Agra

We took a private taxi for the 3 hour trip from Delhi to Agra. Along the way, we saw a lot of brick factories and kilns spewing black smoke. The factories were very primative.

Homestay

We decided to stay in a homestay with a family that had children around the same age as ours. And, it was located only 1.5 km from the East Gate of the Taj Mahal in a neighbourhood that didn’t have many tourists. There was also an amazing sweet stand at the end of the road where we discovered a delicious pastry which we think is called Khaja – although it doesn’t look like any of the images on the web. It looked like a samosa on the outside but had a sweet syrup filling and tasted like a mix between baklava and a donut. They were best hot – straight from the pan.

The family lived downstairs and the guest rooms were upstairs. However, there were strange vents in the floor and we could look into the family’s kitchen and living room and they could constantly watch us too… We had some issues with privacy and sometimes accidentally walked around in our underwear when they were cooking below! Here are some photos of our section of the homestay.

When we arrived at the house, they gave us a welcome ceremony by lighting a candle and putting some saffron and incense on our foreheads, and sprinkling us with Rose petals. They then asked us if we’d like them to cook us lunch and we said yes! They cooked for us (Biryani rice and raita) and then sat next to us and watched us eat which was a little uncomfortable. Then, we asked them how much the food costs and they said “Pay whatever you want”. Which was very awkward! We didn’t want to insult them and pay too little, but we also didn’t want to overpay. Having only been in India a few days, we didn’t know what prices were yet and we were staying at this house for 4 nights so we didn’t want to screw up. This made us feel so uncomfortable that we didn’t ask for them to cook for us again until the last day when we ordered breakfast.

Supposedly there were a couple of other guests staying there while we were there, but their stays were brief and we didn’t really see them.

Taj Mahal

We were excited to see the Taj Mahal so we decided to go for a walk that night and see it for sunset. Unfortunately, it took a bit longer than we expected to get to the viewpoint on the river so we missed sunset, but we got some nice images and ran into a bunch of monkeys and a cow wandering the lane on the way.

The next morning, we woke up early (5 am) to get out and see the Taj Mahal at sunrise. The good news was that kids under 15 are free! We bought our tickets online the night before so we wouldn’t have to wait in the ticket line, but when we arrived, there was a very long line to get in through the gate and security. But it was worth it; it really was beautiful – more beautiful than I was expecting! You are not allowed to take photos of the inside of the mausoleum, but the outside is the more beautiful part.

I’ve arranged the photos below to walk you through the journey you take to reveal the Taj Mahal so that you can feel like you are visiting. 😊

Agra Fort

The next day, we ventured out to see Agra Fort. We took a squished tuk-tuk ride and C had to sit next to the driver, while the rest of us squeezed into the back seat.

The fort was much bigger than expected! It served as a fort, palace, mosque and prison. It was built in the 1500s, so a hundred years before the Taj Mahal, but it is also along the river and has great views over to the Taj Mahal. Parts of the fort were red sandstone and other parts were white marble. Here are some photos of the fort.

The next day was the Holi festival and the family invited us to celebrate it with them. See the separate Holi post.

The Way to Jaipur

There were lots of nice things to see on the 4.5 hour drive to Jaipur. Unfortunately, C was struck down with “Delhi Belly” the night before our trip and was very ill on the car ride, but managed to not throw up… Here are some of the views from the car:

To pass the time, K and I played a game to count the number of random cows along the way. The parameters were that the cows 1. could not be in a field, 2. could not be tied up or have a rope/collar on, 3. had to be randomly walking/standing along the road within about 3 meters (9 feet) of it. Our final ‘Cow count’ on the trip was: 458