No Agro in Agra - home of the Taj Mahal

Probably my favourite view of the Taj away from the crowds - shame it was getting cleaned at the time

I arrived in Agra tired, but still elated from the previous evenings England win in the cricket. I had to change planes in Delhi, but the connecting plane did not make the short hop to Agra direct, it flew 100s of km East to Varanasi, landed, most of the passengers got off and a new set boarded, before heading back in the opposite direction to Agra.

I got talking to a French lady who was staying on the plane until the 3rd drop. She was telling me that she gets invited to Khajuraho each year for her birthday (she will be 88 this year). Around 20 years back she visited India alone and a young Indian lad of about 17 years drove her around and helped her with her bags for a week. She paid the young boy $250 for his help. This was a fantastic amount of money back then and the young boy invested it wisely in land and now has a hotel which he named after her, Hotel Isabella. He also named his only daughter Isabelle. That lady got so much pleasure in telling me the story, and while it may seem an extraordinary amount of money to give, in terms of pleasure it has given her, it must have been an incredible investment.

Agra airport is a military airport and transfer options were limited. I meet up with a very pleasant girl from Taiwan and after some strong negotiation managed to get the 900 rupee fare down to 500 which we split.

I was staying in a homestay away from the mass of tourists, and the people were extremely friendly. They had four rooms which they let out cheaply and was a great option to stay in Agra.

This evening was the eagerly awaited big cricket match between India and Pakistan, often a fiercely competitive contest. I went to a local bar packed with Indians cheering their team on. My homestay requested me not to be too late home so I watched the second innings back in my room. I promptly fell asleep but was awoken to the sound of firecrackers indicating India had defeated their rivals.

I had a couple more days to see the Taj and other sights and as it was Sunday I was advised to go the following day to avoid the weekend crowds. The hosts informed me of a place called Fatepur Sikri located some 45km away. They told me how much a taxi would be 1,200 (a little over £12) for the day but also told me how to get there by local bus. I took the bus option which was great, just 40 rupees (~41p) each way and was an ideal opportunity to mix with the locals.

Local bus to Fatepur Sikri

Fatepur Sikri was a fort and temple complex and was very impressive. It was nice to just stroll around take a few pictures and relax. I never found the ticket booth (I confess I didn't look too hard) so my day out cost me 80p or a £1 if you include the bottle of water I bought.

Fatepur Sikri main gate

Artistic view through a tiny star in the wall

Inside Fatepur Sikri

Side gate

Panoramic view of Fatepur Sikri

Back in Agra I went to the Taj Ganj area by the southern gate to the Taj Mahal. I remembered from a previous visit you can get great views of the Taj from many rooftop restaurants where I had a cold beer whilst watching monkeys run amock across the rooftops.

Roof-top bar with the Taj in the distance

Zoomed in for a better view

Getting back to my homestay they told me that a new guest a young American blonde girl had just arrived and wondered if I wanted to do a Taj and Agra sightseeing day with her. This had 2 benefits, firstly she was a young American blonde and secondly it would half the cost of my day trip sharing transport.

Well it turned out that it was just a prank by the chap at the homestay. She was indeed American and blonde, but was getting on a bit (a lot). She was fairly clueless and at times she was hard work. Also she refused to do the tour by tuk tuk as they are too dangerous and said we had to do it by taxi which was twice the price. So all in I could have done it on my own by tuk tuk for the same price. I was too polite and too English to back out of the agreement.

The owners wife cooked me a gorgeous meal in homestay. It was a simple vegetarian curry served with a selection of breads but it was very tasty and inexpensive.

So my sightseeing day to the Taj Mahal came. My previous visit here had been way too rushed and too crowded to enjoy it. This time I had plenty of time and got an early start at 6am to avoid the crowds. The Taj Mahal is one of the worlds great sights, this time I could really enjoy the beauty of the place - although I had to take hundreds of photographs for my new American friend.

First view of the Taj from inside the complex

This is the best shot the American lady managed all day

Even though I was in before the crowds - there were still plenty of people about

I spent around 2 hours visiting the Taj Mahal, trying to replicate some of the iconic photographs. Going inside to see the tomb was a horrendous crush, where everyone it seemed was so impatient, and as the guard opened the gate to let each batch in a crowd surge followed making it more unpleasant than it should have been. For one of the worlds major sights I felt entry was reasonably priced at 750 rupees (about £8) but was significantly higher than the locals price of 20 rupees.

It was a shame that 3 of the 4 minarets were covered in scaffolding. They were cleaning them, the remaining minaret had obviously been cleaned as the white marble was glistening in the sun. 

