Naggar to Chandigarh to Agra

Our days in Naggar were a bit boring. The town is extremely small and since it is off-season, only a few places were open (one small store and two restaurants). I think we may have been the only tourists there. We played many, many games of cards and dominos, ordered room service and watched terrible b-movies (most channels are in Hindi with only about 3 channels in English). Matt enjoyed Old Monk Rum and hot water; a traditional liquor from North India and only 100 Rs per bottle or 2.50 US, until our hot water heater broke :). Then Matt enjoyed just Old Monk Rum.

We were watching a Hindi news channel and noticed that they were showing a map of India with bombs flashing, one being in Varanasi; our last destination in India. We were concerned but had no access to English newspapers so we were going to have to wait until we could get access to the internet.
After three nights in Naggar we hired a driver take us to Chandigarh, about a 9 hour drive south. Unfortunately, the hotel we booked didn’t retain our reservation and they were completely booked. The hotel manager was nice enough to call around and find us another hotel though.
We left Chandigarh at 6:30am the next morning for the train station and after 13 hours arrived in Agra. The train ride was long, we were in a birth with a Sikh and his wife, a man and his wife from south India and a man from Chandigarh. They were all very nice but the man from Chandigarh kept lifting his leg and passing gas (towards me). He could have at least aimed at the aisle… There were so many sites along the way, women working in fields, small towns with tea stalls, boys playing cricket, children climbing trees and beautiful natural scenery. The only sad thing to see was the amount of garbage everywhere, there wasn’t one site not covered.

We arrived in Agra and hired a taxi to take us to our hotel. We’re staying at the “Shanti Lodge” and let me tell you, its shanty alright. We changed rooms though and now we have a large room with a great view of the Taj Mahal. We explored the Taj Ganj area of Agra today; winding colorful streets through markets with so much going on all around you. It’s completely overwhelming, different from the peace and quiet of the mountains. People are constantly asking if we need a rickshaw, something to eat, look in their shops, etc. We’re walking down the street constantly saying no. I wish we had t-shirts that said “No, I don’t need a rickshaw” on the front and “No, I don’t want to buy anything” on the back.

Anyway, we are back at the hotel relaxing now and getting some chai, we’re planning on going to the Taj Mahal at sunrise tomorrow which should be great for pictures. We’ll be here until December 2nd, then taking a train on to Varanasi. We finally read on CNN that three bombs detonated simultaneously in three holy cities; one being Varanasi where 9 people were killed. The court and government buildings were the targets so we aren’t too concerned about safety when we go there.