(I can't get pics to upload, so links will have to suffice)
A five hour bus-ride gets you from Jaipur to Agra; it's a nice ride through rolling farmland. There were little huts every half-mile selling basically the same rubbish over and over again. The one exact item they all offered was dried cow patties. Some stores had multiple stacks five feet high of the stuff. It kindof seemed like the currency of the countryside. I imagine chicken cooked over an open shit flame is delicious.
Once in Agra, it doesn't take long to realize that there's not much going for it other than the Red Fort and the Taj Mahal. The Red Fort was fine; it is where the British first received permission for their East India Company to trade in India. The forts in Jaipur were more impressive except for the fact that the Red Fort has views of the Taj Mahal. Unfortunately, it hasn't been kept up too well, and the army still uses about 2/3's of it.
There's not much to say about the Taj Mahal. Even the entrance gates are amazing. We went on a Sunday, and it was a madhouse of tourists and locals, but it couldn't detract from the Taj. There was a huge line of people to get inside, and being my impatient self, I was ready to call it quits. Luckily, there's a blond girl in the tour group, and when the guards saw her, they waived us all to the front of the line. While I'm glad I got to go inside, it's mainly just so I can say for certain that the inside is definitely not the impressive part.
Right now I am on an express train to Orchha. A quiet train ride through the countryside should be required after ever day or so in an Indian city.
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