Diary: Friday 3 March 2000

Friday 3 March 2000

Our arrival in Agra yesterday was extremely fortuitous. All of the attractions are free on a Friday. Another case of our excellent forward planning. We were a little apprehensive that this would mean that everything would be terribly crowded. We needn’t have worried. Our first stop was, of course, the Taj Mahal. It lives up to and exceeds all expectations. It is spectacular and, surprisingly for India, it has not been allowed to fall into the decay of many other monuments. Apparently it took 6 years with a workforce of 20,000 to complete the complex. The work and detail is exquisite. It is by far the largest and most ornate gravestone that I have ever seen.

In the afternoon, we walked from the Taj Mahal, through Shah Jahan gardens to Agra Fort. Unfortunately, the fort has not been so well maintained. It is very similar to Lahore fort (designed and built by the same person, I think) but is possible less well preserved, with no evidence of restoration work. Still, it made for an interesting visit and the gardens were peaceful. You also have fantastic views to the Taj Mahal.

We had a late lunch at a Chinese restaurant (Chung Wah) that is recommended in the Rough Guide, having persuaded our rickshaw wallah that this really, really was the place that we wanted to eat. It later turned out that this restaurant does not offer rickshaw drivers commission as most restaurants in Agra do. We also had one hell of a job persuading him to drive straight back to the Hotel without visiting a couple of shops en route – more commission. Unfortunately, he wasn’t happy to take us to the shops and share his commission with us. We certainly wouldn’t have been buying anything so there wasn’t anything in it for us, except wasting an hour or so. We made him go straight back to the hotel but he was most disgruntled!

Evening spent writing postcards and sorting out photos.