Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India (By Kev)

20.4.2025. Up early, load up a Tuktuk with all our bags and kids, set off for the train station. It's nowhere as busy as when we arrived thankfully, Emma was a little worried. We got on without incident and found our seats. I wasn't unhappy about leaving Jaipur, it was my least favourite place in India. Yes we saw some awesome stuff and met some nice people. I also saw things that didn't sit well with me. Elephants made to carry lazy tourists up to a fort all day in the heat, rubbish everywhere. If there was a busted building or spare lot, it was full of rubbish. Then there's the Tuktuk drivers and the traffic. I get that it's their living, but they pester you to the point of annoyance. We were crossing the street and one pulled up in front of us just as we were about to go, we said no and he just kept blabbing about “I take you here, I take you there”. Ended up waving him through and saying just get out of the f-ing way we're trying to cross. We were talking to an old guy about a ride and another, younger bloke comes up and starts saying “come, come, you come with me”. Mel says nope, we're talking to him. Still doesn't listen, “you come with me”. Mel says, nope, you lost it we're not going with you, go away. The old fella took us exactly where we wanted to go for a good price too. Oh and horses that look like underfed skeletons dragging more fat tourist arses around. Admittedly I didn't see many people use these. Oh and the guy at our stay was a tool! Every time he saw me, he'd come over and tell me that he can book tours and Tuktuk's. Yep ya told me that the first day, then he got upset that we had another guy organised to pick us up. I went and asked him if he could take us to the train station when we left and afterwards all he wanted to know was “what that guy on first day say about me”, nunya mate, “why you not use my Tuktuk?” If this is gonna be an issue, I'll find someone else to take me tomorrow, I don't need you. His eyes opened and he shut up for a little bit. Jaipur soured India somewhat for me, I'll try to remember we've had some really good times here too. Anyway, poor little me, getting harassed while I travel the world. I need to put some perspective on it sometimes. We get to Agra, the platform is not too bad. The parking lot is friggin chaos, more Tuktuk's than you came count. One guy found us as we got off the train and led us out, we heard his offer and it seemed reasonable so we took it. We ended riding with his father, Khan, who got us there np. We checked into our new room, our last stay in India. An ok room with fans but no AC. We were starving, so we went in search of food. Wasn't a long search, we're near the Taj Mahal, so there's quite a few restaurants around. We ate well, then decided to walk a bit. The restaurant guys are just as bad as the Tuktuk guys here! They all have someone out front trying to pull you into their restaurant. In between saying no to Tuktuk's we're saying no to restaurants, add the guys trying to sell you some piece of plastic crap and it gets a bit much. Long day, Agra seems worse than Jaipur for pushy people, we'd had enough. We went back to the room, showered(doesn't work properly), blogged a little then headed out to a rooftop restaurant for a beer and some games. Only Emma was a little hungry, so she got some chips. Mel and I had a beer and we all played some card games. Later a young guy from Italy joined us for a chat. He's here for a friend's wedding and is heading back soon. We shared some stories and got a couple tips for when we go to Italy. Time for bed.

