DEC. 23

Dec. 23
DELHI to AGRA.

After 3 hrs sleep we were up at 4:50 a.m. in time to check out and get our train to Agra. Survived early morning rickshaw ride through headon traffic, whoo hoo!
Here a road sign reads, "Lane driving is safe driving," and is merely a suggestion most ignore. As in Bangladesh you cannot drive without one hand on the horn, the loudest horn winning the right to dart ahead.
Reminds me so much of Bangladesh here, so much so that feel like I am in Bangladesh instead of India --so everything feels really familiar, and I feel really comfortable. I keep missing friends from Bangladesh--wishing I could see them.
Arrived in Agra and took a tuk tuk to Tourist Rest House--really cool hotel. Our tuk tuk driver's name is Lalaa. We hired him for the day. We went to Agra fort-really beautiful, then to the baby Taj, and then around the back of the actual Taj Mahal for prime viewing. There was a boy riding a camel there, trying to sell rides to the tourists. We were gonna hang out there till sunset, but it was only 2p.m. and there were so many kids following us and begging that after about an hour we didn't want to deal with it anymore. So, we had Lalaa take us to this restaurant with a rooftop view of the Taj. Great place. Excellent veggie curry and we had a perfect view of the Taj. It hasn't hit us that we're here. We keep saying, "We're in India. That is the Taj Mahal! We're eating and IT'S RIGHT THERE!" But it still doesn't feel real.
Love the foreigners you meet while traveling--dreadlocked wanderers who have been all over. Small world of people who just came from where you are headed. At the baby Taj some guys had a frisbee and we sat on the grass while tuktuk driver Lalaa tried his hand at frisbee for the first time. At the end of the night, in true tuktuk driver form, Lalaa wanted to take us to his friend's silver shop to further rip us off, but we were having none of it, so he finally gave up and took us home. He was cool though--other people paid three times as much to hire a driver for the day. Calling it an early night--can't wait to get some sleep. Going back to the Taj Mahal tomorrow to actually go inside it. Cannot believe tomorrow is Christmas Eve.