Varanasi to Agra to Delhi to McLeod Ganj

Saturday 4^th May 2013

We should have arrived into Agra at 5.50am this morning so we were all up and ready to get off the train but it seems the train was running late and after sitting just outside a station for ages we were finally moving again on our let we got our first glimpse of the Taj Mahal in the hazy dusty distance it was huge and even from a distance out of a train window it was impressive.  Finally we pulled into Agra Fort and jumped in a couple of Autos that took us to our hotel as we had been recommended a hotel we had booked in advance. We arrived at hotel Sheela (boasting toilet paper in the bathrooms!) but as we were early we couldn’t yet check in, the hotel was so pretty with lush green gardens and loads of little courtyards that led off to the rooms. We sat and had breakfast and read the papers in the outside seating of the restaurant and felt spoilt was like a Sunday morning breakfast in our garden at home. After eating our rooms were ready and so we checked in and showered after which we felt a bit more human, although we were still hungry and so went and had second breakfast at a local café. In the afternoon we went to the Bazar which was pretty hectic. Ayla and I got yelled at by a fat beggar woman who threatened us with a stick when we didn’t give her any money which was rather bizarre. Agra is a pretty town but is extremely hot and dusty and the touts are completely unrelenting. On the way back to the hotel we tried to book our train tickets to Delhi but there was none available our only option is to rock up at the station tomorrow and buy general class and cram in. in the evening we walked to the south gate of the Taj hoping to buy tickets for the morning but it was closed so we walked back out to the main street and ate dinner at a cute little rooftop restaurant that had views of the Taj.

Sunday 5^th May 2013

We were awake super early today to watch the sun rise over the Taj. We got dressed in our Saris and headed into the crisp Agra morning. At this time of day the air felt clean and fresh before the many people cars, cows and dogs kicked up the dust on the road. We walked to the west gate which opened the earliest and luckily for us as it was off season we didn’t have to wait long for tickets. We passed through the security gates and walked into the main courtyard where the sun was glowing orange through the trees we followed the crowds and headed in taking our first glimpse of the entire building. It was breath taking and awe inspiring glowing a pinkish tinge in the morning light. We stopped and took loads of photos then walked a bit closer and took more photos before repeating the process one more time. By now we were right by the doors and so we slipped on our cotton overshoes and headed inside. In its heyday the inside of the Taj Mahal must have been a sight to see but after being looted the white marble with its millions of empty recesses looked bare in the half light, the only colour that remains are some small semi-precious inlaid stones  creating a flower pattern around the room.  We walked out the back door which faces the river and took some more photos from a different angle. After which we walked back to the front centre and Alex recreated the famous Princess Di photos (albeit with a few more people) we met an English guy who is travelling through India and Bangladesh performing as a clown in children’s hospitals. He took some photos for us and we returned the favour it was his daughter’s birthday and so he made a balloon swan to hold up (we named her Helen and she lasted a few hours before ending up as a torture victim to a child in the train station) after we had taken in this beautiful building for long enough we headed back to the hotel to check out and get some breakfast. In the afternoon we headed to the train station and got on a general class train to Delhi the ride was only three and a half hours but we were crammed in with so many people we did sit in the ladies carriage but it seemed to be full of men who refused to move even for pregnant women or those with kids unless they were really barrelled out. In Delhi we pulled into the wrong station so had to get Rickshaws across the city we passed India Gate (Delhi’s version of the Arc de Triomphe) Delhi is a nice as far as big cities go but its touts are much more aggressive and in your face within minutes we were sworn at and called racists for not taking a hotel recommendation. Eventually after scouting a few places we checked into a hotel. We headed out and had a meal at an Indian place that had been recommended to us before having a drink at a rooftop bar, after being up early we were shattered and so headed to bed early.

Monday 6^th May 2013

We headed out for food late this morning and by the time we had eaten it was lunch time. We then wondered through the markets and ended up in Delhi’s answer to Harrods before doing a circle and ending back up where we started. We then headed down some side streets to find some street food and picked up some syrupy doughnut balls that had just been cooked. We walked down to a main road and got a glimpse of how hectic Delhi can be. We headed back to our area and bumped into Daisy and Claire. We all headed for a drink in a rooftop bar overlooking the hustle and bustle of the street below. Later on Ayla and I were led astray by an astrologer he obviously had a gift and so we followed him but he suddenly switched when we didn’t want to give him a large sum of money he was carrying on like a child where we (for once) kept our cool and explained cost was relative why was he asking for a payment in pounds when he lived in Rupees after a few minutes we walked out with our money his parting words “you’re an unhappy person and you’ll never find happiness so fuck you” my parting words (said with the biggest smile) “ I hope you find happiness because you’re a fucking angry horrible man” we walked out trying unsuccessfully to find the others and when we couldn’t, we decided to head back to the hotel and meet them there. A drunken man appeared and would not leave us alone he was harmless but wouldn’t leave and we didn’t want him to follow us to the hotel so we asked some guys at the henna stand to get him to leave, before we knew it there was a crowd around us all wanting us to call the police which we didn’t want to do so two guys walked us back and we thought that was the end of it until about five minutes later when the hotel manager banged on the door the guy had followed us and tried to get into the hotel so the police had been called. We went downstairs and the entire street was teeming with people out for this guy’s blood we pointed him out and the police carted him away without even asking us or listening to us about what had happened. We went and got some momos and headed to a local café that was screening a movie on its rooftop only the film stopped halfway so we left and feeling like a treat went to find another rooftop for a munch.

Tuesday 7^th May 2013

We went to breakfast this morning and deliberated the pros and cons of forking out for a bus to McLeod Ganj we decided to go for it as we didn’t have much choice if we wanted to visit and so after eating went and got tickets for that night. We then split up and Claire and Daisy went to visit the charity they had raised for whilst rickshaw running whilst the rest of us visited the Ghandi  Smitri which is where Ghandi spent his last few days and was assassinated. We went on the metro which was fun in itself it’s much nicer than the tube and is cleaner had AC and air conditioning. The lines were fairly simple to navigate so we got there without much trouble. Once there we needed to walk along wide tree lined avenues to get to the museum it was free entry and had more information than anyone could ever take in with all the details from Ghandi’s, life, philosophy, political views etc. documented in articles and quotes. We had to miss some of the museum in order to get back for our bus. The metro trip was short and before long we were back at the hotel packing up our bags and heading for the bus. We had to wait ages before we got on then had to change buses after 30mins on board first we were told to sit where we liked then were told we had to sit right at the back the last seats didn’t recline and didn’t have footrests so I refused to sit there on the grounds that tickets were so expensive after much arguing and being threatened with being offloaded we had seats but there was no AC and with the absence of openable windows we were soon sitting in a moving sauna. The driver drove like a maniac and I was glad for the darkness so I couldn’t see how bad the roads were. Sometime in the night the AC kicked in and we were soon sitting in a fridge, but at least we could recline.