so i'm going to run through this as quickly as possible.. cuz i'm tired and hungry..
we took the train from varanasi to agra nd there were many many tourists.. it's funny i forget how to talk to western people sometimes.. or maybe sometimes i'm just not interested.. talking confusedly with indians is so much more fun/interesting.. anyways these were very green to india candians who were in their own little tourist world and i forget how easy it is to remain secluded from the real india if you stay in the nice tourist hotels with all services provided, etc.. and you just don't talk to anyone but foreigners.. that's how israelis live in india .. and there are tons of israelis.. and they suck for the most part.. they set up their own little areas with their own restaurants and hotels and such where the indians learn hebrew better than english and the signs are in hebrew and they just stick to themselves and travel in packs and dont say please or thank you.. but anyhow i digress..
we arrived in agra in the mornig and left our bags at this hotel which was recomended by the hotel we stayed in varanasi.. they had said the restaurant was kind of expensive but actually it was ridiculously expensive.. 15 rupe for toast plus an extra 15 for butter.. bullshit.. and so i ordered butterles toast and we left for the taj.. and the taj is 750 rupe to get in for foreigners.. and only 20 for indians.. so we decided beforehand we weren't going in.. if we had, we would have waited in line for maybe an hour or so.. been patted down by security and not allowed to bring anything in except maybe a camera.. and so on and so forth.. next time i'll do it when i can go for sunrise when there's no one there and the pictures will be beautiful.. but this time instead we just walked around it to the backside by the yamuna river and sat there for an hour or so.. got the good pictures of the taj and everything.. saw it's majesty.. and it really is majestic.. a perfect building if there ever was one.. a mandala of marble.. built for love.. and at the equivalent of maybe 70 million dollars.. anyways we walked along the riverbank and took more pictures.. and -- this part is really fucked up -- these indian tourists yelled at us and we posed so they could take a picture of us along the river and they from inside the walls of the taj.. and this evening when we arrived in delhi and were sitting waiting for the local metro train from nizamuddin to new delhi station they came up to us and said "excuse me, look we took your picture" and whaddya know there we were posing along the river on their phone.. what a world to be living in, eh?
anyways after chilling next to the taj for an hour or two in various spots.. we went back and visited a small siva temple next door, where this baba/sadhu had invited us before we went for the river walk.. and we talked with him for an hour or so.. good times. good man.. he invited us next time we come to agra to come with him to his village along the same river except there it's called kalendri.. i think another name for parvati but i'm not sure.. anyhow that was very nice.. babas in india have it good.. they can smoke ganja, drink whiskey, ride the trains for free, and receive donations and respect.. of course there are some fake sadhus for that reason but this one was the real deal.. good times..
anyways after that we collected our bags.. went to the train station.. got a second class unreserved ticket with the intention of upgrading to sleeper class reserved on the train itself.. but by the time we made it to the platform, the first train (chattisgarh express) was leaving as we got to it.. and lea for some reason jumped on.. but it was the pantry/dining car.. personally i would have waited for a nice sleeper car and if worst came to worst we could have caught the next train as well.. the unreserved ticket goes for any train going to delhi.. but whatever we were there and were standing/sitting as best as possible.. and soon we were in the area reserved theoretically for dining.. but more like reserved for the chai wallahs to hang out and chat.. 17 year old kids you know.. and next thing you know this ashole conductor is asking us for 600 rupees "penalty" for being there without having upgraded.. which is obviously bullshit considering the most expensive tickets agra to delhi probably wouldn't have cost as much.. so we pretty much told him to fuck off but meanwhile got kicked out of where we were sitting and were back to standing in the narrow doorway area.. and yeah.. that's that.. we arrived in nizamuddin and the story from above with the kids from the taj and then here we are.. now we're going to get food and sleep well.. so goodnithe