21.4.2025. Dunno when the power went out, a bit after midnight I think. Woke up in a pool of sweat as no fans anymore. Andrew was still asleep, so I fanned the kids with one of their books while we waited for the power to come back on. After 20mins of that and Andrew waking up, I decided to stop. We went outside onto the balcony and found it was much cooler. We opened up the room, and sat outside for a while. The power never came back on. Just after three we got the kids back to sleep and tried to sleep ourselves. All covered in insect repellent, but quickly sweating that off. Was a shit night, I seemed to be the least bitten by mosquitos, Emma got smashed. Lack of sleep and blood wasn't going to stop us, we had a fort to see. On our way out the guy who runs the place said that a transformer had blown, and would hopefully be fixed soonish. Into a Tuktuk with Khan, who drove us to our stay from the train station, an electric Tuktuk. They look the same but are white, and there are quite a few here in Agra. Before we got dropped at Fort Agra, Khan took us to a restaurant for breakfast, first time we've had Puri, bloody good. A potato and vege curry that you eat with this puffed up fried bread. Then he dropped us at the fort, an absolutely massive fort made mostly of red sandstone. Bloody high walls and what looks like a moat. As with everything here, wherever you look something is carved. We had a more leisurely approach to today, and meandered around the fort for a couple hours. There's always great views from forts, even though this one was on ground level, not up a hill, we still had a good look around at the sights. After we'd had our fill, we walked towards the bazaar. The bazaar itself was packed and chaotic, people showing their wares and people looking to buy. It's not the same as at the front of a tourist spot. Less pushy, apart from getting pushed in the crowd. Locals come here to buy what they need, we came here to stickybeak. We walked among thousands of people, maybe tens of thousands and not once did I feel worried. Emma was a little worried, she can't see past all the bodies and see where to go. We heard stories from different people and read different things from websites about being careful in India. So far we've had no trouble in India apart from a cancelled bus (hope it stays that way), and have walked through all sorts of streets without concern. I don't feel as safe walking some streets in Townsville. Anyway, we didn't buy anything in the bazaar, that was not the point of our walk. Our walk was to immerse ourselves in the culture, and Mel had fun taking photos of everything that caught their eye. I had had enough of the bazaar, Em too, we needed money so we searched for an ATM. First one didn't work, the search continues. We walked for ages and finally found one that would give us some cash. We were buggered, and decided to head towards the fort train station, where we had agreed to meet Khan there. It was a lot more walking and at some point we called it quits. Mel WhatsApp’d our Khan to come get us. Couldn't get across properly where we were, and he asked if anyone was around. There was a younger guy sitting on his motorbike near us and Mel asked if he could talk to our guy. He told our driver exactly where we were and we thanked him. We have found help here when we needed it, no worries. Shortly after another guy turned up in an electric Tuktuk, said he was Khan's son, that'll do. He called his father and gave me the phone. I had a brief chat with him as he told me this was his son and he would look after us. This was the second son we had met, I asked him how many sons did he have. 5 sons and 2 daughters, bloody hell, busy guy. We got back to the stay, yes the power is back on! They had given us an evaporative AC to use, it's bloody huge and noisy. We fired it up and enjoyed a bit of cool. After a while we got sick of the noise and turned it off again. We rested, then showered before heading out looking for some food. There are lots of restaurants near us so it wasn't hard. We were having our meal when an English themed restaurant, “Old England Cafe”, started blasting out American country music. Where the hell am I? I'm still in India right? What is going on here? We ate, and we wondered. I had looked at going there for dinner, but the menu looked shit and expensive, and now this. Glad we didn't. We finished our meal and headed back for some sleep, an early start tomorrow.

