Staying in Agra: Taj Mahal

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View of the great Taj from the rooftop restaurant.

In Agra we booked Hotel Kamal whitch turned out to be a really nice choice. It has a nice rooftop restaurant with a view of the monument (as most hotels near Taj Mahal) and some really friendly staff (they speak very good english as opposed to northern folk). There was a waitor at the restaurant (called Aamir) that we joked around with a bit and he ended up giving us a representation of curently the most popular Bollywood songs and dances. He was actually quite good. :) If you’d met him, you would love him instantly.

There we’ve met Claire and Rebecca. Would you guess they’re Canadian, eh? (damn, I hope I used it right :P) We got along really well, had some beer (which is really expensive compared to other things – it’s about 120Rp = 2€; coke is 20Rp :) ), and went to Mehtab Bagh park to see the Taj from behind at sunset. Sadly, there was no sunset – one moment the sun was there, the next, it was gone. I think this was the lamest sunset in my life. :)

This is only half the crowd at the entrance of the Taj in the morning.

The next morning was an early day too – we got up at 5:50 to get in line at the ticket office for Taj (the office opened at 6:30). This is the best way to se this marble if you want a photo that doesn’t have big black spots of tourists on it. To our luck it was the 26. of January: The Republic Day of India. That ment even less (Indian) tourists in the morning!

The ticket was expensive (750Rp = 11€ – relatively speaking, of course), but it is totally worth it. The next time I go to India, I am going to visit it again. It’s THAT specatular. The architecture can be best observed at sunrise or sunset. The direct sun at noon makes you think you’re looking at a cheap poster of the real thing. :)

This is where our paths seperated. In a few hours we were riding west (Bharatpur and the ruin city of Fatehpur Sikri!) and the girls were waiting for the train to Varnasi. Good luck to you girls and hope to see you again!

[geolocation]


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