The Taj Mahal, nothing short of majestic really. It lives up to all expectations. It's true that at the end of the day it is just a big thing made of marble but the romance, the elegance, the meaning, it's majestic.... but I don't think I need to go about it. I mean we've all heard about it or seen it on the telly or sifted through some old friends boring pics of the architectural monster so I wont say anything more about it. So the girls (Ash and Wendy) had shot off for the day to Fatephur thing-a-ma-jig and I followed the instructions to visit the Agra fort (did I write about this already?)... the fort was gigantuan... and I loved it.. yep, I wrote about this already, I remember now imagining being somebodies concubine....
So speeding up to the next morning when I wake with the birds (the vultures to be more specific) and head to the Taj for opening time... I was surprised to be only one of a few tourists up at this hour to enjoy the peace and quiet at the Taj, pleasently surprised of course. But I was in a slight pickle, cos everyone wants a pic with themselves and the Taj, but I was without friends and without a host of tourists to annoy and ask for help... along comes the moustached saviour for today.. Like a seasoned professional he took full control of my camera and threw countless instructions at me; "sit down", "stand up", "feet up", "smile more", "stop laughing", "move there", "smile more hard" etc etc... The result was a dozen pics of me and the Taj, each one slightly off centre and rotated to the right, but each one screaming with the tears and laughter that the little moustache man had caused for me at 6am on that already stinking hot day in Agra.
Meeting the girls in Agra was a super fun relief. I mean I had only been travelling solo for a little more than 24 hours, and I am generally quite tough, but nobody wants to drink beer alone.. do they? So not only did I move up to the travelling social ladder to "travelling with friends" but I was now able to rest assured that I had a folks to share a beer with... well, so I thought.... Speed up to the evening, with the Taj out in the distance and the sun setting on a blistering hot and stinky day, Ange needs a beer. Ange then needs to twist some arms in order to convince the likes of the Dutch and the Canadian to join her... their homelands would be ashamed... but they gave in and agreed to a couple of bottles... and then they let me drink them... is this how it is going to be? Well you just wait and see what they had in mind for the next couple of destinations.... I've no doubt you will be feeling my pain....
So speeding up to the next morning when I wake with the birds (the vultures to be more specific) and head to the Taj for opening time... I was surprised to be only one of a few tourists up at this hour to enjoy the peace and quiet at the Taj, pleasently surprised of course. But I was in a slight pickle, cos everyone wants a pic with themselves and the Taj, but I was without friends and without a host of tourists to annoy and ask for help... along comes the moustached saviour for today.. Like a seasoned professional he took full control of my camera and threw countless instructions at me; "sit down", "stand up", "feet up", "smile more", "stop laughing", "move there", "smile more hard" etc etc... The result was a dozen pics of me and the Taj, each one slightly off centre and rotated to the right, but each one screaming with the tears and laughter that the little moustache man had caused for me at 6am on that already stinking hot day in Agra.
Meeting the girls in Agra was a super fun relief. I mean I had only been travelling solo for a little more than 24 hours, and I am generally quite tough, but nobody wants to drink beer alone.. do they? So not only did I move up to the travelling social ladder to "travelling with friends" but I was now able to rest assured that I had a folks to share a beer with... well, so I thought.... Speed up to the evening, with the Taj out in the distance and the sun setting on a blistering hot and stinky day, Ange needs a beer. Ange then needs to twist some arms in order to convince the likes of the Dutch and the Canadian to join her... their homelands would be ashamed... but they gave in and agreed to a couple of bottles... and then they let me drink them... is this how it is going to be? Well you just wait and see what they had in mind for the next couple of destinations.... I've no doubt you will be feeling my pain....
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