12/03/2010

Emer and I woke up very early today to go check out the Taj Mahal at Sunrise; we got a tuk-tuk there that was freezing cold and stuck around for over an hour. To be honest the view wasn’t spectacular because it was foggy from either or both the morning mist or pollution. The pictures I took of it it were not so great but thankfully later in the day the smag had cleared and I managed to get a few good pics in.

We walked the 5 km walk back to our hotel where on the way spoiled ourselves with 2 breakfasts. I was hoping to have a bit of a nap before having to meet with our rickshaw driver who ad organized a day trip with us for 200 rupees each at 10.30 taking us around the city to see various sites including the Agra fort, The palace where the achetect of the Taj Mahal was buried and the Baby Taj (the small version of the Taj Mahal that was built only 10 years before), he also took us to the train station for when we had to depart. The Agra fort wasn’t very good, we did bump into the French girls again and we wondered the passage ways and gardens with long faces and for 250 rupees it certainly wasn’t worth it.

Towards the end of the day I started to feel ill it was just a strong headache, probably from only having 5 hours sleep the night before and not resting all day.

We caught the train to New Delhi at 6 where I was so doped up on pain killers and sleeping pills I was out for the entire journey.

When we arrived at New Delhi it was crazy, literally hundreds of people were trying to board the train even through the windows, before the passengers wanting to get off could get off, it was nuts.

We wondered around the streets surrounding the station where all the quest house are about but all were telling us they were fully booked, it’s the same as Thailand where they say they are full so that you pay more for the pricier hotels. Annoyingly but thankfully we had a random guy try and take us to a bunch of hotels where he would have got some sort of commission, he scared us a little so we seeked refuge at a “full” hotel call white castle… we sat around the lobby till the guy left then the concierge ‘found’ us a room for 350. I took another valium before crashing and had a very good nights sleep.

Taj Mahal, HDR

Arriving at Delhi, people where climbing in through the train windows

Taj Mahal... yummy!

Emer and I, at the Taj... well across the river

monkey Spectators

Surprise! at the Agra Fort

I dont know why i paid the guy 20 rupees cause i did all the cycling

Cow shit used as fuel ... apparantly as Emer says for tuk-tuks. But also Fires

Early Morning in Agra at the Taj

Levitating again!