India Day 4 - Monkey Business

We hired a van and driver to take Allison, Kodi, Alex, and me from Delhi to Agra. We left in the morning and took the “scenic route.” Bumpy roads and curves mixed with a speedy driver... swerving around every car and oh, the typical, honking to signal “I’m passing.” Needless to say, my stomach felt a bit queasy.

I assumed that once we passed out of the city into the countryside that the endless garbage would...well...end! It upset me to see that we had to drive quite a distance out into the country for the litter to let up.

One of the things I’ve learned about travel is to let go of expectations. However, in so doing, you begin to notice expectations you didn’t even realize were there! I knew India was going to be dirty, but I was surprised to find myself feeling very angry about the amount of trash and lack of respect for the land. I discussed this later with Alex and I’ll never forget his wise response: “Sometimes you don’t know what your values are until they are violated.”

Along the way, our driver stopped to pay the tax for changing states. While waiting in the van, we saw a man across the road with a monkey on a leash. We all laughed and pointed, which the man noticed, and he walked his monkey over to us. Kodi and I got out our cameras as the man instructed the monkey jump up on the window. The monkey was rather gross, I will say, but I snapped a picture anyway. Unfortunately, this was exactly what the man wanted to happen and he began knocking on the window and demanding money for the pictures. Alex opened the door slightly to talk to him and another man with a monkey came up and started arguing that he needed money too. In order to get them to leave, Alex did pay a little. Lesson learned...on our end!

Halfway to Agra, we stopped at Keoladeo National Park. What a sweet sight for sore eyes, no garbage! The park is a popular wintering ground for migratory birds. We weren’t able to see many animals, but with the help of a guide and his giant binoculars, we still were able to see some wildlife such as a jackal, several antelope and nilgai, and many birds.

The four of us enjoyed a rickshaw ride through the nature reserve, but unfortunately we still got pretty sunburned. In the city the pollution is so bad that you almost don’t need sunscreen, but you definitely need sunscreen to protect from the hot Indian sun in the country. And boy it was hot that day!

Shortly before leaving the park, our guide took us down the steps to the edge of some water. A man began throwing dough balls to the strangest and ugliest turtles I’ve ever seen! Pig-like noses and teeny-tiny eyes. We politely declined the offer to see the snakes and took off to find some food.

Our driver took us to a place he recommended for lunch. It was a hotel with a restaurant but there must have been a party going on. So instead they had us eat in one of the rooms! It felt very odd to eat at the end of a bed, but we had air conditioning, so we were content!

We then traveled to Fatehpur Sikri, a small city founded by Akbar in 1569. The palace of Emperor Babur is now a tourist location and apparently the setting of several Bollywood scenes. The palace was an immense space, mostly made of beautifully carved sandstone. Our guide, Ali, explained that the emperor had three wives and large rooms for each: A Muslim, A Hindu, and A Catholic. Each room had carvings that were specific to the religion of each wife. In the temple area, we had to walk barefoot and tread carefully down a carpeted walkway to keep our feet from burning to a crisp!

Around six we got into Agra and found our hotel. We were pretty stoked at how nice our hotel room was! In the lobby they even welcomed us with a dot our foreheads and put flowers around our necks! In exploring, we found that we could see the Taj from the rooftop, although it kind of blended in with the pollution.

We also found the pool, and after listening to Kodi and Allison debate whether to go swimming or not, I jumped in clothes and all! Kodi joined me because...YOLO! We enjoyed a lovely cool down after the hot day (while rule-abiding Allison waited on the side) for only a short time until we were scolded out of the pool by hotel staff. Haha!

To end the evening we ate some yummy food at a restaurant and they ended the meal by giving us some green stuff. I wish I knew what it was called! It had a minty licorice flavor and is provided at the end of the meal to freshen your mouth. The girls wanted stopped at a coffeeshop on the way back to the hotel for something chocolate. As our driver dropped us off, I remember that he spoke to us in length about the frustrations he has experienced dealing with the expectations of “white tourists”. (yikes!)