A few Days in Agra...

...Where the Taj Mahal stands on its marble platform over looking the Yamuna river. It really is a beautiful and majestic sight. It has been described as 'a teardrop on the face of eternity.'

To get to Agra we had a short Train Journey from Delhi on one of the antiquated Indian trains with its prison-like bars over the windows. The seats were more like church pews, quite uncomfortable after a couple of hours. The train passed through numerous fields dotted with mud and straw houses. We also passed by areas of factories surrounded by very poor shanty towns. The living conditions were destitute but despite this, the people seemed well dressed while they socialized and laughed together. I found myself wondering if these were the living conditions of the workers in the factories they lived next too. I began to feel guilty thinking that people may have to live in these conditions so that we can enjoy Indian made products in the Western world. Most of the rivers we passed were clogged with plastics and garbage and the water flowed like thick and grey sludge, down stream you could see people washing clothing and bathing in it. Fairly disturbing.

As we approached Agra we passed scruffy looking monkeys who rifled through the garbage alongside the tracks. From the train station we had a short transfer to our hotel which is a nice clean backpackers lodge. We went the afternoon we arrived to the Taj, which was so beautiful (check some of the photos on this page and with the 'More Photos' link on the right hand side of this page). The beauty of the Taj seemed in strange contrast to what we had seen from the train and certainly to the area around the Taj, which is busy, polluted and dirty.

I have found that the polluted air is causing some real irritation in the back of my throat and mouth and unfortunately Steff has gotten a seriously wobbly tummy (but is well on the mend now), so we are taking a day out and will be back to it tomorrow with a visit to the old 15th century red Moghhl fort here in Agra.

Our next move is set with the tickets that we bought today for the overnight train journey to Varanasi, one of the earths oldest living cities, that has maintained its religious traditions back to the 6th century BC. We will arrive in the city on Monday morning and are planning on spending a good bit of time there (assuming that we enjoy it).

Thats all for now. I hope that all is well with our family and friends, we are thinking of you... Lots of Love:-)

P.S. For more photos check out the link above-right.