Agra

31 - 01/01/08



I headed off in the dark and cold down to the train station, past small huddles of people warming themselves around street fires and rickshaw drivers wrapped head to toe in blankets. The station was already bustling with life. Whilst the train flew through the countryside the deep pink sun rose over misty fields and small straw huts littered the landscape. The Indian passenger next to me works as a japanese interpreter and taught himself the language in two months no less! It puts me to shame as everyone I meet is so good at languages. Once in Agra I shared a bitterly cold ride into town with a French couple. North India has a massive selection of people from all over the world, quite a contrast to the south. New Year's eve was spent on the roof terrace overlooking the Taj Mahal with two girls from Germany and Finland and two boys from Switzerland and Chicago. By 4am it was time to hit the sack but sleep was short as I had to be up again at 5.30 to get to the Taj Mahal for sunrise. What a way to spend the first day of 2008! It was pitch black as I walked down to the entrance gate and stars covered the sky. Seeing the Taj Mahal looming against the night sky was a truly magical experience, only comparable with the feeling you get on Christmas eve when you are little. As the sun gradually rose the building changed from blue to pale pink and then finally a dazzling white. It was breathtakingly beautiful. It had been so cold that frost coated everything and mist rose from the river behind clinging like a blanket to the ground. The Taj Mahal looked like a palace floating on clouds. I don't think it could have been more picturesque. Up close the stone-work is staggeringly detailed. There are intricate lattice partitions and the most exquisite flowers made from carefully inlaid coloured stones. It is totally mind-blowing to think of the effort involved.

That night it was back on the sleeper train once more for the fifteen hour journey to Rajasthan - first stop Bundi. I hadn't been in sleeper class since I'd reached the wintry North and of course I'd forgotten it has no heating. Thankfully I'd packed my sleeping bag but I was so tired I nodded of before getting into it. The next thing I knew I was woken by a prod in my back and turned to find a little old man flinging a blanket over me. I tried to explain that it was okay and that I had a sleeping bag but it was to no avail. He was fiercely insistent I should have it. I admitted defeat, thanked him profusely and went back to sleep. Twenty minutes later I was aware of some shoving and found the same man looking despairingly at me and trying to tuck me in (I clearly don't know how to wear a blanket the Indian way)!! He was a little sweety.