22.4.2025. Alarm went off just before 5, we were off to the Taj Mahal today. We'd read that the time to visit was sunrise, so off we went. It was surreal to walk this early in India, there was almost no one on the streets, except people headed to the Taj. There was no one to ask me if I needed a Tuktuk, and I kinda liked the peaceful, cool, early morning walk. We got there, scanned the tickets, got through security and headed in. We walked up to the main entrance gate and were greeted with our first proper look at the Taj Mahal. Impressive is an understatement, it only got better the closer we got. We had assumed the reason to get here before the sunrise was for the view, turns out it's mostly to beat the crowds so you get a better photo opportunity. Built on a huge platform of red sandstone, the white marble creation stands 55 metres tall, wide and long. Lots of inlaid work, where they used onyx and other materials. We had paid the mausoleum pass, so we got to go inside, something you would be crazy not to. Inside is the tomb of Mumtaz Mahal, the wife of Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan. The Emperor had it built in 1631, after the death of Mumtaz, his favourite wife, while giving birth to her 14th child. After he carked it, they put him in there too. Inside is like an echo chamber, and was surprisingly noisy. We passed through, and went back outside. The sun did indeed start to rise over the Mahal from one of the sides, and looked nice. We moved around, taking in as much as we could. The craftwork is amazing, and truly worth seeing. We walked around the long garden area between the main gate and the Taj for a bit, waiting for the museum to open. It opens at 9, it's still very early. After watching squirrels and birds and people, we went into the museum. It's small but had some nice samples of the rocks used in the Mahal’s making, and other things I can't remember. Finally we were done looking at this wonder of the world, and instead went looking for breakfast. Just outside, not far from the east entrance, we found a small restaurant. We figured being this near the Taj it would be shit and not cheap. We were wrong, it was pretty decent and fairly priced. The people who run it were also very nice. The guy who seemed in charge, saw that Emma was having trouble with her food. They had already made it not spicy upon request, he asked, is it still too spicy? Emma said yes, we think she just didn't like it, probably tired. Before we knew it he had taken it away and had another made, this time with no spice at all. Emma still didn't eat much, so Mel and I finished it. It was a simple gesture by him, he cared about the people who ate at his restaurant. When we got the bill, there was no extra charge, no “service fee”, which I had been hit with before. Just the price for the food we ordered. We were due a little change from Rs1000, I told them to keep it and thanked them again for a nice meal and their service. After that we walked back to our room, the streets a lot busier now. About 10mins after we got back, I was asleep. We did our thing in the room for a couple hours before setting off again. This time to Itmad-ud-daula, what they call the baby Taj. Where the grandfather of the emperor's favourite wife is entombed. Way smaller than the Taj, but with more inlay work and painting. It is well worth a look at as well. After that we headed to Mehtab Bagh, a garden across the river from the Taj Mahal, to have a walk around and wait to watch the sunset. The sunset was a bit of a let down, we were hoping for a lot more, but as with the sunrise, it was not over the Taj. Nevermind, back to the Tuktuk, head back and try another restaurant near our stay. After, we showered and watched a little tv with the kids, then bed.

23.4.2025. Little bit of a late start today, then we realised we'd lost Andrew's bottle somewhere. It was either the last Tuktuk of the day, or the restaurant from last night. So we headed that way, or not. The main street to the Taj is blocked off, security guy standing there didn't speak English but he let me past the barrier. Once past, I was in a bit of shock, wth is going on here? There's no one on the streets, no Indians at all, and for India that's weird. There's decorations all over the place and it's eerily quiet. Then I saw it, “welcome JD Vance”, for fucks sake. They shut the whole show down for that utter tool. I'm glad we hit the Taj Mahal yesterday, would suck if this was your only day in Agra and this happened to you. Well what the hell we gonna do now. We decided to get some breakfast and send our postcards. We got brekky from the homestay down the street. They also printed our Visa's for Zambia and Namibia for us. Let's find a post office and send our postcards. 