AGRA & THE TAJ MAHAL
12th - 13th April 2015
After the mayhem of Kathmandu, the adventure mixed with exhaustion of the Himalayas, being Nepoorly in Chitwan, the damp mosquito ridden hotel in Gorakpur and the complete wonder and madness of Varanasi, we decided to treat ourselves to a little luxury. We checked in to a five star hotel complete with swimming pool, room service, breakfast and Taj Mahal view from the bed for 35 quid each.
It was fan-bloody-tastic ! We kicked off with a snooze as the train ride from Varanasi was 13 hours through the night rolling into the station round 6am. They let us check in straight away and the bed was more comfortable than our one at home.
We woke up in time for lunch and popped down the road to Pinch of Spice for some incredible butter chicken. Then it was time to check out the pool. It was wet. Conditions were perfect.
The thing we didn't realise was that in five star hotels, you have to tip EVERYONE. Otherwise they lurk and ask you if they gave good service. Awkward. And then comes the difficult decision of how much to tip? The funniest sight was our crappy travelling bags atop the shiny baggage trolley, pushed by an immaculately turned out attendant.
In the afternoon the sky suddenly went black and soon after, a lightening storm rolled in, bringing tonnes of rain with it. We retreated to our room to watch the spectacular light show, the Taj Mahal disappeared and reappeared in front of our eyes. It seemed only right to order a couple of mojitos and put our feet up. As the rain showed no signs of stopping, we ordered dinner to our room. Will had said to the guy on the intercom that it was our anniversary, sort of to explain why two scruffy travellers were staying in a classy place like this (it wasn't) but we were given a FREE cake with our meals, complete with 'Happy Anniversary' iced on the top. Bonus!
The next day we woke before dawn to watch the sun rise over the Taj. We tuk a tuk tuk to the quiet north bank of the river. The driver laughed when I cringed at a motorbike coming right for us on the wrong side of the road and informed us 'in India you need 3 things when you're driving: good horn, good brakes and good luck'! Too right! They should also add 'good life insurance'. We waited in anticipation, unfortunately it was still cloudy from the storm the night before and the sunrise was non existent. Not to be put off, we took advantage of our early start to beat the crowds to the Taj. We splashed out on an audio tour, popped in our headphones and got lost in a world of Mughal history. (Or as Will liked to say 'muggle' history). The Taj is basically just a massive tomb for the emperor Shah Jahan's most beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal. Set in immaculate gardens the whole building is completely symmetrical and was built using white marble inlaid with precious stones. The best part is when you walk through the three story archway and get your first glimpse of the whole scene, as the perfectly symmetrical building lines up with the perfectly symmetrical gardens, which is reflected in the perfectly symmetrical pool, which is framed by the perfectly symmetrical archway. Then Shah Jahan went and ruined it when he died, as Mumtaz was already in the dead centre of the room, so they put him next to her, throwing the whole thing off.
After being accosted by loads of Indian and Asian tourists for photos we were finally able to make our escape back to the hotel for an incredible all you can eat breakfast. We ate pancakes with maple syrup, fresh fruit, an English breakfast - Indian style, smoothies on tap and South Indian sweet treats. Will had a cookery lesson and made me one - guess which is his...
After feeling fully restored, we headed back out, to the Agra Fort. We moseyed around for an hour, taking in the sheer scale of the fort, part of whic is still used today by the Indian army. Poor old Shah Jahan spent the last 8 years of his life imprisoned here by his usurping son. Not a nice way to treat your heart broken father. However, his prison was a beautiful octagonal tower, with Taj views - bet he didn't have 24 hour room service or a pool. We went back to our pool and chilled out until it was time to catch the train to Dehli.
