Agra- The Taj Mahal

Agra- The Taj Mahal

Agra is a city of over 1 million people with one main reason that anybody visits…The Taj Mahal (entrance fee Indians/foreigners 20r/750r)and to a lesser extent the Agra fort (entrance fee 20r/300r).

It’s biggest natural resource seems to be its ability to produce touts. From the young to the very old- everyone is a tout in Agra. They will try to bleed you dry of every cent that you have but when you see the conditions they live in on a day to day basis you can’t blame them. We are the gravy train that only stays one day…never to return again. We had a child follow us for over 2 km trying to sell us some coasters while we were on a walk!! No transaction is cut and dry here, even going to the shop to get some water. That conversation would probably go something like this:

“Good afternoon sir. How are you today?”

“Very good now boss. Can I have a 2 litre bottle of water please?”

“Of course sir. How many?”

“Just the one boss”

“Would you like some crisps or chocolate sir?”

“Just the water please”

“Would you like a guide? My brother has a tuk-tuk and can show you the best places to see the Taj.”

“Just the water please”

“Why don’t you want to give my brother a chance sir? Just meet him for 1 minute.”

“Just the water please”

“Ok sir. I understand. Here’s your change”

“It’s fifty short”

“No, its not. Look you gave me 100. It’s 10,20,30. Oh, I am so sorry sir. Here you are.”

“You’re some boyo.”

Besides the touts and the aesthetically dreadful town, the Taj Mahal is……absolutely amazing!!! It is by far the most amazing and beautiful building I have ever seen. It is picture perfect. Nothing I have seen can come close to it. The fact that it was built out of love for the Maharaja’s dead wife made it even more special for us because we are on our honeymoon.

While many foreigners think the entrance fee of 750r is extortionate in comparison to the mere 20r an Indian national pays, we did find one particular local shopkeeper who sided with us. While we sat and enjoyed our purchases, he chatted away about the cricket, India’s chances of winning, warned us against the dangerous touts and guides and advised us to trust nobody. He then complained about the 750 Taj entrance fee for foreigners, telling us how he even wrote a letter to the government in our favour, we were thoroughly won over by him, at last a nice honest Indian man not out to screw us! As we were paying, he asked us did we want anything else, postcards, trinkets, chocolate, water? Although we didn’t exactly need any water we decided to buy a litre from him, where he then proceeded to overcharge us by 50%! Ah, this is indeed India!

We stayed in Agra for 3 nights at the Saniya Palace which had a lovely view of the Taj and we did little but visit the Taj, explore the town, get our laundry done and generally relax. It was too long in Agra and I would recommend just a day trip from Dehli but we wanted to get the morning train that would be met by an express bus to our next destination, Khajuraho…The Karma Sutra temples

Our rating of Agra:

Sights: 10/10 Tourist facilities: 4/10 City: 1/10