Agra-vating, or Day 61 in Agra

We arrived bright and early to Agra, about 6:30 in the morning. We both got a fair amount of sleep (but that didn't stop us from napping on the bus to and from Fatehpur Sikri). Our first task was to find a hotel, which is a bit more challenging at 7am than it is at noon because people haven't checked out for the day. We first looked all around the area by the Taj Mahal, but everything was too expensive (read: $6 a night instead of $4) for its cleanliness. We took a rickshaw to an area by the buses to Fatehpur Sikri, then settled for a cleaner hotel, but a "more expensive" price (read: $9).

Then, it was taking the bus to Fatehpur Sikri. This was a Mogul castle and the capital of their empire for a bit, but then, the next emperor didn't follow in his predecessor's footsteps, so it just turned into a giant town of ruins.

Max, of course, loves this because it means that there are plenty of crevasses to explore and stairs to climb.

The surrounding countryside was also fascinating, since it was verdant farmlands with buffalo being used as beasts of burden.

The city itself had a few interesting features. One of my favorites was this tower made of elephant tusks, which was right by a large stadium. It is said that the emperor would execute people with his favorite "executor elephant," who would roam around in the ring and stomp them to death. This tower marks the spot where the elephant died. (They closed it so we couldn't go up right before we got there.)

We also wandered around in a giant mosque, the biggest in India. It was huge, but there was apparently some festival going on, so the amount of people in it was huge as well. We kept getting pestered, and got a few pictures snapped of us, before I went to go see the tomb there.

Emperor Akbar went to this place to pray for children, and got them, so now childless women go and tied red strings to the grating around the tomb and pray as well. (But there were a lot of crying children around, so I'm wondering if they come back to say thank you as well.)

Lastly, of course, there is the climbing up onto random towers around the premises. Yet somehow, no matter how crazy it was to get up, there was a few children following us selling fans or postcards or just chattering and poking.

We were exhausted after a late morning to afternoon in the sun (and I smartened up and bought sunscreen), so napped on the bus back, then looked for an air-conditioned place for lunch. Neither of us was that hungry, but we ended up eating chapati with a tomato-based sauce that was enjoyable.

Next, Max thought the "Baby Taj" would be a good place to go. It was amazing, just small enough to be fully explored and enjoyed, but just big enough to be impressive. The artwork was still pretty intact, which was what made it amazing. But there was also a nice little garden that let me capture some pretty flower shots.

The river by Agra is much cleaner than the one by Delhi. It actually flows, and there are green things growing next to it (not just in it). I saw a group of boys splashing around in it, and got a bit jealous. It is pretty hot...

Our last stop of the day was Agra Fort. According to Max, I now have my fort quotient filled for India. This one was impressive and offered some nice evening views over to the Taj Mahal (which is the first thing we are doing in the morning, hopefully before the heat and crowds hit).

As we sat and watched the Taj, a guard came up, and possibly threatened to arrest us. We couldn't really tell with his broken English. Max thinks "extort" is a better word for what he was doing. All I know is that he was friendly (once we moved back behind the railing) and he was awful proud of being a policeman.

A gang of monkeys greeted us on the way out, and Max decided to try to scare on. It moved a few feet before turning around and baring its teeth at him. I'd rather not have to find a hospital to treat rabies. So we avoided them after that.

With the sun setting (and the fort fully explored), we went back to where we had lunch, around the Sadar Bazaar. I got some random Indian treats (possibly dried bananas and some "tomato poppers") to tide me over on the bus/train tomorrow back to Delhi. And with that, our Golden Triangle will be finished!

(Note: the festival at the big mosque at Fatehpur Sikri was memorializing the death of a Muslim woman, according to a guy who's sitting at the computer next to me at the Internet cafe and reading over my shoulder. No privacy at these places, but hey, I'm publishing it to the entire Internet anyway.)