"Agra" Agra by Hui-Hui

From Jaipur to Agra (Rajasthan to Uttar Pradesh ) our bus passed through an enormous countryside. The road condition was very bad. There were wide fields, houses made of soil and people who got extremely curious on us. Animals were also common to see and few farmers showed some vegetables along the road for sales. I even saw some people squatting on farms doing “very nature things”!!

When we approached Fatepur Sikri, our traveling guide said that most of people in this area were Muslim and illiterate and they were poor. We could notice that compared to the former places which we had visited it was really a mess! Unfortunately when we arrived at Fatepur Sikri, it was already very dark. But we still could see the grand gate built on a huge stage of stairs with high walls.

After we made our efforts to take good pictures, we walked back to our bus. While approaching our bus, we were shocked by what we saw. So many touts gathered and blocked the door of the bus. They somehow “fight” for good position to show and bawl their goods to our group members inside. How a messy and noisy scene was! When my sister and I stood already in the back of the touts, they still concentrated on their business without noticing our existence. Especially a young guy with white Muslim hat bawled so loud… Finally some touts were aware of us and asked him to stop… And the guy felt sorry and gave the way to us. When all the group members were back to the bus, the traveling guide asked us “Do you take interest in their goods?”. All of us answered “NO” and then the bus left immediately.

Finally we arrived at Mughal Sheraton Hotel where we would stay two nights. The hotel was even more luxury than the hotel in Jaipur. We walked through gallery with ponds (gardens) at two sides. The wide lobby covered by white marble was gorgeous with the biggest crystal lamp like UFO which I ever saw so far in my life. There were also a huge screen showing sport matches, a gym and a swimming pool etc. In addition, the hotel received a lot of western tourists… All proved that the nearby Taj Mahal was such an important spot attracting a big amount of tourists all over the world!

The design of the restaurant was a mix of Indian and western culture. There were various choices on dishes especially many kinds of desserts. But I didn’t like ice cream in India as it tasted so creamy and a little bit artificial. The waiters here were unfriendly. We asked them tea but they served it to us about 20 minutes late after we kept reminding them several times. Probably they were so used to foreign tourists that they lost passion to serve us!

The next dat my sister and I took a quick breakfast. (I found something special-an Indian fried bread) And then we rushed to some shops in hotel. We took a long time in a shop of bronze and wooden statues and bags decorated by beads. I was thinking to take a wooden Ganesha but none of them was fine enough or at fair price. The bags were just small and too glittering and I would have no chance to use them in Taiwan… Then I did a fast purchase of three ties. (30 USD to 20 USD)

Taj Mahal

We left the hotel about 8:30am. Finally I had chance to see Agra city in day but frankly speaking I found the street scenes normal just like big township. Only few big nice bazaar, traffic lights and traffic jam told us its status of city. As always there were many cows on the street but I didn’t see cute camels!

We arrived at a park for taking bus driven by electronic power. Besides touts, there were also some policemen/soldiers with real guns against terrorists in the parks. Taj Mahal was an important cultural heritage in India. Due to the boost of industrialization the acid rain destroyed white marble architecture so the government did lawmaking to forbid any petroleum vehicles running around. There were two ways to approach Taj Majal: 1) horse wagon and 2) small bus driven by electronic power. Personally I preferred the former but I had to take the latter…

After few minutes we got off the bus and had to walk for a while to reach the west gate of Taj Mahal. There were shops along and some T-shirt hung with price mark 1 USD. I didn’t believe that it was real price! At the checkpoint everyone was checked strictly. It was forbidden to bring extra water, lighter and batteries etc. Although men and women were separate, I still felt quite bad while being touched on chest by a female soldier!

Taj Mahal seemed to situate in a huge pretty garden. There were a lot of green plants, trees, grass and flowers around us. When we passed through a red gate, the white marble building showed up! It was incredibly beautiful of perfect symmetric design like a fantastic dream which I couldn’t touch! My sister and I were so happy that we couldn’t help to take maaaany pictures in front of it. And then we walked closer and closer and kept making pictures… (Attention: Some guys showed you some good points for good pictures and then they asked you tips!!) However, closer we were, less powerful the magic was. After putting on shoes cover, we walked on the stage and entered the main hall. There were two marble coffins beset with very fine patterns of red and green. (Big one was for King;; small one was for Taj.) Actually the hall was small compared to the size of the whole architecture! It was really crazy to spend 22 years building such a huge palace just for setting coffin(s).

It was at noon. Because of heat my sister and I felt so tired but we did our best to walk to the red mosque at right. The door was close and I saw some big frightening bee honeycombs on the ceiling… And then we just walked back to the entrance along shadow and bought some developed pictures which were taken by a photographer about 1 hour ago. (100 Rs per one) Well, now I really regret not walking to the back of Taj Mahal for watching a river there!!

