Our time in Agra started off with a very confusing journey. A tuk-tuk from Tapovan to Rishikesh train station. A train from Rishikesh to Haridwar (boo!). Another tuk-tuk from Haridwar train station to a landmark Ben had decided was near the bus station - that wasn't really all that near. 5 minutes of negotiation to try to get us to where the bus station actually was. Then the sleeper bus from Haridwar to Agra. If that wasn't tough enough, Haridwar gets my (newly created) award for being the worst bus stand I've ever visited. Have i mentioned how much i dislike Haridwar?
Written on the ticket is the bus company, bus departure time and a gate number. All of this seemed very useful until we got dropped off at a very poorly lit, muddy 10 acre field filled with buses, market stalls and cafes. There wasn't a gate number placed anywhere. So we trampled through muddy puddles, got lost in the markets and became unreasonably stressed all in the search for these elusive gate numbers. We even rang up the bus company who helpfully told us to go to gate 1. Lots of swearing ensued. Eventually we ended back up by the entrance and asked the security guard where to go. It was a 10 second walk after that, in our haste we'd gone straight past it... to be fair there still wasn't a gate sign.
There are 3 styles of overnight bus in India. There is the seat bus, this has chairs that recline only slightly and isn't too comfortable; this is the bus we chose for the Leh to Manali trip (Mistake!). There is the semi-sleeper, this also has chairs but a little more leg room and you can recline slightly further before crushing the kneecaps of the person behind you. This style is actually fairly comfortable and what we chose for the Manali to Dharamshala trip. Then there is the Sleeper, it's slightly more pricey but you get a small pod with a fairly comfortable bed in it, this is what we opted for on this trip. There is normally an option for a one person bed or a two person bed which was perfect for me and Ben. I wouldn't recommend trying to get a two person bed if travelling alone as they will assign someone for the "empty seat".
All these busses have the option to be A/C or non A/C, deciding to treat ourselves we went with the air-con. Although the bus was surprisingly comfortable and did provide blankets the temperature was set to arctic so we didn't get much sleep. To make matters worse the A/C really didn't agree with Ben's throat and he was once again sick. With this in mind maybe we should have planned to rest a while before starting our day, we didn't.
When we booked into our hotel the front desk tried it on slightly, saying we had to pay more for an early check-in. Seeing as freezing in a bus all night doesn't put you in the most forgiving of moods, I adopted a no nonsense attitude and wasn't having any of it. The check-in was prearranged and i had a email proof saying it was free. They quickly caved. We threw our stuff in the room, had a quick freshen-up and headed to the Taj Mahal.
At 6 in the morning you might have thought the Taj Mahal would be quiet, you would be wrong. I get the feeling that there isn't ever just one person at the Taj, there's always at least 50. We picked up our very expensive (for India) tickets, grabbed our free water, free boot covers and headed in. We walked from the west gate to a large open courtyard made of red brick, the courtyard is symmetrical like the rest of the Taj Mahal and grounds. There was at least 30 people here when we arrived, milling about and trying to get a photo looking through the north gate into the main grounds. The north gate is an impressive building in itself and it frames the mausoleum perfectly (even with everyone in the way).
There was sadly scaffolding poles surrounding one of the minarets of the mausoleum so it wasn't picture perfect, but the main difference from all the photos we had seen was the grey sky. I hate to say it but it doesn't seem quite as dramatic when the sky is the same colour as the marble.
Along with the main mausoleum there was four buildings made of red sand stone in the grounds; the two water palaces, the assembly hall and the Mosque. We wandered down the pathways but by this time Ben, feeling ill, wasn't in the best of moods. I don't think anyone has ever complained so much at one of the worlds most famous wonders. There was too many people, they were all doing "stupid" posey shots (to be fair one guy was laying under a bench to get a photo and asked Ben to move), the sky was too grey and my personal favourite the grass wasn't straight. Admittedly the grass striping couldn't rival any English country garden but really that's not what I think most people are concentrating on. What did cheer Ben up was our own silly photos, a monkey who was playing dress up in a scarf, the monkeys who were using the fountains to swim a few laps and the dog who stole my water bottle.
The Taj Mahal was built in 1632- 1658 by Emperor Shah Jahan, the ivory marble mausoleum was built to house the tomb of his favourite wife Mumtaz Mahal who died during childbirth. When the Emperor died his tomb was also placed inside the mausoleum so they could rest together, although romantic when we visited inside it was clear that he never intended to reside there as the floor tiles line up perfectly with his wife's tomb, whilst his larger tomb beside hers disrupts the pattern. On each face of the Taj Mahal and on the gate leading to the grounds are large marble panels covered in calligraphy, these all are verses and passages from the Muslim holy book, the Quran.
One of the Water Palaces in the grounds houses a small museum that details the history of the buildings and their construction. As this didn't open till 9.30 Am (which was still a while away) and Ben still wasn't feeling any better we decided to give a miss and head back to our room for a rest. Unfortunately what we didn't realise was that our room turned into an oven while we was out! After a small rest we headed out for some lunch and some pain killers for Ben.
To avoid the heat we headed to the Taj Protected forest, an area of land east of the Taj Mahal that's left as a wildlife sanctuary. The "forest" was cheap enough to enter and we spent several hours wandering along the paths occasionally getting a glimpse of mausoleum in the distance. We found a concrete "tree" house to sit in, and spent a while relaxing in the shade reading our books. After this we headed back to our room where Ben went to sleep for the rest of the day. As he was feeling rubbish I headed out to dinner by myself that evening, choosing a restaurant near-by that had many reviews stating how friendly and talkative the staff was. Somehow by the time I arrived the friendly staff had gone and I was left with the ones who stared silently at me while I tried to quickly finish my not so wonderful food. I just love people watching me eat...
Mainly because of Ben feeling unwell and how ridiculously hot it was we didn't really do much more in Agra. The town itself is a little run down and although Agra fort does look impressive from the outside we had many fort visits planned in the near future so we gave it a miss. I'm not sure if it was the town itself (what we saw of it) or the fact that we'd both recently given up smoking/vaping but Agra wasn't really my favourite place. Of course I would recommend visiting the Taj Mahal but I'm glad we only had the one day planned here.
As we were stuck dragging our backpacks around with us while waiting for our train to depart, we headed to the Taj gardens. Walking there in the heat before having a relax, lying in the grass reading in the sunshine before heading to Agra fort to grab the train to our next destination, Jaipur.
p.s Ben would like to add the following for the sake of journalist integrity:
The day after my minor theatrics at the Taj Mahal Georgia took it upon herself to level the score. I'm not sure how much the 4 kilometre walk in the 35 degree heat with the 20 kilo rucksack had to do with it... but we're definitely even.
What was atmosphere like there was it breath taking ?