Subject: Post: <p>One more 5AM wakeup call, this time to catch the 6AM train to Agra. We made it to the train, basically slept the two hour trip and woke up at Agra. The main reason for visiting Agra, Taj Mahal, was a bit far from the railway station as were the other sights of Agra, so we just hired a three-wheeler rickshaw taxi for the day. The eight hour hire cost was around eight euros, not that bad... </p><p>We begun with the usual tourist track of the area, first Taj Mahal and then Agra Red Fort and a lunch at a random overpriced tourist restauraunt. Guess the rickshaw drivers get nice commission from the restauraunt for bringing tourists into them, but we were just too lazy to complain about that.</p><p>Instead we choose to ruin our (nice) driver's day a bit, requiring him to honour the fact that he was hired for eight hours based only on hours, not just to drive between the two big tourist sites which would be nice and easy for him. After we had visited the main sites and still had a couple of hours before our train I checked for Geocaches around the area and spotted a nice park on another side of the river facing Taj Mahal. The location would give a nice view on the monument without any tourists around, but it was some 10 kilometers away. Naturally our driver was a bit unhappy of that amount of extra driving for same fixed price, but after arguing a bit he gave up and took us there.</p><p>The park was definitely a good way to spent a while in Agra: silent, beautiful and almost empty, totally opposite to the tourist crowds at Taj Mahal and Red Fort. We just hanged around for a while, took some photos and never found the geocache. It was tucked deeply into some hole under tree roots, and I definitely did not felt like putting my hand there. Especially after young kids run past me with sticks to forest, "Come, cobra, cobra!".. </p><p>About Taj Mahal.. I never understood why it was one of the seven wonders of the world or considered as the most beautiful building in the world. Yes, it is beautiful but.. It looks just like any other mosque. Blue Mosque of Istanbul is not any worse, neither is Al Umaad of Damascus. And many many others. Inside the Taj Mahal monument there is basically nothing, no wall carvings, no art, just the two tombs, so all the beauty is outside. It was forbidden to take photos inside, so the quick blindly taken snap below is the only picture from there.</p><p>Our way from Agra continued to Jaipur in the evening by another train. On the trains today we are sitting in the CC class wagons, which have normal seating instead of beds and they also offer food on the train. Actually pretty good food, and a lot of it. Iryna was just saying that she hopes this is the last time they feed us on this train trip, or she starts to believe they are also trying to make us fat for tigers..</p> Latitude: Longitude: Security Code:
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