Friday Nov 11 2011 9:00 pm
Another thing to add to my list of unexpected positives about India, is how easily we seem to be able to get internet! I’m finding it really wonderful to still feel connected to home. And being able to share my travel reflections with loved ones makes the hard stuff feel more bearable and the cool stuff feel more awesome!
This is what I dreamed India would be! I am in LOVE with Agra!
Only a three hour train ride here which I really enjoyed. We got a very interesting view of the country as we hustled by.
The trains are, well, they are hard to explain to someone who has not experienced them. They are cramped. The stations certainly make up for any lack of foul odours we’ve encountered in other places. Actually they are much better than I expected they would be. Although I have not yet had to use the ladies room and I hear that is an experience all to itself.
Back to Agra. A rickshaw from the hotel was arranged to pick us up. There’s a lot of scamming at these big tourist destinations. Apparently, drivers will often take you to a more expensive hotel, than the one you booked and make up some story. They get commission from the hotel expensive hotel for bringing people. We’re a bit suspicious that this is what happened to us in Delhi. Although if that was the case it was a very elaborate ploy indeed! So Jamir from Saniya Palace Hotel came to get us. He’s really great! He is super chatty in fairly good English. He has given us the best service we’ve had since we arrived in India!
Our hotel is really wonderful! Agra is super touristy. It’s sort of strange for the two of us to see so many travelers, much less so many which people! It’s the least expensive we’ve stayed in so far. Which seems stunning because we have a fantastic view of the Taj Mahal from the roof top restaurant. It’s so quant! And has a really diverse and tasty menu. (Minus my first order the lack of chicken, chicken burger. I should really know by now to always order local food when you travel and not attempt to get something homey. It’s always so tempting.) There are beautiful flowers, Christmas lights and with tidy little tables. Half of the tables even have little sort of roves over them. The rooms are nice clean. Also very small, as in the door nearly touches the bed when it opens and there is no room for bedside table beside the bed. And the toilet is right next to the shower (with no curtain) so when you shower the whole bathroom (“room” being used extremely loosely here) is soaked. And no toilet paper is provided with the room. So, it’s nothing fancy but I can sip delicious masala (chai) tea from the roof top and gaze out at the Taj Mahal. And really does it get much cooler than that? (I realize at this point that the travel guide has been my main source of literature and my writing is beginning to reflect that…but now if you ever come to Agra you know.)
So we booked Jamir to take us to the other sights of Agra (As a side note just to truly express how impressed we were N paid him more than twice the price he had bartered him down for - those of you who know how N spends money will know how truly pleased we were! Haha!): Agra Fort and Baby Taj (Itimad-Ub-Daula). Agra Fort is very impressive.
On a hugely over-sharing note, at the fort I used my first [for lack of a proper name] hole-in-the-floor-toilet! I was really proud of myself! “I’m a big girl now!”
A quick history lesson I have gleaned from the LP-for those of you like me who are not up on the history of India. Agra Fort is from roughly the same period as the Taj, in fact the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan would have lived in it while he was building the Taj. It was originally constructed by his grandfather and then he did some additions, as well. The construction of the Taj Mahal (translates to Crown Palace-a name given by the British) in 1631 as a memorial to the death of his second (and I assume favorite) wife of four, Mumtaz Mahal. She died giving birth to their fourteenth child! It took 20 000 laborers twenty two years to finish! Sadly the emperor’s son had him imprisoned shortly after it was finished and he only got to see his beauty from the Agra Fort prison for the rest of his days. Then he was put in a tomb with his beloved wife who it was built for. It’s kind of a tragic romance, if you ask me. The Taj seems like a doubly romantic, to me (again no one but me is telling this fairy tale version) memorial because Baby Taj was built in 1622 as a tomb for Mumtaz Mahal’s (the wife) grandfather. In my version the emperors wife loved her grandfather dearly and often enjoyed the beautiful marble inlaid tomb where her beloved grandfather was lain. So that’s my happily ever after history lesson.
