we arrived in Agra late evening and stayed at Hotel Host (600 rupees - 2 nights). There was just enough time to eat, so we visited 'Johnny's Place', which is in the book, and we were glad we had. There are books that people have commented in and he's confident enough to say "if you don't like the food-you don't pay". The Malai Kofta, banana milkshake and the cheese tomato toasties are what he boasts about and he is definately right. Little did we know that we ate every meal in Agra at this place.

Next morning was the big one, to visit the Taj Mahal. an ever bigger mission for me as this was the day I try to get in for local price (20 rupees) instead of the foreign price (750 rupees). I got to the gates feeling the pressure with my local ticket in my hand but the guard caught me out. I was claiming that i was Indian from Ahmedhabad but then he asked for I.D and that is where i stumbled and was sent for the foreign ticket. I felt offended, I don't know why, maybe i was starting to feel like a local because i've been treated like one in the tourist places but this bastard weren't having none of it. Anyway after feeling a little upset about this, I had the view of Taj Mahal to cheer me up. Me and Danny walked through the main gate, along with about a 1000 of other tourists and there it hit us, The Taj Mahal. We were like giddy tourists for a while because this was one of our achievements to visit the Taj Mahal and we were right in front of it. The Palace is huge and a lot bigger then we expected. We walked around taking the necessary photos, sometimes shifting the odd indian out of the way so we can get a pic but we took our time walking around. It's unbelievable the amount of people that come here on a daily basis, they must make a killing with the foreign prices. See how i'm mentioning it more in this blog, it has cut me deep!! Inside are the tombs of Shah Jahan and his wife who he built the Taj Mahal for. Nothing really to boast about and I don't think many people come to visit their tombs. The whole design of the palace is symetrical with a mosque on one side and another building on the other, the same design as the mosque but not a mosque. You can tell a lot of money had been spent on this place with how well it is designed and how clean and perfect it looks.

The next day we spent visiting the Agra Fort, which holds a few palaces and mosques within the walls, with a huge moat (dry now) outside the walls. I got in for the local price so I felt Indian again. We walked around the fort, which was in good condition, probably because the Indian Army looking after it, with about 75% of the fort closed off for them. This took the edge away from it a little because a lot of areas were prohibited and even getting to the second floor was not allowed. After the fort, we visited 'Baby Taj', which was built before the Taj Mahal and is said that this is where Shah Jahan got his inspiration from and you could tell why. This Palace was on a smaller scale but was symetrical like the Taj Mahal. The baby Taj holds the tombs of the grandparents of the woman who is buried at the Taj-must be a rich family!! We walked around, which didn't take long, saw a couple of monkeys getting it on and then chilled on the grass for a bit before we headed back. We're off to Delhi tonight and I'm getting hungry and I dont know where to eat......................................................erm....................maybe Johnny's Place.

Agra Photo link:
http://www3.snapfish.co.uk/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=1964979011/a=2264773011_2264773011/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfishuk/