Day 37 Agra 4th August 09

Today we will see the Taj Mahal. Wohoo!! The night went without any unwanted events. Alhamdullilah. We woke up got our stuffs together and got ready to get off the train.

The train finally reached AGRA CANTT Station at 0630hrs, after almost 13hours on the train. We went outside looking for a taxi and at the same time ignoring the usual touts and got to this old man to take his autorickshaw. As per normal we have outrages offers. This guy offered 150Rs for his taxi and when Ramli said no he lowered his price to 100Rs after a while but having a rough idea on how much I should be paying I just ignored him. Oh yeah the old man that I was saying above offered at 50Rs. I know it should be around 30Rs to the hotel but I was in no mood to haggle over 20Rs. Especially not in the morning.

We wanted to try hotel on the outskirts of Taj Mahal but the driver said why not go to Shanti Lodge, its very near to the Taj Mahal and he said its quite cheap. So we thought why not we just try at the most we can go to another if we don’t like. It is also mentioned in the lonely planet book that all this drivers get a certain commission if they bring guests to certain hotels.

The hotel is really close to Taj Mahal. We asked for a room the reception guy said that its full but he said guests usually check out very early and asked us to wait a while. We thought why not just try another one. The driver said there’s one more around the corner, its called SAII PALACE so we tried there and there was one room available. It was going for 350Rs a night with Shower attached and fan. Oh yeah we can also see the Taj from the rooftop restaurant. Great!! We confirmed with the hotel guy. Luckily we got there in time cause 1 min later another group of girls came asking for a room. Phew….

We paid the Taxi guy 50Rs for the ride and asked him how much for a whole day fee. He said 500Rs but Ramli offered 300Rs. After 5 mins haggling we got it for 350Rs. So we told him what time to pick us up and went into the room to freshen up and rest for a bit.

In no time it was 0800hrs time to go out. So we met the driver who was waiting outside, asked to bring us to a Halal place for breakfast. The restaurant is called Joney’s Place. We saw Quranic verses on the wall. Yeay !! a Halal place that looks decent finally. We ordered Egg sandwich, French toast, scrambled eggs and of course, a small pot of black Tea. It was nice and all this we made fresh from a little stove top that is a kitchen.

After breakfast we went to Taj Mahal which was just 2 mins walking distance from where we ate. Bought tickets and paid 1500Rs for 2( SGD$ 45) Hope its worth the money we paid. Oh yeah you get a complimentary bottle of drink and a shoe cover with every ticket. So we proceeded in via the South Gate. There was a detailed security check at the entrance. They are very strict. Lighters and even biscuits not allowed in the compound. There was a locker service for the contrabands and items just beside the ticketing counter. We deposited some biscuits and a lighter that we accidently took from Hari when we went to his house the other time. Video cameras are also not allowed inside. But I feel it’s a bit stupid cause nowadays all digital cameras has video recording capabilities and I’m carrying a Full HD capable recording device. Hahaha.

Anyway after the checks we entered into a whole different world. It was very, very clean. It didn’t feel or look like India at all. And the first site of the Taj Mahal from a distance its really a sight you never will forget. What you see on every picture of Taj Mahal everywhere is exactly what I see in front of me! Really a very beautiful creation. Words cannot express how in awe I was. But instead of enjoying the beauty, Cindy had to go to the Toilet. Poor thing she also have diarrhea but not an extreme one but she said she had goosebumps not from the stomach but just looking at the Taj Mahal. sSo while waiting for her, I did the touristy thing, just kept on snapping pictures of everything there. 95% is of the Taj Mahal itself. We took our time there soaking up the views and atmosphere.

Stopping every few steps along the way to the Taj Mahal to take pictures. On the exterior of the building, there are Quranic verses on the walls. A beautiful mosque on its right and an identical looking building on the left which is built for symmetry. Once inside, we saw what seems to look like a Mausoleum. If I’m not wrong it’s the “show” tomb of Emperor Shah Jahan and second wife Mumtaz Mahal side by side. Most of the local tourists are throwing coins into the tomb area. Like what the heck for? Walked around the inside for a while and we exited at the other side. While we outside, I saw this lady with very nice eyes. Cindy went to ask her if it is ok if she took a picture with her. She was quite shy but I guess she agreed cause she posed with Cindy. Snapped one time then she suddenly disappeared before I could thank her. She disappeared into the crowds not into thin air just in case you guys are wondering…Hehehe. Then the family next to Cindy asked if she is ok to take picture with her. Now she’s like a celebrity every kid in that family taking turns to take picture with her. Then the ladies… Hehehe After that we walked around some more and I saw a group of Muslim guys sitting together so I asked to take picture with them. All in all we spent almost 2 ½ hours there. It was a good and memorable experience for us.