Close up view of the Taj

Taj main entrance

On the way back from the Taj, I called into the railway station to sort a ticket to Delhi the following day. Despite the trains been fully booked weeks back, Indian Railways hold some back for next day travel, they are called Taktal meaning immediate or urgent in Hindi. I wasn't able to get on any of the day trains but managed to get the 21:15 which was scheduled to arrive in Delhi at 23:35. This meant I had an extra day in Agra to fill my time in. I had already probably stayed too long, so this news wasn't good.

Back on with the tourist day, the next stop was the Red Fort in Agra. A very impressive looking Fort from the outside. As often I find the case, some of these attractions are better before you have to pay inside. Using my Taj ticket I gained entry at a reduced fee, something which my American friend hadn't read up about as she had deposited hers in the nearest bin.

Inside it was really nice, but the pace we took it at was too slow for my liking. She purchased an audio guide and never had a clue which number she was at to tap into the headset, which caused a lot of waiting around for me.

Red Fort, Agra

Inside the Red Fort

Red Fort courtyard

Next up was the Baby Taj. As the name suggests this is a smaller version of the Taj Mahal, not maintained in quite as good condition as the real thing. I only managed one photo before my battery died on my phone - it had been over-heating all day. Again those of us that had kept our Taj Mahal ticket (me) received discount entry.

Baby Taj

We cut short our day tour by omitting the Taj view from the other side of the river from the gardens of Mehtab Bagh. She was tired and I was happy to save that for the following day.

That night I went out alone early so I could grab a meal and a beer and reflect on the day I had had. Going from Trip Advisors reviews I went into a place that served overpriced beer and food. I negotiated the price of the beer down to an acceptable, but still high price. I asked for a vegetarian curry that didn't contain cheese or paneer, the waiter in perfect English suggested a dish that did not have cheese. When it arrived loaded with chunks of paneer he said that is not cheese sir, it is a kind of cheese. I was clearly not happy but battled my way through it, I was even less happy when he asked me for a tip at the end of the meal.

At breakfast on my last morning I asked the owner of the homestay for suggestions of places to go. He suggested a couple of places both in the same direction around 18km from Agra. A local bus wasn't an option so I hired a tuk-tuk and driver for 3-4 hours at the price of little over £5.

The first place I visited was the Sikandra tomb. It was set in greenlands with deer surrounding it. It was quite pleasant and it was nice to get away from the tourists and be able to spend some time on my own. Ticket price was 100 rupees for foreigners and 5 for Indian nationals. Obviously I tried to get in on a 5 rupee ticket but didn't get away with it.

Sikandra, just outside Agra

On the way back we called into the huge Hindu Temple that is Guru Ka Tal. An impressive building from the outside set in nice gardens. The temple offers free meals to anyone (mainly aimed at the poor I presume). I was invited in to eat but turned it down as I wanted the food to go to the people who really needed it, I hope by declining I didn't appear ungrateful. Everyone was very kind and helpful to me around the temple. The people were sat down in lines with a banana leaf in front of them and the volunteers came around with buckets and vats of curry and rice and spooned them onto the banana leafs.

Guru Ka Tal Hindu Temple

Guru Ka Tal gardens

Still having around 7 hours before the train I wandered around the streets of Agra, passing time as much as anything. I went for a wet shave, which had become a ritual every 3 or 4 days. I called into a real fancy place for a meal. The restaurant A Pinch of Spice was very nice but had prices matching the quality of the surroundings. I ordered an egg curry and when it came was sufficient to feed a small family, not liking to leave food, I batted down as much as I could but hadn't broken the back of it.

The remaining thing for me to do in Agra was go to the Mehtab Bagh, a park over the other side of the river which offered splendid views of the Taj. Having had the sole use of a tuk tuk all morning for 500 rupees I got a little angry and frustrated when tuk tuk drivers were wanting 800 to take me to the other side and back (with a 30 minute wait). Having spoken (and argued) with a dozen or so drivers I finally got one to come up with a reasonable price of 250 rupees, still too high but acceptable. The view was worth the hassle.

My last view of the Taj from over the riverbank

I spent the last few hours back at the homestay having a beer and discussing life with the owner and his 23 year old son. Sadly my train to Delhi was delayed making it a very late check-in at my hotel in the touristy district of Paraganj. I did get a cracking meal included in my (£5.75) train fare.

Off the beaten track in Kerala

I have traveled to Kerala on two previous occasions and I have to say it is my favorite region in India. Previous visits have seen me travel to the touristy places such as Varkala, Cochin and of course the famous Backwaters. This trip was to be entirely different, I was to stay in a small village on the outskirts of a fairly small town called Payyanur, which until planning this trip was somewhere I'd never heard of.

