Wednesday 11th, I left my hostel in New Delhi at 5am (Yawn!) so that I was able to walk to find myself a Tuk Tuk to haggle with to take me to the train station. Half way to my destination and the driver has the cheek to pick up another random Indian man to share with!! With it being so early, myself being tired and the fact that I had only been in India for a week I was not very happy about this and slightly concerned. Turns out the man spoke very good English and was actually quite friendly. (Which is a surprise because I have found that generally people in India just want to scam you)

Anyway, I shared my opinion of having to actually share my Tuk Tuk and how I shouldn’t have to pay the full amount which we agreed at the beginning. Two minutes later and an angry discussion between this man and the driver and he tells me that I won’t have to pay a penny. All that I can assume is that he was a nice guy looking for a foreign friend and decided to pay for both our fares. Lucky me!

The train to Agra was 3 (very long and uncomfortable) hours. Though still a joyous experience like everything else. I made friends with a random Swiss girl, Raphi and invited her to my hostel. We then bumped into two lovely French travellers and all agreed to sightsee Agra together to save some pennies and share the beauty.

We saw a mosque, Jama Masjid and Baby Taj, also known as Itimad-ud-Daulah (which was obviously a smaller baby version of the Taj) which was lovely to see. Agra Fort took up a while as it was huge! There are so many areas inside the fort that each step, door and staircase lead to something more amazing that the one before. It also gave us a view of the real Taj Mahal which just got us more excited about the even more beautiful things which we have yet to see!

We then went to Mehtab Bagh which was a massive and perfectly green park which was situated on the other side of the river to the Taj Mahal. This gave us the most breathtaking view which we had ever seen. With the blue sky, shining sun and flowing waters surrounding such a sight, there was nothing more we could do than ignore each other and just sit in silence and amazement to take in the beauty.

After a short camel ride we then decided to sit directly outside the Taj Mahal  on the grass right next to the river to watch the sunset. This was bizarre as it was something that I had always dreamed of doing, without thinking that one day (i.e. TODAY) it would actually happen.

We then observed a funeral which was taking place a 5 minute walk away by the river. The body was covered in wood creating a sort of ‘wigwam’ which was then set alight. This was a length process which was fascinating to watch and compare to how a cremation would happen in the UK. People would surround the body throwing sugar, ensuring that the fire didn’t stop and that the body would be fully cremated. It is then normally 2 days later that the family will return to collect the ashes. The rich will travel up north to deposit the ashes into the Ganges (The massive river which I was lucky enough to see on my road trip the week before). The less wealthy would normally just deposit the ashes into the river below.

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