20-25min later we found the post office, or not. There is a small sign, but everything is closed and there's nothing that looks like a post office. We stood there for a bit, not sure what to do next, when a bloke came out of a barbers and asked “ where you want to go”. We said we were looking for the post office, he said “other side”. We walked around to the other side of that building, we were at a small Y section in the road, and there it is. The kids and I stood outside and waited while Mel went in, had some conversations and got things sorted. We started back towards our room the way we came, back roads cause the main road was blocked for some wally. It was kinda nice to take the back roads, apart from the filth. Kids love to say hello and know where you're from. We saw where and how people, even ones sooo close to the Taj Mahal, live. Realising how lucky I am keeps slapping me in the face. We made our way back towards our room and noticed police heading out, the lockdown must be over. Well let's check if we left our water bottle at that restaurant last night. Yep that's where it was, happy to get that back. Now back at our room, we blogged/school work/lollies from the Easter bunny. I read about the VPs visit a little, from the Indians pov. The streets were shut down, shops and businesses forced to be closed and it said people were not allowed to peep from their windows. It was now late Arvo, and Andrew said he wasn't feeling great, and said he was tired. He's running a little hot so I gave him some painkillers. He had a lay down and fell asleep, so I decided to head out and see if I could find an ATM. We've had a LOT of trouble finding ATMs that will give us money, and many messages/conversations with our bank about that matter. I think I have already covered this topic so I won't go into detail. 2 hours wandering around and I don't know how many ATMs later, I came up empty. You would think being less than a 10min walk to the Taj Mahal there would be heaps of ATMs, well you'd be wrong. During my adventures through the streets of Agra, Mel had messaged and said Andrew has not cooled and they gave him more medicine and he was asleep again. After a discussion, and since it was now 7pm, I grabbed some dinner while I was out and came back. Mel and Em then went out, while I watched the boy. Andrew woke up not long after, still pretty hot. Got him to have some chewable Nurofen for kids. That stayed in him for about 45secs before getting flushed. I cleaned him up and since he was already in the bathroom, he had a nice cool shower. As always with our son, after a spew he feels better. Some more painkillers for a slight headache, and he's almost back to normal. Mel and Em got back, Em was really happy to see Andrew was better. Watched a little tv, they're liking Troll Hunter on Netflix, then a good sleep.

24.4.2025. Andrew is doing better, and hungry! We have walked past a little restaurant on the main street I dunno how many times. We never really noticed it actually, try it? Why not? They specialise in paratha, which is like a fried bread with stuff in it. These guys made really good paratha. Andrew had aloo (potato), Mel had paneer(cheese) and I had gohbi(cauliflower) and mixed veg. Emma had nothing cause she ate cereal in the room. Oh man, delicious, and cheap! Three parathas, a bowl of curd(yoghurt), a chai and a coffee. Rs280, we'll be back. Right, we still need money. We're down to a couple thousand rupees. The search for an ATM continues. We walked, found ATMs, none worked. This went on for a couple hours and countless Tuktuk drivers asking “where you going”, “too hot to walk”. Finally, after forever! Well maybe 3 hours, we found a “Bank Of Baroda” ATM! It works! It works! If you're ever in India and having trouble, “BOB” ATMs are orange and glorious. Wallet is kinda full again now, let's spend it! We decided (Mel decided) a Tuktuk was now in order, and we took one to the Kalakriti cultural centre. I searched for cultural performances, and this is the only place that came up. Their website is garbage, so we headed there today to sort out some tickets. The show we want to see, the only show they have? Mahabbat the Taj. The story of the Taj Mahal and how it came to be. Lucky we did because there was only about 98% left. Which struck us as weird, or maybe it's just us that likes to see cultural performances. Then we remembered it's not peak tourist season. Anyway, tickets sorted, and lots of that money we just searched for now gone. We started back towards our room. Mel was dying for something cool, so we stopped at a place called “London coffee club”. A bit expensive, but nice drinks and a break from the sun. It's gotten to 45° here a couple times, so when someone says let's have a break we usually do. We sat there for a while, enjoyed our drinks and played some card games. We braved the blistering heat for about another 10mins, the time it took to walk back to our room. We showered, rested and read. Once it was time, we walked back to the Kalakriti centre, and enjoyed the show. We had headphones that told us the story in English. The show had dancing and singing, and at the end a replica of the Taj Mahal popped up through the stage. It was a good show and worth the money, and if you're gonna come all this way to see the Taj, see this too. Afterwards we walked and found another restaurant to try. Emma and I shared a butter chicken, the best we've had for a while. Walked the rest of the way back, brush teeth and bed.