We left the place to go to the train station to buy tickets to Delhi for the next day. While we were there we met with this English guy who apparently totally damaged his ticket from sweating so much that his ticket became wet and looked like what you get when you put paper in your pants pocket through a washing machine. We chatted while waiting in queue for tickets. He’s a freelance vehicle designer. Hmm interesting job he has. He said he’s been travelling in Asia a lot and for this trip he flew in from Delhi the day before and am going to Nepal via Sonauli, where we came in from few days before. After an hour waiting for a queue that has barely 5 people in it we got our tickets. Paid 475Rs for a AC seats for Agra – Delhi. Well hope its gonna be good.

So we left the station and now its time for lunch. Asked the driver to bring us to a nice and halal place. He brought us to this place called Zorba The Buddha. It’s on lonely planet as one of the recommended places to eat. vegetarian food We ordered a set meal and it cost us 350Rs each. The meal includes Cold drink, Appetizers, Main course, desert and choice of a hot drink. The meal was good but a bit too pricy for our budget but we thought why just give it a try. So in the end we paid 830Rs. (SGD$23)

After lunch we went to the Agra Fort which hmmm, is basically a beautifully decorated red building. It was a very big compound. We walked around for about 1hr took pictures and couldn’t admire and appreciate this place after we have seen the Taj Mahal… As there is no comparison at all.. But still this fort is really a huge place with many different sections.. The stone carvings to the entrances is very intricate…Anyway we left and didn’t know where to go … Hmmm

We looked at the Taj Mahal tickets and saw there is a few places we could go to get discounted tickets.. So we asked the driver if we could go the other 3 places since it is only about 3pm. He pointed to 2 of the buildings and said it is very far away from city so we only left with 1 option the Baby Taj..

Suppose to pay Rp110 but since we visited Taj before so we get Rp10discount… First view of the building it really resembles the Taj… We walked in and like ermmm not so impress… Ramli was saying we should have went to the other sights and vist Taj the lasts so then we could appreciate the smaller ones.. But too bad we already went to the major one first so this is just for viewing only… We finished within 10mins but since we just arrived and paid the entrance fee… we just sat outside the mini Taj for a while to chat and after headed out.

Hmmm where to go now… the driver has no idea also… so we told him ok lets go back to hotel. It is about 4pm…on the way we could see Jama Masjid from far and asked him if we could just dropped by for a while… Arrived at the Masjid and a man guided us into the compound… This mosque is built by the daughter of Emperor Shah Jahan. We entered and actually is quite amazed with the condition of the prayer hall.. It is not as clean as you could imagine for a place for prayer… We saw a square pool at the centre of the compound and saw people taking ablution from there… We walked in and the man showed us a Quran which was also not well kept. Books and Qurans all stacked on a very dusty shelf.. Continued walking and entered the female prayer area, we saw a lady putting flowers at a corner which already have flowers and some incense placed there. The man told us which sounds like tomb for Shah Jahan’s daughter or something… we saw the lady praying towards that direction and is very curious what she was doing … Maybe praying for her or praying to her.. We aren’t sure too…

Walked outside and saw children sitting all together and seems to be learning about the religion… The man kept asking to take photos so Ramli obligatedly took some.. The teacher kept looking at us… hmmm So time to go after the mini tour the man ask for some donations so Ramli gave him Rp50. And when we were at the entrance to get our shoes another man asked to pay Rp10 each.. Ok fine…. Left and went back to the hotel..

Relax a little took a shower and went out to Joney’s place to have dinner… it is so warm and humid!! Looked at the menu and turned to the Chicken section immediately… I was interested in the Fried Chicken Whole… the guy said is very nice… So I ordered that and Ramli ordered Chicken Briyani.. Actually we were curious how is the man going to cook the chicken as the “window” kitchen only had 2 stoves and doesn’t look like he had any big wok for frying… So we guess they should be buying it from another place… we saw him starting to cook the briyani … after about 20mins we saw the young waiter came in with a newspaper doggy bag and when he poured out the content we could see the fried chicken… he tried to be discreet but we saw.. Kekekkeke so we were right… They serve our food and the fried chicken seriously looks tasty!! Ramli’s chicken briyani looks like fried rice… But tast good.. Not the typical briyani like in Singapore but good enough… I bite into the chicken and like Yummmmmmy!! Maybe it is because of the lack of meat for the pass days… But it is nice…

Completed our dinner with a banana and choclate pancake … Headed back to the hotel and tried to take the night photo of the Taj… couldn’t see as clearly as it wasn’t lighted.. But Ramli still got part of it… Retired to the room and rest for the night…