Friday 7 September 2012

Jaipur to Agra

I had a lazy start to the day after the strains, mentally more than physically, of yesterday. After rechecking my train ticket I discovered I had an extra few hours to kill before my train so I headed into the city for some last minute shopping. I had been meandering through the bazaars aimlessly when I was approached by a man asking that all too familiar question 'why do tourists hate Indians?', I told him I didn't have time and was due to catch a train, which fell on his hears with doubt. I insisted it was true but then somehow, once again, found myself on the back of a motorbike being whisked to a coffee shop en route to my hotel where we were to 'chat'. He had informed me he was working with the Indian tourist board and that all he wanted was for me to talk about my time in India. We ordered a coffee and he gave me a form to fill out asking me to name my top 5 pet peeves of India (only 5??!!). He then took a phone call which lasted for about ten minutes, I was just packing up to go when he insisted we go through the form together. At the top of my list was the differing prices for foreign tourists and nationals at various sights, he replied that this was because we were rich and they were poor, a weak and generalistic argument from a supposed member of the tourist board. He then proceeded to my fifth point, more of an expansion on my first really, that shop owners/rickshaws will instantly triple prices when they notice your Western, this seemed to please him, and in my opinion he revealled his true motive. He told me that his uncle owns a shop selling everything not 5 minutes away by bike and he became very insistent I should visit with him as he offered fair prices. Angry at falling for his scam yet eager to keep my cool in light of yesterdays incident, i simply put my share of the bill on the table, said goodbye and left. Now I really was running late for my train. I grabbed a guilty pleasure KFC and made my way hurridly back to the hotel.

I arrived sweating and slightly flustered, I met a German girl who was also catching the same train so we shared a rickshaw. On arrival the driver insisted that the fare of 100 rupees was per person, a new one to me and one which echoed point 5, we grudgingly paid running to late to argue. We parted ways as the girl headed for her first class ac compartment and I to my second class sitting sweat box but arranged to meet on the other side.

The journey passed quickly enough despite a couple of hours delay in the middle somewhere. We reunited, the girl looking refreshed and cool and me feeling dirty and sweaty, and shared a rickshaw into the Taj area of Agra. It was difficult to judge what the city was like in the darkness, the traffic being similar to the other big cities, chaotic, and all the familiar smells of over population, shit. I was dropped first and we made loose arrangements to meet at the Taj at sunrise (can't say I'll utter those words again but it felt rather romantic/like I was a spy arranging a secret drop-off, either or).

I went into the hotel to the reverbaration of raised voices coming from the reception, two americans claiming the host was a money grabber, not a good start. I waited for the situation to diffuse then approached the owner, a fat man in his 30's with a tear drop tattoo under his right eye and a constant grin on his face. He showed me to a spartan room with a window looking onto the corridor and nothing adorning the walls except dirt and mould, the bathroom was in a similar state only it smelled worse. I asked if this was the only room, which of course it was, and as it was dark, against my better judgement ,I took it.

One of the main selling points was its rooftop view of the Taj, I climbed the stairs and was met by an empty terrace and complete darkness on all sides. To my surprise they don't light up the Taj at night, so as I sat with a beer squinting to make out the dark outline of one of the most iconic buildings in the world I decided that this was to be a fleeting visit and that I should make my way to Delhi in the afternoon, how wrong I was to be.

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