25.4.2025. We're up and off to have breakfast at our new favourite place again. The kids had cereal in the room so weren't hungry, Mel and I really like the paratha they make, and shared three. After that we needed a Tuktuk. Right outside is the guy we used a few days ago, I have noticed him everyday, waiting to see if we need a ride. Not bothering us, he just says hello. Well today he's gonna make some money. We had a couple places in mind we wanted to visit. A brief discussion, and a price settled on and we're off. First stop, the Red Taj, the tomb of John Hessing. A Dutch adventurer, who served as commander at Agra fort. The Red Taj was commissioned by his wife in 1803, was built in Mughal style and has a likeness to the Taj Mahal. It's surrounded by many graves as it's inside a Roman Catholic graveyard. Not that well cared for as it doesn't get many visitors. Not as elaborate as the Taj Mahal, there's no inlay work, just carvings and stone work. Back into the Tuktuk for the next destination. The next stop being the Tomb of Akbar. Akbar was the third Mughal Emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. He was the designer of his own tomb and selected the site it was built on. After his death, his son added his own touches, the marble minarets and upper floor of the main building. When you first walk in you are greeted by a massive structure, covered with inlay work, and mean covered. Made primarily from red sandstone with marble minarets, we found out that's just the front gate. Inside we see a massive stretch of red sandstone running towards the main building, the tomb. There are also three fake gates, just as well built but go nowhere. We entered the main building, looked up and saw a beautifully decorated domed room. Unfortunately falling down, so scaffolding was in place to hold some in place. We then went through a long tunnel, heading down into the basement, where Akbar's tomb is held. We entered, and noticed the room was very bare, no adornment. Whether this was how it was 400 years ago or from some restorations, we don't know. It is a huge room though, with his and only his tomb in the middle. We went back outside and started walking around the exterior. There is so much stonework and inlay work here, more so than the Taj Mahal in my opinion. We walked the length of sandstone out to one of the fake gates. This also was beautifully carved and decorated. We finished our trip around the tomb, noticing the rear gate has fallen into disrepair. We saw that there has been quite a bit of restoration work done to this monument also. We finished our visit, found a filtered, cold water station near the exit and topped up our bottles. We know it's off peak season, but we don't understand why this monument has so fewer visitors than the Taj Mahal. Yes the Taj Mahal is world famous, yes it is beautiful and glorious and all the other adjectives you can think of. The Tomb of Akbar is too, and if you're here to see the Taj, come see this too. Ok, time to get moving again. On our way over, our driver showed us a huge marble temple, and suggested we stop and have a look on our way back, so we did. It is a Sikh temple, well three temples in one kinda. We visited the newest first, then onto the others, finishing with the oldest, which was 400 years old we were told. Everyone was very welcoming, I still feel like I am intruding whenever I visit a temple and it makes me feel uncomfortable. We finished our visit and went back to the Tuktuk, we thanked him for his suggestion to come here. We made our way back to our room. Did the usual blogging and some laundry when we got back. Showered and went out for dinner. I have been sharing butter chicken with Emma, we did again tonight. I'm done with butter chicken. Tomorrow night, Emma can share a dal tadka with Mel, I want something different for our last dinner in India. Maybe a dosa.

26.4.2025. This morning we hit our favourite place for breakfast again. This time I tried the fried rice, it took a bit longer, I don't think they had the rice ready and had to cook it all from scratch. Not sure what they put in it, but everyone, and I mean everyone started coughing when it hit the frying pan. I think it was the chili, was pretty spicy when I got it. Bloody good too. We finished our brekky and headed off to a money exchange place we saw the other day. We want to get some US dollars, as it's accepted in Zambia, and we're unsure how easy it will be to get local money from an ATM. A just in case, backup plan sorta scenario. Didn't miss us, an extra $100 on top of the exchange rate, plus what our bank charged us. I guess that's how they make their money, offering a service. Now we're back in the room, finalising our blogs and repacking our bags. Can hardly believe India is almost over. Admittedly, I am keen to try new foods, never thought I'd have enough of Indian food. That's not true, still like it, just keen for something new.

27.4.2025. Tomorrow, as I am writing this on the 26th. Tomorrow we will have our last breakfast at our new favourite place. Tomorrow we will catch a train and head for Delhi. After that we fly to Zambia.
KevRead more