We took an overnight train to Agra and were a little tired when we arrived. We were both instantly glad we had saved this part till the end of our trip. Everything that people warn you about India is in Agra. Everything was a fight to get where and what we wanted. After fighting with our rishshaw driver to get to our hotel we were then cheated by our hotel to get a taxi to Fatepur Sikri. We were not quite certain what we were going to see so we caved to one of the goverment authorized guides that seemed to speak English well. Once we had agreed he quickly changed guides on us and sent us on our way. Our new guide was unable to answer or understand any of our questions, he would not let us take pictures while he was talking and instead of protecting us from all the people selling things he brought us to all his friends and tried to guilt us into buying things. Little did he reaize Shauna and I have grown up with more then our fair share of guilt and this really only produced an angry reaction. Although we had a whole bunch of articulate complaints to tell him him opted for walking away without tipping.
The next morning we attempted to get up for sunrise, as this is the best time to visit the Taj Mahal. Athough we missed sunrise by a little bit it didn't really matter as it was soo smoggy that the sun was not to actually be seen for a few hours. The Taj was pretty spectacular but still not sure it was worth dealing with Agra. We were all kicked out of the Taj by 7am as the president of Turkmenistan was coming for a visit. Is that really even a country?
After a few more sights, a fort, palace and the baby Taj, we attempted to catch the train to Delhi. As it was full, we had to fight with several taxi drivers and were both very upset that we had to spend $25 each on a 5 hour ride to Delhi. We were both completely aware we were not putting this in perspective, but unable not to be annoyed.
To sum up Delhi, it was big and dirty. We spent our nights hiding in our aircon and watching tv and the days shopping at the many bazaars (As if we hadn't bought enough stuff already.) It was a little embarassing running into other backpackers with our backpacks on our backs and a huge army duffle bag of stuff between us.
After a very nice pedicure, where it was a little embarassing how hard to was for him to scrap all the dirt off of my filthy India feet, I had to say good bye to Shauna . But I met right up with friend of a friend- Jess and her son Shivam to head up to Almora for the next leg of my trip.
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