Ok so, I said I'd put up photos this entry but again totally forgot to bring my camera from the hotel (don't worry it's under lock and key and padlocked in my bag which is padlocked to the bathroom door!!!)next time I will definitely put some up as have got some pretty cool ones of the Taj Mahal and various other bits and bobs...

So since last time we've left Delhi and moved to Agra, home of the Taj Mahal. the three hour journey was surprisingly stress free, although New Delhi station is a bit mental and when we first got into our carriage (3rd class AC, actually not too bad as not all the seats around us were taken so just us and a couple of indian guys in the carriage) we did get a bit a eve teasing from this water wallah...he kept trying to make us buy bottled water and when we ignored him he kept stroking Jade's arm and nudging her with a water bottle and then did the same to me- that is until we threatened to call the Tourist Police, haha!!anyway, as I said pretty stress free apart from that. Saw some interesting sights on the way to Agra including what looked like a brick works, ladies doing their washing on the railway line and lots of animals including buffalo, cows, pigs and goats. Got to Agra station ok and got a prepaid (set price) autorickshaw with a guy called Ali (nice middle aged man, though with almost comically bad teeth-really brown and sticky out, and I thought mine were bad!) to our hotel. Chilled out last night and watched the gorgeous view from the rooftop cafe, the sun setting over the Taj Mahal isn't the worst sight in the world anyway!!

Today we got up at the crack of dawn, though as soon as we turned on the light there was a power cut for 10mins before the generator kicked in, good thing we had torchesas it's been happening a fair bit since we got here!!got the the Taj around 6.30 and paid the 750R entry fee (pretty steep even by our standards at over a tenner) to see the 7th wonder of the world itself, and it definitely didn't disappoint. What you can't see from any of the pictures is how much detail has gone into it, it's actually inlaid with precious stones which were (and still are) handcut to fit the design. Also, it's totally symmetrical with 4 gates (North, East, South and West) and lovely peaceful gardens surround it. A real feat of the Mughal era, it seems amazing that it was built in just 25 (I think!) years because of how much attention to detail there is!

the rest of the day was spent on an autorickshaw tour with crazy Ali who we'd hired from yesterday. Agra is quite different from Delhi in that although the roads are still absolutely crazy with about 4 lanes of traffic (cycle and auto rickshaws, bicycles, motorcycles and cars as well as buffalo and horse drawn carts, hand carts etc etc), it's not quite as smoggy and there is definitely more of a country feel to the place, with absolutely loads of cows, donkeys and goats about the place. Also, open sewers on the roads near where we are staying provide a treat (or rather not) for the sense... breathing through your mouth is an absolute must!

Sights we saw today included the baby taj (some tomb of another Mughal leader who I can't recall the name of but it was built before the Taj and is basically a smaller version but also very pretty), Mehtabh Bagh which is a garden type area on the other side of th Jamuna river where you get an interesting view of the Taj from behind and the Agra fort, a Mughal stronghold that has been home over the centuries to many different rulers as well as the British and now is a Unesco world heritage site. Pretty funny when we were there, this whole family (little baby boy included)wanted to have their pictures taken with us, and we had to just sit there while they all took turns posing. the Little boy was having none of it but his mum insisted that he sit still and try to look happy while we posed awkwardly with him in between. Poor thing!

We also did a spot of browsing in some shops, in particular a marble work shop where we were shown the techniques used to put the decorative stones in the Taj which are still used today. We might of spent a bit of money on some souvenirs too, though are haggling went pretty well!!We also went to a jewellers where they had beautiful wall-hangings embroidered with gold thread and precious stones, I nearly laughed out loud when the guy tried to make us buy a wall hanging that cost about 180 pounds, but it was all really amazing stuff and a shame we aren't both millionaires!!

One negative today, so far we had avoided being bitten by mossies but today I got bitten twice on my feet. Hopefully this isn't a sign that the mosquitos love me because I don't think I could deal with that, I already stink of mossie repellant and don't really want to move onto any more potent stuff!

Anyway, on to Jaipur tomorrow, the Pink City. up early for our 5 hour train journey at 7.40am, it's gonna be a long day!!

Love from Agra xxxx