Before lunch, we visited a scarf shop. The owner from Kashmir treated us Kashmir green tea. It smelled and tasted good with spices. Then there came a show of various kinds of scarf like normal cashmere with 2-side embroiders, Pashmina (hair from sheep’s neck) and others mixed with silk or cotton etc. The quality was very high. And after hard bargain, we got 45% off! Compared to the prices in Taiwan they are really fair!

Again my sister and I took a quick lunch. Afterwards we wrote and sent postcards and looked around in another shops in the hotel. The postage was very cheap. No matter where the destination was, it only cost 10 Rs! We visited a stationery & book shops. My sister took interest in notebooks with simple paintings of Taj Mahal and king & queen. The original unit price was 500 Rs and we bargained for getting two for 500 Rs… But we failed and just left. I also went to the other sari shop…A clerk asked me where I was from. I answered “Taiwan” and then he said “Oh, Taiwan is a good country!” I requested “why do you think that Taiwan is a good country?” He got mute and didn’t know how to reply me. I felt annoyed and then left the shop immediately.

Red fort

In the afternoon we left for red fort. Besides foreign tourists it also attracted a plenty of Indians. I was stunned by its magnificent wall which looked so solid. Especially the gate was really a grandeur! Inside there were some residences for royal families. Summer palace and winter palace were all in red with some carving. A deep hole at atrium was for worshiping God of Sun… There were also residences for prince, two princesses and Shah Jahan. Sadly all the decorations (jewels & statutes) inside the palaces and residences were “stolen” by British during colony times so somehow there left only empty shells. However the residence where Shah Jahan had spent his last years was still beset by jewels as the most beautiful room. I also saw the balcony from which he had watched Taj Mahal every day… By the way, like amber fort there was a private balcony for king & queen in red fort. The view was great.

After leaving palaces, we arrived at a wide square with a huge white Hall of Public Audience. It could be the biggest hall which I had seen in India. In the center there was a pretty stage for king beset by jewels. Next to the hall a tomb was there. It belonged to the first British governor in India who had died in a battle. It looked lonely and a little scary in sunset… On the way to leave the red fort, I saw a red-face monkey sitting on a stele of introduction. It didn’t fear human beings at all…

We did a visit in an inlaid marble factory. It was interesting to see how this ancient skill worked. There also showed a lot of goods of the art. There were very shining, beautiful and also expensive! I took interest in some ear rings but one pair cost 1,750 Rs (pink crystal in shape of water drop fixed by silver on the top)!! Probably the clerk didn’t know that a pink crystal bracelet could cost only 10 NTD (13,5 Rs) in Taiwan!!!

At dinner my sister and I had a lot of mutton rice with beans. It was the best dish which we had so far in Agra. After meal it was shopping time again! We first bought some paris of shoes and went to a scarf shop where we met other group members. I looked for a pink scarf with pattern for my Japanese friend, Makiko and they helped me choose a good one. A sales tried to find out and show me more scarves meeting my requirements but I still liked one the best… And my sister started teasing him and teaching him a Taiwanese CF song “pinky, pinky, pinky…” He was quite fun and agreed the price requested by my sister 20 USD from 32 USD. Because of some funny misunderstandings the owner and a Taiwanese represent had fight on wrists. It was such a joyful moment when Taiwan won! We did cheering loud and said “free, free, free” like crazy. In the end the owner was very kind to give the guy white scarf as gift!

9th Oct. was our last complete day in India… It was an unhappy moment to leave the pretty ponds, crystal UFO and shops… Our first stop of the day was Sikandra, Akbar tomb. But before it our bus stopped in front of a sweet shop because our bus server would like to buy some sweets for coming Diwali. I did catch this chance for buying local Indian sweets and spicy cracker! (a box of sweet-70Rs; a package of crackers- 20 Rs) The gate and main structure of Sikandra were all red with white-line decoration. They located in a wide and quiet park with a lot of “exotic” trees. There was a group of black-face monkeys stayed in the square. It was interesting to observe them as they behaved like human beings and sometimes could be very naughty and noisy. The paintings (red, blue, black and gold) inside the main building were fine… After walking through a narrow and dark path, we arrived at the hall where king’s coffin situated. A grave guard did a long singing and the wall produced echoes… Finally we took attitude of respect walking around the coffin counterclockwise… (And the guard asked tip) The atmosphere was rather heavy and a little bit scary.

• Pros:Taj Mahal & Red Fort
• Cons:very touristic
• In a nutshell:A city of well-known world heritage-Taj Mahal