Shah Jahan city

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I arrived in Agra by bus, (which took 5 hours), at noon - sooo hot! I had booked a room ahead so had to take a rickshaw from the station to the hotel. I inspected the room before taking it and was pleased with the result. After freshening up and settling in I had some food and set off to go see the Taj Mahal. I decided to walk there as I had been sitting for so long. Everyone thought I was bonkers cos the hotel was 7km away from it. But it was  nice to stretch the legs. I had a bottle of water with me and kept sipping to help with the heat.

When I entered through the gate and actually saw the Taj I was stunned. It just took my breath away. It  really is beautiful. All that white marble and how it just sits there against the sky. All four sides of the Taj are exactly the same. I must have spent almost 90 mins just walking round taking lots of pics and just sitting staring at it. Inside the Taj is the burial chamber of Shah Jehan and his wife (to whom the building is dedicated to). We had to take our shoes off to enter or cover them. No pics were allowed of the inside.

The annoying thing about most tourist sites in India is the touts. They really try the hard sell and follow you for ages trying to get you to buy items or to go to their shop or to be your guide. I usually ignore them and they eventually give up. I always ensure I have my sunglasses on so there is no eye contact with anyone. You really have to be thick skinned about it. Also I always haggle with all the drivers and shopkeepers as they always quote an over inflated price.

By the time I was done it was 6pm and it would soon be getting dark so I came out and got a rickshaw back to the hotel. Had some dinner there and went to bed. I didn't sleep very well though as I kept getting bitten by mosquitoes. I had applied a deet type cream and even slept in a mosquito net, but it didn't stop the buggers! Ggrrrrrr!

The next morning I was intending to go to Fatepur Sikri which is approx 40km outside of Agra and has a huge Mosque compoles, but there were problems with buses as there had been some kind of road block. So I went to see Agra Fort and just chilled for the rest of the day. Agra Fort is huge! I spent 2 hours just wandering around and I'm sure I didn't see all of it. I think it's the biggest fort in India.

When I got back to the hotel I started my blog (woo-hoo!) and whilst writing that got chatting to some of the other travellers. It was good to hear where others had been and where's good to go, so made some notes. In the evening whilst having my dinner one of the other guests joined me and said there's a cinema nearby and whether I fancy going. We went up, I think one of the Harry Potter films was playing, but cos no one else turned up they didn't put it on. Anyway the usher told us the film would be dubbed in hindi, which wasn't a problem for me, but would have been for Wayne, he he he.

Anyway at this point I felt something strange in my eye and tried to get it out. I couldn't see a thing, but could feel something. So I went back to the hotel and washed it out with some eyewash from my first aid kit and went to sleep. It was hurting me most of the night, so in the morning I got up at 6am and went to the hospital as it had become quite sore, red and painful during the night and I could hardly open it. Ths doctor gave me some eyedrops and tablets and told me I had conjuctivitus. He told me not to rub it and checked that there wasn't anything in my eye. He couldn't see anything. I have to put these drops in every 2 hours. So I didn't go anywhere today. Just went back to my room and rested. Am hoping the pain subsides. I was planning to leave Agra today, but will have to see how I feel tomorrow and hope to get away then.

The eye is slightly better today but still don't feel like doing anything, so am just going to chill some more. Defo leaving tomorrow though. Am off to Jaipur, so will go and sort out some accommodation soon.

I got bored of chilling and took up Wayne's offer to go out and about for some more sightseeing. We went to see the baby Taj Mahal - this was built before the actual Taj Mahal and is just a minuture version, not exactly the same as the big one. We also went to the back of the Taj Mahal to see the reflection in the Yumuna river and we went to Sikandra Fort, which is the last resting place of the Mughal emperor Akbar. We came back to the hotel to chill for a bit and then went out to a nice posh restuarant called Only mentioned in LP (Lonely Planet). The food was lovely and there was live usic. 2 guys were playing the tabla and the violin. I recognised most of the music as it was taken from bollywood films. It made a nice change to eat somewhere different. When we got back to the hotel i was exhasuted and said my goodbyes to Wayn and went to sleep. I had to be up really early to pack and leave the next day.