Agra and the Taj Mahal

When going from Pushkar to Agra, we bought tickets for a special tourist sleeper bus, which turned out to be a local bus with hardly any room for us! Long story short, all 3 of us girls were crammed in a 6 x 3 area with all our big backpacks and tried to enjoy the lovely ride! There were people everywhere lying in the aisle and we had to maneuver around them to get off the bus.

 Agra is a very frustrating place. You are constantly being hassled, harassed and touched by people to buy things.  If it weren’t for the Taj Mahal I would have moved on to another town! We had another 5am rising to be able to beat some of the crowds, which was well worth it. The Taj was definitely worth all the hype. It’s just a masterpiece of a building…flawless.
And here are some pics of the infamous Taj Mahal....

Reflections.....

On my last night before I had to head back to Thailand, Megan and I decided to get some henna tattoos! The detail that these people do is amazing. There were hundreds of ladies getting henna done and we finally figured out that it was because there was a festival starting the next day. Because we weren’t local, the guy did our henna in about 3 minutes flat! You let it dry for an hour and then flake off the mud. It usually lasts for about a week or two.

 The poverty level in India is at a totally different level than any place that I’ve ever witnessed.  Regardless of those that are constantly trying to haggle you, the country is still filled with amazing, friendly people.  On my bus to New Delhi to catch my flight, a woman, who didn’t speak English offered me to sit down next to her and gave me some fruit and had me listen to some of her music. Again, the two words I would use describe India……amazing and disheartening.