QUEUING WITH THE FREEDOM FIGHTERS

The train to Agra was not what we thought we'd booked. It turns out that there are several types of sleeping coach. The sleeper class we booked was little more that a skanky hovel on wheels so we quickly tracked down a ticket collector and payed to upgrade to the 3 tier air conditioned carriage. We are currently staying in a lovely hotel in Agra. It has a lovely garden resturant and is less than 100 meters from the Taj Mahal. We've sat having dinner in the resturant surrounded by chipmunks, monkeys and lizards. We visited the Taj just after sunrise and it was more impressive that I remembered. Sarah thought it was wonderful. We later got a dodgy rickshaw to Agra station so that we could get our next lot of train tickets. The rickshaw broke down on the way and the driver seemed to think it was fine to restart his deathtrap of a vehicle by wedging electrical cables into the engine with live matches!! I think we are starting to get the hang of the train ticket booking. There is a window in most stations that is reserved for Foreign Tourists and "Freedom Fighters" (by which we assume they mean the Armed Forces?). We've also visited Fatephur Sikri. It is a beautiful red sandstone city with amazing views over the surrounding countryside. We went very early in the morning which meant that we had the place almost to ourselves.

Next stop Jaipur...