Agra has a reputation for being a giant shit hole. I think that reputation is undeserved.

On the bus I met Arif, a cool guy who just finished his exams in Jaipur. Before the next semester, he was going home to Agra. He said he was unsure of how to talk to me, as I am the first foreigner he has ever met. Hard to believe, but the "local curiosity" status I had when I lived in little Xiaoshan has followed me here. He took a selfie and sent it to his parents, which is just adorable.

Unfortunately the bus arrived fairly late, at around 2 o'clock. Ella and I wanted to see the Taj Mahal and Agra Fort that same day, and then be on a bus to Delhi around sunset. Perhaps if our bus was on time that would be feasible, but as things stood it just wasn't going to happen without seriously rushing. We resigned ourselves to stay one night in Agra, and set out to a part of town where Ella had seen a hotel online. Our tuk tuk driver was a really kind old man who spoke perfect English, was very keen to point out different places to see, and did not try for a hard sale or rip us off. Overall, I'm learning that outside of Delhi Indians are super nice.

With the first hotel fully booked, we found one about 750m away that was... fine. I'm glad Ella isn't fancy, because honestly I'd sleep in a dirt hole if it had WiFi. But this one was fine too, and within walking distance of the Taj Mahal. So after dropping off our bags, we set out.

Foreigners at the Taj need to pay 1000rs each, which is about $16 or so. Again, the two tiered pricing system, aka racism, rears its ugly head. However, I'm a little more okay with it at the Taj, because you get to skip all the queues. The lines were super long, and it wouldn't surprise me if people waited an hour to get into the grounds, and then another hour or two to see the inside. An ambitious foreigner could see the whole thing in 30 minutes this way.

Instead we took our time though, befitting of seeing a World Wonder. Of course we have a lot of pics, and I'm sure you've seen many similar ones before. But the Taj is one of the very few places I've been (the others maybe are Bagan in Myanmar, Victoria Peak in Hong Kong) where pics do not do it justice. Maybe it's just the stark contrast from the city to a suddenly open plaza, but it is quite a sight. The main building itself, the mausoleum, was built by a rich noble for his favorite wife. I feel like there's room for a joke there. Also, I wonder what his least favorite wife got?




You can take all the pics you want except for inside. And honestly, it's so dark and uninteresting I don't know why you would. It's a circular room you walk around the perimeter of, and in the middle is a large perforated screen. Inside you can barely make out two stone coffins. Apparently those are fake, with the actual bodies in the basement. And that's it. You file out through a hall. While we were there tons of people were taking photos, I guess feeling justified that they waited 3 hours to get in this darn place. I thought about sneaking some myself, but I figured I should behave myself as a representative of "Foreignerstan". A good idea too, because moments later a team of security guards started blowing their whistles and pushed me aside to start apprehending picture takers. A scuffle ensued and it just made me think this entire system is dumb. The photos they took likely sucked. And because they will add one more pic to the hundreds online, do you think someone is going to say "Oh okay. I don't want to go to India now."? Please. Let people take their stupid pics. It's going to happen anyway.

After a stroll around the gardens, we walked back on the really, quite delightful streets of Agra. With horse drawn carriages, clean streets with wide sidewalks, it's totally unlike the rest of India, albeit a bit sterile. After dinner we went back to relax and get up early for the next day.

In the morning, we stopped at the same restaurant for a quick sandwich and coffee. While we were there, a cow also decided to visit the restaurant. Pretty much an "Only in India" moment, the cow walked over and started to rub her head up against a cabinet. The owner rushed over, opened the cabinet, and gave the cow some bread like this is a regular thing. So, she ate it and left. It was pretty much the most docile robbery ever. I imagine the cow went to the restaurant next door and repeated the same. With so many vegetarians in India, apparently life here is pretty nice for cows.

We then set off to the other sight of note in Agra, Agra Fort. Ella told me this was where the builder of the Taj Mahal was imprisoned after his son overthrew him. So, listen up dads. Be nice to your son or he may make you live in Agra. But as far as prisons go, this one is pretty posh. A lot of plazas, nice architecture, gardens, etc.. It was similar to the Hawa Mahal in Jaipur or Red Fort in Delhi. Looks nice, enjoyable to walk around, but really they're starting to blend together at this point. As always we got lots of great pics. We're wearing jackets for this one because the weather actually got quite chilly, perhaps around 5-10 degrees. The sudden temperature drop made the fort was really misty, and it had a haunted vibe to it. Or it was rampant air pollution. More likely the latter.

And that was about it for Agra. A short entry this time, after the fort we got on a very, very local bus to Delhi. Another reason why Ella is great, she's fine with passing up a modern Volvo for a bus that has not been clean since it left the factory in 1850. Not surprisingly, the driver has a lead foot, and we should complete our circle of northern India in record time.