Agra ... Cheap! - India 23

I took a train to Agra Fort. Just about everybody got off at the main Agra train station, but I decided to wait, figuring that the Agra Fort station might be closer to the Red Fort. Granted the wait on the train was an extra half hour, but I guessed I would be bettter off for having less solicitors. When I got off the train, I found out this was for naught. There were still a crowd of auto and rickshaw drivers trying to get me to ride. Interestingly enough, the train station opened onto the rear of the fort. This included a large sign map, the first I had seen in India! As I set out by foot, I was offered directions from rickshaw-wallahs. I even was joined by a few friendly boys who had about as much English skills as I did. It seemed that the fort's wooded area between the crumbling exterior wall and the 6 story high main wall was their playground.
Walking around to the main entrance of the Red Fort I was surprised the backpack check and water were free. Considering at the other UNESCO site I had just been to, it cost a nickel to leave your shoes under guard. There were active archaelogical and historical sections in the process of restoration. Some it was fenced off, but other parts I was just able to wander into and see the workers standing on lashed bamboo scaffolding with a leg on the wall to help chimney the gap. A couple of kids (prolly theirs) were sitting in playing in the nearby shade.
A third section, the majority of the fort, was walled off because it was still military. I guess when a large section of area is walled off, there is little reason to convert it from original use. My guess is that the base was too big an area for the city to politically muscle out and redevelop into a housing/industrial/commercial area.

From the top of the red fort I saw the traditional UNESCO view of the Taj Mahal. That view is surrounded by further buildings situated back from the river. There were several swimmers floating down the river past the Red Fort and the Taj Mahal. It seemed like a good pastime for the hot weather. Damn the pollution.

From the Red Fort I decided to walk to the Taj. As per normal, the auto drivers were incredulous. I definitely learned that as a fool of European the best way to get a cheap fair anywhere is to start walking. After all, by foot gets one across town in under 10Rs. [Graphic with Want to travel across town for under 10 Rs? Start Walking!] The only problem is with directions. Many maps lack the necessary signals or landmarks and since most roads lack signs, this leaves other drivers as a source of directions. One simply never knows if a driver looking for a fare will give you the right directions. I have gotten bad ones several times. During this trip I start walking through a park and an Indian who has hired a rickshaw for his family admired the comfort unlike the method employed by me, "the fool of a European." He had hired a driver for a three-quarter mile shaded park lane.

The Taj is more than the view. It is place thick with monkeys (which stole the water bottle from a guy with whom I was talking), parrots (who are mostly dumb), and dragon flies (which dodge and dart above the fountains). In addition, this tomb is not in isolation, but has museums within the gates and is surrounded by the old city.

In the evening I wandered throughout the town. The tourist area teemed with internet cafes, restaurants, and gift shops with wares from the whole of India. The local part of town had walkways scarely wide enough for me to pass another along with an open sewer drain. I tried to buy curd, but the dairy seller wanted to sell it for a price 10x what I had seen elsewhere in town. When I rejected his price and walked away, a few teenagers started walking with me. They escorted a bit through town, but were as incredulous as the auto drivers when I didn't know the name of my hotel.

My wanderings took me another hour through town in order to find my hotel home. I did find some excellent milk: one ladle of cream plus three of milk, all hot, mixed with sugar into a small terra cotta pot. Just like "Guys and Dolls", this is an excellent way to get kids to drink their milk.

At the Taj I decided to live it up backpacker style and grabbed a cheap room next to the Western gate; I still don't know the name of the hotel. This provided for a great view from the rooftop cafe of the Taj. The next morning I had breakfast with one Eric Levi, a Portlander from my neighborhood of Sellwood traveling through India. The red star on his chest reminded of one person and his demeaner of another, Joe Stalin and Eric Joseph Stofferahn [Stalin] respectively. Eric Levi's birght red star suggested his following of communism, although I believe him socialist from our conversation. In addition, he recognized that the Safeway on SE Powell and 39th in Portland has a nice big picture of Joseph Stalin in the window. Eric Levi's relaxed personality, and his detailed recollection of animal fueled insanity in Varanasi reminded me of the animal shelter Stofferahn's mother ran.

I enjoyed Agra, in addition to all of this, I was back in the land of 24 hour internet.