Agra

Rolled into Agra not knowing where in the city we were, so got a rickshaw (3 wheel peddle bike with 2 seats behind the driver) bartered pretty hard to find we were 9 km from the Taj Mahal where we wanted to go, so took a while to get there. Found a cheap hotel, found dinner and the other essentials then crashed, fuck me mossies and noise all night. Plus the toilet did not flush and the shower was cold and shit.

In the morning went and checked out the Taj Mahal, 750 Rupees to get in arg. Met up with a group of backpackers we had met in Khajuraho. The Taj was pretty impressive, but was covered in Fog/Smog, but we were there early so got some good photos before the masses arrived. Found out later that it was free to get in from 7:30am.. arg, as it was a Muslim holiday and many people come to pray at the morning prayer at the mosque next to the Taj.

So went out of the complex, changed hotels then went back into watch the prayer and take some more photos. After that went for a wander to the Agra fort train station, man talk about dirty, Agra is by far the dirtiest city ive ever visited, its reasonably clean around the Taj by Indian standards but away from there its filthy. Rubbish in the drains, cow shit everywhere, open sewers, bad. All along the river is like a landfill.

Booked tickets for a future train ride in Rajasthan then walked around the fort to the entrance and went in for a wander/ explore pretty impressive, the walls are massive and the fort area is huge, alot of it is used by the military but and wa used by the British as barracks in the past but alot of it is open to the public and has some nice palaces and garden areas. On the way back to the Taj area caught some rickshaws had a drive before visiting a few govt stores and a carpet shop before having a McDs feed my first in a couple of months. Then back to the hotel by foot and a feed and internet before crashing.