Cheryl and Mike’s Adventure

Well, we’re here in Agra for a few more hours, so I figured we had time for a quick update. First a couple of things to clarify (as per requested by Cheryl):

-First, we want to be very clear that we are very much enjoying the food here in India (very true). We didn’t want people to be under the impression that we weren’t, due to my comment about the Pizza Hut on the last post. Actually, the food here in India has been a pleasant surprise. A good mix of curries, with vegetables, all sorts of rice, PAN (sort of a cooked bread) w/cheese and garlic…very tasty/flavorful, seemingly healthy, and actually rather spicy (mostly in a good way) at times. Anyway, the food’s been good, and to everyone out there who knows Cheryls’, um, uh, selective eating habits, she’s doing a great job of branching out and trying new things, you’d all be proud.

-Cheryl also wanted to thank everyone who sent in a “Happy Birthday” comment as well, she appreciated all of them. We had a nice late lunch in Varanasi at a pretty decent restaurant (for India) and we even had a candle and cake as well. She says she couldn’t have wished for a better 22nd birthday.

WELL, we’ve been here in Agra, the train ride through the night was once again as well as it could have been, the most difficult part is figuring out which train is actually yours, and if you’re stepping on to the correct one. We both had top “sleeper” bunks, and we’re able to sleep on/off throughout the night. We got into Agra at about 8AM, and quickly procured a hotel room. After some breakfast, we meandered around the area where we’re staying, which is really about a 2 minute walk to the gate of the Taj. Lot’s of venders, postcard dealers, people bugging you to buy souvenirs, as you would expect, and a fairly touristy area (tons of travelers walking around the area from Europe, etc.). But all in all, it seems like a little bit of a cleaner/nicer city (from what we’ve seen, and considering it’s India) than the others we’ve been too…just lot’s of taxi/salespeople/touts harassing you. Which at this point, you get pretty use to, and we more or less just tell them to screw off with more and more confidence, daily. My new thing is to just start growling, or grunt, actually…it’s becomes kind of amusing, to be honest. Anyway, last night we made the long awaited pilgrimage to Pizza Hut, and it was glorious. It’s a full chain Pizza Hut, walking inside you would never even realize what country you’re in, and needless to say, we gorged like royalty. We threw down a couple of pizzas’ with the Garlic Bread platter to boot, not to mention a couple of beers, and waddled out feeling better than we have in a while after a meal. This morning, we got up bright and early to see the Taj Mahal, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. It did not disappoint. Absolutely beautiful, marvelous building, hard to put into words without seeing it. It was much much larger than you would think, makes people look like ants next to it, pretty overwhelming. The whole area was (predictably) flooded w/tourists, and the whole walking/garden/lawn section is immaculate (we’re pretty much convinced that it’s the cleanest place in India, hands down). The stone is pretty smooth and very interesting to look at up close, and the whole thing is breathtaking to take in. As you would imagine, we got tons and tons of pictures from every angle, and hopefully it will give you guys a sense of it. All in all very hard to describe, but it was certainly something we won’t forget. An overall incredible building/structure.

Had a quick breakfast afterwards, and now we are heading out of Agra for a 1 hour bus ride down to Bharatpur, where we will be visiting the Keoladeo National Park for a couple of days…it supposedly one of the world’s most famous bird-watching parks, which could be interesting. Cheryl and I could come back as Amateur Birders’. Anyway, that’s it for now, signing off…thanks for all the comments and keep them coming!

Cheryl & Mike

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 29th, 2007 at 1:29 am and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.