Nuova Hotel Agra

... our first week in India.) Other than a bit of mutton here and there, it was the only other red meat that we have found in India.

Some thoughts from the kids on the Taj and what they were thankful for on Thanksgiving Day:

Elise:

I like the Taj Mahal. It was so smooth, and it was made out of marble. It was really colorful and pretty. It’s because it was made out of marble. The queen was buried there. He had 14 kids and the ...

... a look around (the touts were out in force, but we were used to this by now, we found the best way to deal with them was to ask if they had something you know they won't have). We then did the 'Taj Nature walk' - a path through a bit of woodland with some park like areas. It was nice but not much nature to be seen, only Indian couples! We did however see our first views of the Taj Mahal in the distance (pictures to follow) which looks awesome!
Next day we got up very early ...

... like gardens along with peacocks, lots of palm squirrels, green parrots and the odd monkey.

09/11/09
A late start today after the long day yesterday. Had some breakfast from the cook I befriended last night after complimenting him on my excellent dinner.
Caught a rickshaw from a big friendly Punjabi character called Kakaji who took me around Agra for a few hours to kill some time before my train. Went to a couple of the 'government emporiums ...

... the post office. When I arrived at the post office my rickshaw driver asked to see my parcel - when I showed him my loose collection of items in plastic bags he was quite concerned and explained that it couldn't be sent like that - I had to have it properly packaged. He drove me to a tailor shop where the shop owner tried in vain to sell me pashminas while an employee elaborately packaged my items. First he wrapped them all up ...

... overcrowded unreserved carriages.
luckily, we just managed to get some seats on an earlier service. the only problem was, we would have to get up at six and travel right across the city in order to catch it. we returned to the hotel, packed our bags and had an early night.
we arrived in agra at about 11 o'clock the next morning, and got a rickshaw to our hotel, which was right next to the south gate of the taj mahal. the view from the rooftop was of the numerous gates ...

... we went to Agra fort to look around. There were some beautiful gardens and lovely views of the Taj Mahal. It is the place where Shah Jahan was imprisoned by his son after the Taj Mahal was built.

Next stop was a marble factory where we learned how the marble tiles for the Taj Mahal were designed. It was really interesting and we even got to have a go at making the designs for ourselves. Ed was really good at it and had a very steady hand! The rest of today we have spent ...

... had a weird sensation that usually precedes some horrible ailment. In the vain hope that it was due to a poor nights sleep on a 1970's porn bed, I walked the 500m to the east gate to be amazed.

And amazed I was most certainly was not. Unfortunately up close it just didn't float my boat. It may have been blowing its own trumpet a bit to much.Just didn't do it for me. Sorry I thought it was a bit **** and as I was expecting so much, a let down. Not magical ...

... we stumbled up the hotel stairs and we thought we had arrived into a shithole. When we awoke the next morning, our thoughts were confirmed, but for one night at 10 dollars and in the middle of a very busy bazaar we thought we'd stick with it! The first really bizarre sight (and I'd say the strangest thing we have seen on our whole trip), was a herd of cattle sitting munching on their cud in the middle of the streets ...

We left early in the morning for our three day tour of the golden triangle. On the heels of our crazy bus ride north to Dharmasala, we decided to take a smother air conditioned ride. Hazari, or "Hari", would be our taxi driver for the trip and we knew it was going to be great. At the beginning he told us some fantastically corny jokes and had us laughing before we were out of ...

... works (which you are expected to buy otherwise face some moral stigma). I don't know how true this is but, as far as pollution goes, I have never seen a more polluted river than the Yamuna as it runs past the Taj Mahal. It appears to be vile black viscous sludge mixed with plastic bags and the odd animal corpse. Apparently scientists recently confirmed that anything higher than bacteria would be unable to survive in the river.

We arrived in Agra at the time a heated local ...