Hotel Chanakaya Agra

... emperors including the one who built the Taj and he was imprisoned here for the last 8 years of his life by his power hungry son and spent the last years of his life looking over to the Taj. We couldn’t see it through all the haze. After this we had some lunch then rest, then off to the Taj Mahal. As I said, it was amazing and there were literally thousands of people everywhere, mostly Indian people which was good to see ...

... built by that maharaja as a dedication of his love to his deceased wife. The first bit I hadn't heard before was how said wife was in fact his third, making me wonder if his first two were a bit peeved about it (granted they might have been deceased by this time as well, but if he expected his beloved to appreciate his gesture in the afterlife, then certainly his scorned could be equally miffed about it). The other bit is that, after completing the ...

... this i ask 'not your price, not my price, a little bit less please sir' and it seems to be a good way to stay in control of the annoying bargaining situation. At first in Morocco we found it excruciating to bargain for every small item but now we find the interaction to be a good way to talk with the locals and also a fun game with lots of humour and wit involved. What's hot? bargaining. A guy waved a sign advertising ice-cream at me in the street so i stole it and danced with it for ...

... house (though obviously not in use anymore). Inside the actual Taj Mahal was just the tomb and such, pretty empty really. <br><br>That's really about it, although I was asked by some Indian families to take pictures with them, us white people are a bit of a novelty I guess. I was also acosted by a guy who claimed to just be the caretaker of the Mosque, but kept showing me things and places to take pictures and I felt obliged to give him some money ...

... Enough about said about the odors-they went away as we entered the grounds. At the gate we picked up our local guide, a very knowledgeable young man. Fortunately there were not a lot of other visitors this early. We had read on the internet that if you arrive at 6 am you will be in a long line of visitors-not so. To enter the grounds you pass thru an airport type security and they were very careful not to allow pocket knives. It ...

... can really relax for a couple of days. There I had my hair cut by dwarf who couldn't reach the top of my head even when i bent down and he was on tip toes. I tried in vain to lower the chair but it wouldn't go any lower. I kept say "a bit more from the top please mate" and he thought i was taking the mickey. That and i travelled in a rickshaw with FOURTEEN other people. Take a look at that rickshaw picture below and try and imagine it carrying fifteen ...

... that as many foreigners can certainly afford to pay this extra then they should do as long as the money is spent on restoring and maintaining India's heritage. However, after speaking to several Indians about this, the feeling is that this is an example of pure corruption and the money is openly going into officials' pockets. It is certainly a bizarre experience to see shoestring backpackers dishing out their dollars (or walking away from the ticket office in disgust) whilst rich ...