Payyanur is the family home of an ex-colleague of mine Sreejith and he kindly offered to take me and his brother Sujith on the 9 hour drive (each way) from Bangalore to show me around. Been an independent traveler this is not something I would normally do, but I know Sreejith well and was sure I was going to have a great time.

Iconic Kerala

To avoid the crazy Bangalore traffic we got an early start and stopped off for breakfast where the guys encouraged me to try out local dishes. I had Idly which came wrapped in a banana leaf and chutney which was decent, perhaps not my favorite. I also had dosa and some deep fried doughnut type things, all washed down with a couple of glasses of masala tea.

Idly for breakfast

The journey was pleasant passing through a dense rain-forest we managed to get a glimpse of elephants and a few monkeys.  Stopping for lunch we ordered biryani and fish curries in quite a smart place, total cost just 310 rupees (£3.25) for all of us to have a good feed.

I stayed over in Sreejith's parents house which was a traditional Kerala style property, it was great and it made the most of any breeze to cool the house in the tropical heat. I was warmly welcomed into the home by the family and was cooked a lovely breakfast each morning. After a quick shower we all went out to meet up with Sreejith's old friends and family first by the river and then in a bar over dinner. Later that evening we attended a Theyyum at a family members home.

Theyyum and drummers

A Theyyum is a local ritual practiced in this area for about 6 months of the year involving one or more guys dressing up in costumes, faces painted, dancing and wielding weapons whilst getting into a trance like state to the sound of drummers. It ended with the Theyyum giving blessing to its followers including myself in exchange for a small amount of money. This went on well into the night. The guys suggested going to another bigger Theyyum which would feature fireworks and elephants due to start at around 04:30 but I was very tired after a long day.

The next morning we went to another Theyyum, this one was much bigger and had several Theyyums performing at the same time. One of which took a liking to siting on a fire with only a coconut leaf dress for protection. Another one wore an elaborate headpiece that must have stretched some 3m above his head. Those guys must have been so hot in that heat.

Theyyum in full costume

This Theyyum had a thing for sitting on the fire

Theyyum with headpiece

Following the mornings entertainment we went to a coconut farm where I got to see many guys shimmy up trees at great pace and tap the sap from the trees to make toddy.  Toddy is an alcoholic drink which is fermented within 12 hours of harvesting. We went to a toddy bar, but were told that water had been added to the toddy for some reason or another. I wasn't sure about the purity of this water so just had a small taste for fear of been ill. I've been ill in India before and it isn't a pleasant experience.

Coconut trees used for making Toddy

On the evening after dark we went on an alternative backwater adventure. About 8 of us met by the river with a bottle of whiskey and a couple of bottles of water. One guy popped up a coconut tree and collected some fresh coconuts, a couple of strikes later with a blade and I was drinking fresh coconut water some 30 seconds from it been plucked from the tree.  

The coconut water was used as a mixer for the whiskey, made for quite a nice drink. Then we got into a small boat with a pole which was used to propel us. Some of the guys got in the water to do some fishing. It was pitch black and they had a torch which they used to search fish and catch in a small net. One guy was particularly adept at this act and caught fish and a crab with his hands. Back on dry land the guys cooked the catch and it was quite humbling that they insisted I had the best bits of the catch. Those guys could start an alternative backwater tour for tourists and make money from this but perhaps that would take away their enjoyment.

The last day I visited the local temple and bought a small leaving present for the family before heading off to another Theyyum.  This one had accompanying fireworks which were louder than anything I'd ever heard.  Watching a guy make these 'fireworks' was like watching someone make a bomb and when they went off they did so with incredible force.

Theyyum's draw quite a crowd

Me receiving a blessing from the Theyyum

And another

The evening I spent at a more touristy place of Bekal Fort, which was 5 rupees entry for the Indian guys and 100 for me. It had nicely kept gardens and had a path that lead down to the beach where we watched the sunset.  

Bekal Fort

Sunset at Bekal beach

One last meal and a kingfisher was followed by a local festival at the temple. It was various singer and performers doing routines with mixed ability. One guy who had 'had a few' went back stage and demanded an English song for me, the only one he knew was the theme to Titanic, thankfully they didn't know the song but it caused much entertainment.

Festival attracted a healthy crowd 

India's got talent

The journey back was was another long trek all of us fairly tired after an action packed few days.  I did get to see an elephant on the back of a truck which isn't something you see every day in Darlington.

Elephant Taxi

Of all my travel experiences this was very different to the rest, I got so much out of it, the people and their way of life. They had a relaxed way about life, they didn't have deadlines and pressures and they seemed to enjoy their life to the full. I saw a different side to India that is not available by following a Lonely Planet guidebook. Sreejith gave me a brass elephant to remind me of my time away, not only that I also have plenty of good memories which will last for a long time.

Me and my mate Sreejith

The Kerala lads