Agra

We took the 06:00 train from New Delhi to Agra. The train system in India is amazing. I purchased the tickets over the Internet from Canada, after upgrading the security on my MasterCard (Canada is just starting to use the online security that India already uses. The Indian train system support personnel explained to me what I needed to get MasterCard to do so that I could use their system! The first line support at MasterCard didn't know about it!).

The train fare for 3 of us was Rs 1110, which is about CAD 30. It included breakfast!

We hadn't arranged for pickup in Agra, but the prepaid taxi service worked just fine. We hired our driver, Krishna - not the god, for the following day to take us to the other sites in Agra. Aside from the Taj Mahal, the Agra area has many places worth seeing.

Shanti Lodge Small Medium Large Ref: 2006_2826

The first day we walked to the Taj from our hotel. It was a pleasant walk, which is often not the case in Indian cities. Agra felt much smaller, less packed, and less frantic than New Delhi. Our first stop was a restaurant so that Faith could get some breakfast. She hadn't been able to eat the food on the train. We picked a restaurant that had a view of the Taj. It also had a view of the local rhesus macaque troop.

Taj Mahal Small Medium Large Ref: 2006_2844

The Taj Mahal is more than one expects. Pictures don't capture it nor do words. Go experience it.

Unfortunately, one of my memory cards failed after I had taken many pictures. All of the pictures of the fantastic stone work on the inside are on it. Lexar has the card. I am hoping that they can get the data from it.

The setting is not bad for birding too. From the back, overlooking the river, we saw river lapwings, black-winged stilts, ruddy shelduck, and river terns. Perched on some of the minurets were Egyptian vultures. Among the less common birds, the gardens held Indian grey hornbill, Asian koel (a cuckoo), yellow-footed green-pigeons, hoopoes, and pied starlings. Yes, hoopoes are common, except in their appearance.

We stayed and watched the sunset on the Taj Mahal. The colours were muted by the haze/smog in the air, but still were nice pastels.

Towards the end of the day, Indian grey mongooses came out onto the lawns to hunt insects and worms. They pretty much ignored the tourists.

Moat, Jehangiri Mahal Small Medium Large Ref: 2006_3031

Diwan-i-Am to Nagina Masjid Small Medium Large Ref: 2006_3062

The next day we visited several other tombs, pleasure palaces, and Agra Fort. If you thought that the forts and castles of H. P. Lovecraft or Tolkien were fantasy then you haven't seen the forts in India. The have secret passageways, hidden rooms, buildings on top of buildings, horseways that go from the gate all the way upto the battlements, and are huge.

All of these are the excesses enabled by a feudal system. We don't have that exclusionary a tie between the rulers and the rich now, although it is still pretty closely tied. The excesses are still there, maybe not quite as public. We don't overthrow the rich by battering down their homes or imprisoning them; we just run them out of business or buy them out. Does anything change?