We got up super early to get on the 6am train to Agra. We were told the trains were crowded and unreliable, but it takes less than half the time of driving. We got to the train station and this guy told us we had to go to international travel office. We got up there and a guy told us the 6 am train was cancelled, but there was a 7:30 train at another station. He sent us off with this taxi and told us it was going to be 300 rupees for the guy to take us to a tourism office then to the train station. He drove us about 5 minutes to the tourism office and we were trying to get it straightened out. the guy demanded his money. I told him there was no way I was going to pay 300 rupees for that ride and that he was supposed to take us all the way to the train station. I argued and argued with him. He obviously did not know that we live in India and aren't normal tourists! I finally gave him 100 and took our stuff out of the car. We were trying to find another way to Agra when a second guy came in a asked if we had looked at the boards in the train station to see if the train was actually cancelled. He said sometimes they lie about it being cancelled to scam people out of taxi fare. He got a guy to take us back to the train station for free. We were stuck in traffic and Hannah ran into the building to check the board. She came across another guy trying to pull the same scam!! but she pushed her way to the board and called us - luckily we had already gotten out of the car and were running towards the train. I had to pull an Indian move at security and push my way to the front and bypass this woman who was taking too long to put her suitcase on the belt. We BARELY made the train! not a peaceful start to the day! augh! I wonder about all those people who told us that trains were unreliable and cancelled a lot - are they really?(which seems reasonable for India :) or were they scammed like us.
It was a short 2 hour ride to Agra - our guide for the day was Benjamin. He was awesome! He told us the Taj Mahal was so magnificent that no person's life is complete without seeing it in person. It sounds cliche but as we went through the gate and saw it for the first time - it took our breath away! amazing!!! He said the original plan was to build an identical black Taj with a black and white bridge connecting them. It didn't get finished but that. would. have. been. breathtaking.
All of the color on the Taj Mahal is engraved and inlayed - not painted. Our guide took us to a place to see how it was done.
The Taj Mahal was the only place that wouldn't let me in for the price of an Indian. :( Every other place let me in, but every time I showed my ticket to another guy they gave me a weird look and asked if I was Indian :)
Our guide took us to Agra fort and told us how one of the emperors had 300 wives and 3000 concubines and never had a child that lived!! They said he was very short and his arms were so long that his hands went to his knees so it is assumed that he had a genetic disorder. He needed an heir so he went to a spiritual leader guy who told him to leave a wife with him for a year and magically he'd have a son. lo and behold a year later she came back with a baby!
Our guide told us lots of history and when he talked about the British he said if India had stayed with Britain they'd only be 25 years behind the US instead of 150! ha!!
We ate lunch at this place and they totally shorted us on Naan and we had to argue our way out of the bill. I don't know what was wrong with today and everyone trying to cheat us! We aren't normal tourists and are way more on top of things since we live in India. It was a long day. We got to the train station and we had a sleeper car - It was scary on top, but I took a nap :) It took almost 5 hours to get to Jaipur and we got in late at night.
We braced ourselves for people trying to take us to our hostel - Jaipur inn. We were very cautious after the day we had. This guy was trying to get us in his rickshaw and told us his friend would drive us too because we needed two rickshaws for us to fit. He said it would be 50 rupees for both. He laughed at us for being so wary and we told him what our day had been like and he appologized and said we needed to stay open. He learned english from tourists and was trying to start a tour business and had a book of people that had written about tours he given. He was really sweet - we already had a car booked for the next day so we didn't use his services, but it was a good way to end the night. a happy note after the way our day started!
This hostel was a lot better! an actual shower curtain! hot water! clean sheets! it didn't smell! yay!
It was a short 2 hour ride to Agra - our guide for the day was Benjamin. He was awesome! He told us the Taj Mahal was so magnificent that no person's life is complete without seeing it in person. It sounds cliche but as we went through the gate and saw it for the first time - it took our breath away! amazing!!! He said the original plan was to build an identical black Taj with a black and white bridge connecting them. It didn't get finished but that. would. have. been. breathtaking.
All of the color on the Taj Mahal is engraved and inlayed - not painted. Our guide took us to a place to see how it was done.
The Taj Mahal was the only place that wouldn't let me in for the price of an Indian. :( Every other place let me in, but every time I showed my ticket to another guy they gave me a weird look and asked if I was Indian :)
Our guide took us to Agra fort and told us how one of the emperors had 300 wives and 3000 concubines and never had a child that lived!! They said he was very short and his arms were so long that his hands went to his knees so it is assumed that he had a genetic disorder. He needed an heir so he went to a spiritual leader guy who told him to leave a wife with him for a year and magically he'd have a son. lo and behold a year later she came back with a baby!
Our guide told us lots of history and when he talked about the British he said if India had stayed with Britain they'd only be 25 years behind the US instead of 150! ha!!
We ate lunch at this place and they totally shorted us on Naan and we had to argue our way out of the bill. I don't know what was wrong with today and everyone trying to cheat us! We aren't normal tourists and are way more on top of things since we live in India. It was a long day. We got to the train station and we had a sleeper car - It was scary on top, but I took a nap :) It took almost 5 hours to get to Jaipur and we got in late at night.
We braced ourselves for people trying to take us to our hostel - Jaipur inn. We were very cautious after the day we had. This guy was trying to get us in his rickshaw and told us his friend would drive us too because we needed two rickshaws for us to fit. He said it would be 50 rupees for both. He laughed at us for being so wary and we told him what our day had been like and he appologized and said we needed to stay open. He learned english from tourists and was trying to start a tour business and had a book of people that had written about tours he given. He was really sweet - we already had a car booked for the next day so we didn't use his services, but it was a good way to end the night. a happy note after the way our day started!
This hostel was a lot better! an actual shower curtain! hot water! clean sheets! it didn't smell! yay!
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