Baby Taj is on my list of must sees! It’s amazing! These intricately carved semi precious stones inlaid into marble. It’s so intricate! I was blown away. It’s not that big but as Jamir put it, “graphically much more impressive.” We shall see after we visit the big Taj tomorrow.
I can’t wait to get up close and into the Taj Mahal tomorrow!
I can hardly believe we’ve only been here for just one day. It’s just so great. Then again as N and I were laughing I guess I am kind of an all or nothing girl.
Another thing to add to my list of unexpected positives about India, is how easily we seem to be able to get internet! I’m finding it really wonderful to still feel connected to home. And being able to share my travel reflections with loved ones makes the hard stuff feel more bearable and the cool stuff feel more awesome!
This is what I dreamed India would be! I am in LOVE with Agra!
Only a three hour train ride here which I really enjoyed. We got a very interesting view of the country as we hustled by.
The trains are, well, they are hard to explain to someone who has not experienced them. They are cramped. The stations certainly make up for any lack of foul odours we’ve encountered in other places. Actually they are much better than I expected they would be. Although I have not yet had to use the ladies room and I hear that is an experience all to itself.
Back to Agra. A rickshaw from the hotel was arranged to pick us up. There’s a lot of scamming at these big tourist destinations. Apparently, drivers will often take you to a more expensive hotel, than the one you booked and make up some story. They get commission from the hotel expensive hotel for bringing people. We’re a bit suspicious that this is what happened to us in Delhi. Although if that was the case it was a very elaborate ploy indeed! So Jamir from Saniya Palace Hotel came to get us. He’s really great! He is super chatty in fairly good English. He has given us the best service we’ve had since we arrived in India!
 |
| The view of the Taj Mahal from the roof of Saniya Palace Hotel restaurant |
So we booked Jamir to take us to the other sights of Agra (As a side note just to truly express how impressed we were N paid him more than twice the price he had bartered him down for - those of you who know how N spends money will know how truly pleased we were! Haha!): Agra Fort and Baby Taj (Itimad-Ub-Daula). Agra Fort is very impressive.
On a hugely over-sharing note, at the fort I used my first [for lack of a proper name] hole-in-the-floor-toilet! I was really proud of myself! “I’m a big girl now!”
A quick history lesson I have gleaned from the LP-for those of you like me who are not up on the history of India. Agra Fort is from roughly the same period as the Taj, in fact the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan would have lived in it while he was building the Taj. It was originally constructed by his grandfather and then he did some additions, as well. The construction of the Taj Mahal (translates to Crown Palace-a name given by the British) in 1631 as a memorial to the death of his second (and I assume favorite) wife of four, Mumtaz Mahal. She died giving birth to their fourteenth child! It took 20 000 laborers twenty two years to finish! Sadly the emperor’s son had him imprisoned shortly after it was finished and he only got to see his beauty from the Agra Fort prison for the rest of his days. Then he was put in a tomb with his beloved wife who it was built for. It’s kind of a tragic romance, if you ask me. The Taj seems like a doubly romantic, to me (again no one but me is telling this fairy tale version) memorial because Baby Taj was built in 1622 as a tomb for Mumtaz Mahal’s (the wife) grandfather. In my version the emperors wife loved her grandfather dearly and often enjoyed the beautiful marble inlaid tomb where her beloved grandfather was lain. So that’s my happily ever after history lesson.
 |
| Baby Taj - Itimad-Ud-Daulah |
Baby Taj is on my list of must sees! It’s amazing! These intricately carved semi precious stones inlaid into marble. It’s so intricate! I was blown away. It’s not that big but as Jamir put it, “graphically much more impressive.” We shall see after we visit the big Taj tomorrow.
I can’t wait to get up close and into the Taj Mahal tomorrow!
I can hardly believe we’ve only been here for just one day. It’s just so great. Then again as N and I were laughing I guess I am kind of an all or nothing girl.
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