Saturday 4th october - day 43
agra
Up at 5am for the sunrise, and
retty much everyone has the same idea, we head out at 5.45m with a girl emma from mexico.
We walk to the taj from our hostel which takes 15mins.. tickets are 750 and we join the que to get in.
Were inside by about 6.30 and its already busy..
The taj was built by the mughal emperor shah jahan for his favourite wife mumtaz mahal who died in 1631. The tomb is described as an image of the islamic garden of paradise and one of the most elegant and harmonious buildings in the world.
inside the tomb is plain in colour with white marble but is filled with intricate details such as the engraved 'pietra dura' floral designs and the calligrahic panels of koranic verses.
Perfectly symmetrical, flanked by four minarets and centred by a 44ft dome, the bright white marble tomb looks even more impressive against the bright blue of the sky and the lotus pool infront.
We take some great pics while its not too hectic and walk along the charbagh water to the tomb entrance.
The inside also contains a number of 'pishtq' archways which reflect the light to give the tomb a mystical aura. The graves themselves are in a dark crypt below the tomb chamber.
We spend a few hours exploring the grounds and looking out over agra city towards agra fort before we head out for some breakfast.
We get a typical indian breakfast in a local place on the way home - spicy potato curry like sauce with natural yougart and samosa type bread - 25p each!
We get a rickeresh to the agra fort with a guy called lala who is the tinyest and nicest driver we've had - he even lets us have a go driving - which is not as easy as it looks and probably a death wish.
We arrive in one piece and arrange for lala to pick us up for the train later at 4.30.
On the way down we also see the large crowds of locals celebrating a one of the many october festivals. locals are riding around on rickeresh's that have been fixed with huge speakers, dancing behind and along the cars and throwing coloured paint over each other. Its an amazing sight to watch.
We arrive at agra fort still quite early and its nice and quiet. The red sandstone fort was built between 1565 and 1573 along the west bank of the river Yamuna. We explore the various open halls, courtyards and gardens. From the famous musamman burj you get a fantastic view in the distance of the taj. The burj is where Shah Jahan was imprisoned by his son and spent the last years of his life. The burj also contains a small private mosque 'mina masjid' that was used by shah.
After a few hours in the fort it gets really hot and the crowds are pouring in so we take a rik back to the hostel - which takes while to get back to the hostel due to the crowds from the festival. A nap later and some dinner with a guy from rome and an australian guy, we head to the train station with the 2 canadian girls (sydney and erin) for our train to jaipur.

The train platforms are always intresting.. hoards of people with bags of rice, sugar, spices, ridiculous amounts of luggage and all in super eager to board the train before anyone else. Not even letting people off first, people are swinging up into the open train doors whilst the train is still moving. Our first general seat experience and although the train is grotty from the outside and badly dated inside, the seats are comfy and the carridge is quite quiet. Having dinner before we left was a bad idea as they serve you food constantly throughout the journey. 2 kids hang over the back of their chairs, staring at us pretty much the entire way. Once we get off at Jaipur, the 4 of us, plus 3 other girls we recognise from the agra hostel, all make our way via rik to the zostel in jaipur. Syd and erin are sharing bottom bunk for 1 night as everything is booked out. We are sharing the dorm with 4 indian girls. Its refreshing to see that they all have amazing sounding jobs, and contary to the belief that its unacceptable for indian women to be able to travel they are travelling alone and in hostel dorms.