In India

The war continues
Ah well...here it is, I'm just three days from returning. Some of you may have read about the indian government blocking blogs....in order to .....(what else?)...combat terrorism.

http://www.boingboing.net/2006/07/17/report_indian_gov_bl.html

As you can imagine this is not something that the government can just throw a switch on.
I thought this was localized for a while, but for the last week access to the site has been incredibly slow. So I don't think it's totally blocked, but it's certainly going through alot more hops now. Probably being scanned by half a million government employees.
Trying to post pictures now utterly times out.

So I have pictures of the rest of the monuments in Agra ( which are nice), and the Taj ( which lives up to the hype....it's sparkling white, hold out for the pics). But it will have to wait till I get to a better computer.

What did we learn?
For the next two days I'm basically packing and traveling. So now might be a good time to sum up. Six months in India... what have we learned?

• Not everyone here speaks english ...and pantomime is about 100x more helpful than trying to learn the local language. At this point I think I might pass kindergarten ( my vocabulaty includes some numbers, some colors, some directions, and ways to express like and dislike of things).
• Visit India in the winter! The summer is brutaly hot , the monsoon is brutally wet. Their 'chilly' winters are about 75-80 degeress. It's sunny most every day. in the winter
• Cows are not really worshiped ....they're just kind of tolerated. Like stray dogs or cats in the street...they just wander around. Polytheism still confuses the hell out of me.
• Traffic laws are good! Next time you're in a taxi, just imagine everyone riving like that...simultanously....pure madness. Lanes are good too.
• Vegetarian food is not that bad. The food, even at the cheap places is really good. Your not going to get some spaghettios stuff out here. The water...well, that's another deal. Most food is stewed to death, and frankly you want it that way. I eat raw red onions now like it's nothing. But seriously...chill with the lentils. Lentils and rice for lunch....lentils for dinner....daal fry as a snack...c'mon..

Meta-lesson: Wrting blogs and having your frinds, family and co-workers read them is a wierd experience in and of itself....memory is quite a fleeting thing. Not to say there's been any want for things to write about ( actually there's a stack of unused material).

Anyway....I think I'd like to travel more after this.

After this I imagine most stuff will seem pretty tame.

The Taj pictures are coming, but by that time
I'll be back!
And we'll go have dinner (with meat!)....
And drinks they don't measure....
....and I'll tell you all about it.

You can probably do Agra in one day and retrun to the relative sanity of Delhi...but I didn't want to rush it, besides I'd been to Delhi.

The monuments in Agra are beutiful. Agra is a mess. The people who live outside the Taj claim to be the decendants of the people who built the Taj (which begs the question...why can't theybuild anything else). The beast to vehicle ratio is about 1:1 on the streets.

And not in the tour guides: The traditional hindu funeral involves cremation. Jammed among the bullocks, donkeys and bicycle rickshaws on the road are funeral persessions, carrying their dead covered in flowers and linen on their way to cremation in a temple by the river. It's the most surreal traffic jam ever. o not go strolling around Agra, there's no place to do so. I asked my driver about Agra's lack of ...well ..just lack.

"Oh Agra is Mughal city...very dirty"

"The mughals are dead right? That was like 400 years ago, why is it messed up now?"

"Mughal people....muslim people...filthy"

I didn't even venture a comment about the rest of sparkling India...just nodded at my bidi-smoking, muslim hating driver.

MiniTajThis monument is called the 'mini-taj' ( not to be confused with the other'mini-taj' in Aurangabad)...or the jewel box. It's a small tomb for one of the Mughal royals. It's covered from floor to cieling in inlaid marble. Those homeycomb screens, carved marble. Everything is marble. Here's some more work...in marble:

There is actually in Delhi domestic airport a very well labled government tourism booth where you can get a car to Agra. It is by Indian standards grossly overpriced. But I got the car for 3 days.

The seasoned traveler

When you go to Agra you have to be ready. Go with your gameface on. Everyone there is trying to get your money...it's unreal and at the end of a day of sigtseeing you'llwant to punch somebody.
Ever see Resevoir dogs...2 pertinent lessons for keeping your lossesto minimum

1. Stick to your plan
2. Trust no one

So we're on the road to Agra, and the driver is asking me about what hoteland such. We're getting along, I'm smoking bidis ( the bidi is what poor people smoke. It's tobacco rolled up in a leaf, it's awfully harsh but I had to try one), explaining to him that hamburgers are made of beef, not ham.

They he start having ideas...

"I am knowing another hotel, much cheaper, closer..."

No...No...No.

Stay firm, your travel guidebooks are more trustworthy than the locals. Everyone is on the take. Then he starts telling me how Fethephur Sikri is not covered in the charges (it's a fort 20 minutes outside agra)...

• Wrong answer: "Oh do I have to pay more for that?"
• Right answer: "No I cleared that with the government guy at the desk,I have his number, I'll call and check...thik hei (ok)?"

Then he started having less ideas. And we got to Agra.

This is the bridge across the river Yamuna. After checking into the right hotel , we sat on this for about 40 minutes.

No posts in a while I know....thing's have been hectic. I got to Agra, and I've been aranging my graceful exit from the land of the beef-less. At least half that time went into getting to Agra....

Seriously....no flights?

The Taj Mahal, perhaps you've heard of it. One of the seven wonders of the world, reason numero uno to come to this country. It's in Agra, south of Delhi.
No flights.
None.

There was an airport in the city but the government has closed it....
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?fid=27&tid=34805991

Government of India....what were you thinking?
So you have to go to Delhi and drive there. It's 120 miles....so it takes, go on guess.....

4 hours

So I went to a few travel agencies, who upon telling them I wanted to go to Agra, were more than happy to try to book a ticket to Delhi for me.

>>'Right how do I get to Agra after that'

Blank stares....

>>'Is there a bus, a train, a car....what?'

'Oh all those bus, train car'

>>'Can you book one?'
blank stares

Now this was frustrating....

Transvestites are not magic!

>>'Surely I can't be the only one who wants to see the Taj, you're a travel agency right?'

'Ha travel agency'

>>'And you have no connections with any other kind of booking for someone who wants to go to Agra?'

At this point a transvestite beggar walked up from the street and started standing in the doorway and said something in a sing-song voice.
The man behind the desk immediatley got up and gave him/her 10 ruppess.

I believe this was a hijra , transvestites who live as beggars. They are believed to have magic powers, and the ability to curse you. "Believed" in the way you might believe balck cats to be unlucky, but believed enough to get money.

Then the travel agent sat back down and said nothing and went back to his blank stare routine.
Unreal....but i finally just booked the flight on my own.