Birthday 1

12.10.11

We left the guesthouse and swiftly as possible and boarded the train to Agra which was only 2 hours 50 minutes. We were both very excited at the prospect of seeing the Taj.

When we got to Agra we got in a rickshaw the East gate of the Taj Mahal, where we found easily the guesthouse Shila. Where for once we got lucky-theyhad one room available and it was lovely - very clean and peaceful. We had lunch in the courtyard garden and then were told (by our guesthouse and tourist information that from the West gate we could get a free bus to Agra Fort. So we navigated our way around the wall of the Taj to the West gate where we could see the buses. There was no obvious signs to say where they were going or a booth or anything. After a few minutes we spotted a driver so we asked him and he shook his head and

said to wait 10 minutes. So we sat and wait, in the meantime we were constantly being hassled by rickshaw drivers. So I went and asked a group of policemen, they said there was no bus and pointed to a bunch of uniformed that guys that worked for the Agra development department, lounging on large go-carts. So I asked them, they said, 'No bus' but we could pay them to take us. In this time we had seen several groups of Indian tourists being shepherded on to buses and driven away. Eventually we asked the first bus driver again and this time he told us there was no bus. We realised that no one was willing to take us for free even if there was supposed to be a free bus.

We decided to walk up the road a bit as we didn't want to give any business to the drivers that have been continuously hassling us even when we repeatedly said no. And a bit further up the road we negotiated with a cycle rickshaw driver. he took us through a grand park up to Agra Fort.

At the entrance to the Fort we got our first glimpse of the domes of the Taj. It was suprisigly big even 4 or so km's away. Inside the walls of the fort there were good views of the Taj further up the river. The fort is remarkably well preserved built of red sandstone with several marble arched structures inside. Emporer Shahjahan, who built the Taj as a memorial to wife, apparently died here supposedly gazing at his tribute. He was imprisoned here by his son, who had succeeded him. Although most Historians now agree that the 74 year old probably died due to all his drug taking and sex!!

We decided to walk back to the East gate through the park. It was lovely because we didn't get any hassle! When we got to the East Gate we continued up the road away from the Taj to a nature walk along the side of the river. By this time it was close to sunset, so we found a viewing spot at the top of a hill to watch. Unfortunately you couldn't quite see the Taj and the sun at the same time, but we got the gist and the sky was beautiful.

It is Martin's birthdat so to celebrate we had decided to postpone his birthday to the next day when we were actually going to the Taj and then we booked a posh hotel for the evening. So tonight we just had a nice meal in our hotel and got an early night so we would be up before sunrise the next morning.