view from my hotel roof

view from my hotel roof

bus to Fatehpur Sikri

detail

Fatehpur Sikri

Fatehpur Sikri

Fatehpur Sikri

Fatehpur Sikri

Fatehpur Sikri

Fatehpur Sikri

Mosque at Fatehpur Sikri

Fatehpur Sikri, 1 hour from Agra

It was another long day of travel to get from Chitwan to Sunauli at the border and then to Ghorkpur in India. I was much more confident this time, though, with the border crossing; I just did everything in reverse. Ghorakpur is an unfortunate, ugly crossroads town. It was a necessary stop for me, but I spent nearly the entire time in the train station. When I got into town, I took a look at the budget accommodations across from the train station, but they were super grim, really noisy and pretty dirty. I had read about a more up-market place that was still within my price range, so I had a rickshaw take me there. It was a strange place--a pool and bar and restaurant, but no other tourists, only some wealthy Indians. The place was quiet and clean, and the food at the restaurant was the best I've had in India. The next morning I went to the train station, but it took me hours to figure out that the reservation office had been moved quite a way up the street. Anyway, eventually I booked a train and spent the rest of the day waiting for it. I took my chances with some dingy street restaurants across from the station, and they were pretty good and didn't make me sick. At 5pm, I boarded my sleeper train for Tundla, and then at 5am in Tundla I boarded another train for the short ride into Agra. A little after dawn, I was riding in a rickshaw toward my hotel, watching the sun rise over the Taj Mahal.

There is this thing I haven't figured out, an Indian gesture of cocking the head to the side--I was sure it meant 'no,' but evidently I'm wrong. I think it might mean 'yes.' This got me into a little trouble when I was ordering food and I thought the waiter was telling me he didn't have what I wanted. Very confusing.

Today I took the bus out to Fatehpur Sikri, a former capital of the Mughal empire, outside of Agra. The palace was very beautiful and well-maintained, but the offers for 'guides' to show me around were really persistent and misleading and obnoxious.