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2003-04-26 - Agra (Day 11)

The plan was to get up early to catch the sunrise over the Taj and get there before the crowds got in. However, the clerics calling the faithful to prayer at 5:30 am helped me to be even less interested when my alarm went off at 6:00am. It kept going off a couple of times but I finally faced the fact I wasn't in the slightest interested in getting out of bed. My neck was sore and I was still very much feeling worn out and it just wasn't going to happen. By 12pm I did manage to get up and decided to read a little but it wasn't long when I said hell with it, it was too hot again and tried to get back to sleep. Mostly just lying there and for the first time understanding a coupe of scenes in Apocalypse Now where people are quietly going crazy in a jungle hotel watching the blades of a ceiling fan spin, I decide that I have to get my ass up and do something with the day. I pack up and walk down to the line for the Taj which turns out to take 30 min just to queue up. Even more annoying is the entrance for Indians is 20 RP and for foreigners 250 RP. I've always been offended by places that do that in countries like China and a 10x price differential is annoying. The guy at the counter yells back 750 RP when I finally make it to the top of the line though, and I say, "what?" - 250 RP is the ticket, but there is a 500 RP tax as well. Of course the thought of saying "hell with it crosses my mind, but one can't come to India without seeing the Taj so I grit my teeth and go in.

After another 20 minute queue the security guards go through my camera bag and pockets to make sure I don't have any cigarettes or knives on me and I'm finally allowed in. Unfortunately all of this time we've been queuing in the hot sun and the entire place has a stench that is extremely repulsive. Having the crowds jostle in shoulder to sweaty shoulder was a poor start for the session and my expectations were rapidly dropping. I make it though another security search and finally make it through the main gate into the Taj. In truth it is a beautiful building, but the hundreds of Indian tourists jostling to get their picture taken and the ubiquitous and rude commercial photographers asking me to move this way and that to be out of their subject's way took the charm away from the building. The same continued on the walk in and making it up to the stairs of the building which also had a stench enough to cause a gag reflex.

The inside of the mausoleum didn't really hold much of interest and it was a quick walk around and then back out. What had always been terms "exquisite marble carving" really didn't have as much beauty or depth of workmanship as I'd hoped and I quickly made it back outside where the air was decidedly fresher. Pausing to sit on the front entrance to the Taj for an hour though, I did have a pleasant time people watching and found the Indian tourists dressed up in their finery to be well worth watching. Sprits somewhat restored, I walked around to the much less crowded back of the Taj which as its identical from all four sides were likewise very beautiful.

Walking back out I decide to give it a shot in the morning when hopefully there will be few people there and see if the monument's true grace will be less overshadowed then. This short walk had still left me parched and tired from the heat and I collapse back into bed upon return to the hotel after downing another liter of water. Waking up at 9 pm I fight with myself that I must go eat though I haven't the slightest appetite. It seems travel depression is starting to settle in and not eating and allowing myself to get dehydrated will only make it worse. Going to the hotel restaurant I spend an hour waiting for my order and the requested mosquito coils. In the end, I find the order had been forgotten by the waiter who had taken it and it now being 10:00 pm, what I had ordered was not available from the kitchen. They manage it still make me a plate of Japati and I struggle to make it through without my stomach turning which it continuously threatened to do.

Knowing I was in serious need of an attitude adjustment, I pull out my video hard disk and watch "How to lose a guy in 10 days" which fortunately brings back my mood and sense of adventure. I manage to get my journals caught up and go to bed at least willing to give tomorrow a fair shot.

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