Golden Triangle: Agra and the Taj Mahal

it turns out that agra is about equally as crazy as delhi, but we wanted to see the Taj Mahal, india's most famous and probably most romantic monument. to gear up for the crowds, we first made a stop at a nearby hotel for a few kingfisher beers. at the entrance, we passed the tight security check and off we went to view and stroll around the magnificent white structure full of inlaid precious gems. being the minority of western tourists, we became taj mahal celebrities, having our photos requested by multiple parties. what a hoot!

we were somehow tracked down once again by a rickshaw driver with a sixth sense of our given location at all times of day. we met him immediately off of the train in the morning, again on our way to find a breakfast spot, and again later in the day, 7km from our original meeting point, in a neighborhood we had inadvertently but pleasantly lost ourselves in the maize of its paths. here, we captured the interest of the cute local kiddos, curious what these westerners were doing in their village. but again, there he was, waiting for us in an inconspicuous corner in the depths of this community. what? how did he find us?

eventually, we found our way away from the creepy tok tok driver, back to the train station where we started the morning. determined not to stay the night in agra, we caught the night train to jaipur (the pink city). after a 5 hour delay observing the colonies of rats living on the train tracks, we hopped our train and arrived in jaipur in the wee hours of the morning.