Agra

Agra has been the most pleasant touristy-place I have yet encountered in India. Information is widely available, streets are guarded with special police forces, hotel was fairly easy to find and is well-priced. The staff is very helpful and I hear the rooftop-restaurant is nice – need to check it out next.

When I arrived to Agra the tuck-tuck driver was accompanied with this pleasant Indian man, who proposed to show me Agra the next day (today) for a price. He would take me to the major tourist sites and wait for me there. After long pondering about it I took the offer: we would meet 05.45 the next morning near Taj Mahal to embark on a trip filled with touristy-locations. I went to the other side of the river Yamuna to see Taj Mahal from the behind (although it was cloudy, so the Sun did not show the different colours of the Taj marble). Baby Taj was another location. Agra Fort the next. Some breakfast, walking at the Sadar Bazaar, which is a local-kind of bazaar (there I had the guts to taste wholesale ice-cream for the first time in India – it tasted superb; I hope I don’t get sick  ), and the shittiest part was the visit to marble manufacturing factory, where it’s always apparently a custom to buy at least something, however small. I kindly refused, so the exit was quite cold, even though the man said many time “thank you sir, thank you sir”, you could still understand he was not happy about me not buying anything since he had used time and effort to introduce me to the marble craftsmanship.
Anywayyy, I think I will rest now for a while (I woke up at 5 a.m.) and then try to find a post office for some cards to be delivered, and then proceed to Taj Mahal to see how it is in the evening time. After that I thought it might be nice to chill out properly for the first time on this trip, since there is this hookah-bar on the street, where they have all kinds of “special” drinks :P.

Next stop is Khajuraho, where I will hopefully arrive in the early Friday morning. On the same evening I will hopefully depart for Varanasi, where I will witness people bathing and doing whatnot in the ghats.

UPDATE: Joney's place server reeally good and cheap food here. I think I'll pay them a visit again tomorrow!