Agra over the Weekend

Over the weekend, ten of us decided that we wanted to do some tourist activities here, so we hired a car service (a must in India because 95% of Americans or really like 80% of the world wouldn't be able to handle the driving here) and drove 8 hours to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. We drove throughout the evening and checked in to our hotel by 1 am after having to ask local rickshaw wallas where this place was. Before we dispersed for some shuteye, the BEST possible idea arose. Why don't we wake up at 5am and go see the Taj?

BRILLIANT! I thought Lucknow was hot, but Agra is a whole new level. I can't even imagine what the places are like in the center of the country. Regardless, we wake up at 5 and are in line with our tickets to see the Taj Mahal by 530. We are the first people in line. Awesome right? I was stoked until a lot of us found out that we couldn't bring our backpacks with us since they had clothes in them, camera tripods (me), a lighter, and other stuff. So our guide to us to the lockers where you can put your stuff. Yes a guide is included when foreigners are in a group of 10... convenient right? Well, the lockers were a perfect example of the Indian sense of time. It said it would be open at 530 and it was 545 and clearly not open. Oh well. Our hotel is like another 10 min walk from there so we just go to the hotel and drop our stuff off. We get back in line around 6 (and there is still no line) and finally go in.

After we walked through the gates, all I could say was wow. It was truly a spectacular sight. Our guide was awesome and took us to all the great photo locations on the grounds. He was also super knowledgeable. Something interesting was that we had to either go barefoot or wear shoe covers while we walked immediately next to the monument. I wasn't really expecting that but it was great to see the government trying to preserve this historical gem. I was pleased to say the least.

So we are walking around the Taj Mahal and I am snapping pictures left and right because the view is awesome, especially with the lighting from the sunrise. It was also cool that there was no one there! It was totally worth getting only 4 hours of sleep so I could get some photos with no one in them (or hardly anyone in them). We are walking around though and I see some monkeys. This is trouble because the monkeys here don't play games. They are aggressive and not afraid to bite you. So I am standing on a bench near some of them taking photos of the Taj when I hear some hissing coming from my right. I turn my camera, never leaving the viewfinder, and see a cute little monkey picking at himself. As I'm in the process of taking a quick photo, I hear another hiss and realize it wasn't the monkey that I'm photographing that's getting pissed at me. In a matter of milliseconds I pull my face away from my camera just in time to see a monkey like sprinting at me standing on the bench, and barely have enough time to jump off the bench as he was hopping on it. I probably was going to get bit if I hadn't acted fast enough. Everyone in my group saw the entire thing unfold and everyone was just laughing hysterically as I almost got attacked. Definitely another first for the record books thanks to India.


Our tour continues and then some friends ask me if I can take one of those cool pictures where everyone is jumping in the air. Ironically enough, I had just read something in one of my books on how to setup the camera to get a shot like that. It was quite easily a photographers dream moment. I'm glad I read that tidbit in my book or else I would have missed out on a cool photo opportunity.

It's now 845ish and I can now put a check in the box for seeing the Taj Mahal. We thank our tour guide profusely for his help, and then he surprises us with a wonderful place to eat breakfast called Joney's Place. This place was unreal. A hole in the wall diner with 4 tables that could probably sit 16-18 max. The food at this place was to die for though. They had omelets the size of the entire plate, dessert pancakes, lassis, french toast, and best of all egg sandwiches which were the biggest hit amongst the group. And did I mention that it was CHEAP!?! The egg sandwiches were only Rs20. That's like 44 cents by the way, and we ordered soooooo many. Travis alone had 4 sandwiches all to himself. Can you really beat being stuffed beyond imaginable for only $1.76? My order kind of went down like this. First I had two honey dessert pancakes. Then an omelet and finished it off with an egg sandwich. Not too shabby for $2. We definitely made it a point to come back again on Sunday.

So we go back to the hotel, get our stuff and walk to the other hotel that we would be spending the night at Saturday night. We took a nap during the hottest part of the day (in which everyone thought it would be funny to get a picture of me dozing in and out, curled up on my bed with my shoes on) and then visited Agra Fort. This fort was bigger than anything I had ever seen. We drove around it the night before and it seriously took like 5 solid minutes to drive around the entire thing and the road was right next to it. The history of the fort was very interesting because I would have never thought that it was captured by another group because of its vast size. I was wrong though. The fort was actually captured after they ran out of water because of the duration of a siege.Well, we ended our day in Agra by exploring a local market (it was pretty comparable to the one's in Lucknow) and then called it quits for the day.

The next day we ventured to Joney's Place for breakfast and then headed back to Lucknow. Agra = total success. The journey back was pretty interesting too. I was fully indoctrinated to Indian culture.... yes, you can let your imagination run wild with this one. Now it's time to get prepared for school which I really really enjoy. I'm learning so much. I personally can't even believe it.