INCREDIBLE INDIA DAY 2 - AGRA, HOME TO THE MAJESTIC TAJ MAHAL

Hello, it's me, Aja!

This is the continuation from my previous post. So, if you haven't read my previous post about my first day arriving in India, please check it out by clicking here.

First, let me give a little bit introduction about Agra (which you can actually google but i know you're too lazy too google it).

Agra is one of the city in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, India. It is located around 206 kilometers south to the national capital New Delhi. Agra is one of the most popular city in India because of its many splendid Mughal-era buildings such as Taj Mahal, Agra Fort and Fatehpur Sikri, all three of which are UNESCO World Heritage site. Agra is included on the Golden Triangle of India along with Delhi and Jaipur. Why Golden Triangle? Because the location of those three famous cities is like a triangle shape.

Golden Triangle

Inside the train.

So here's the story after we reached Agra...still on the second day.

From Agra Cantt railway station, we went to our hostel at Tajganj by an auto-rickshaw or commonly called as tuktuk. The driver name is Bobby and he’s a nice guy (in the beginning). He showed us a book of people from all over the world writing reviews about his service. Later when we reached the hostel, Bobby tried to persuade us to take a tour package from him, but we rejected. He even followed us inside the hostel. That’s make me hate him, I don’t like people keep on bugging me, telling me to buy something. If I said no, it’s a no, period. Few minutes later, he left because we ignore him.

Bobby.

On our ride to the hostel.

Bobby's auto-rickshaw charge.

We stayed in a female dorm at Bedweiser Backpackers Hostel. I kid you not, that’s the best hostel during our trip in India! I would recommend the hostel to anyone coming to Agra. Okay….back to the topic….. 

The main entrance of the hostel. And that's the security guard.

4 bed female dorm in Bedweiser Backpackers Hostel.

Living room.

After finish check-in, we went out for an evening walk. The map showed that the road next to our hostel is Taj East Gate Road, so we thought it is very near to Taj Mahal, but it’s not. It’s around half an hour walking distance from our hostel to Taj East Gate. But we didn’t go to Taj Mahal since it probably closed when we reach there. So, we walked into a nearby village but nothing seems interesting there and we’re actually quite scared of the dogs so we decided to turned back and walk towards Taj Mahal direction and then back to the hotel.

Television shops at the village.

Motorcycle workshop.

Cow walking in city street? Well, it's India.

Around 8.00pm, we went out again for dinner at Mumtaz Rooftop Café before we found out that it was closed for renovation. So, we changed plan! Since the next day is Holi Festival, a big colour festival celebrated across India, we saw that they have made a set-up like bonfire at certain place. We plan to go to one of the bonfire to see their ritual prayers but we were scared to walk by ourselves because we’re both girls and drunk man are everywhere on that night. We waited for a family passing by and we asked if we could follow them to go to the bonfire. However, they told us that the bonfire will be light up around 9pm, so we have to wait for another one hour by ourselves because they will pray there and then going back home. Feeling upset, we walked back to our hostel and still considering the consequences of going to the bonfire by ourselves.

Me, feeling unsafe, at Taj East Gate Road.

Most of the tuktuk driver told us to stay inside our hotel during the night because it is a bit unsafe. They said most people will get drunk on that night. That’s why we’re scared and don’t want to walk by ourselves. When we arrive at the hostel, we heard Bollywood songs played loudly from the back lane of our hostel. There could be another bonfire setup near to our hostel. Without much hesitation, we both agreed to go there! As soon as we saw the bonfire setup, we ran there, doesn’t feel scared anymore, hahaha. They’re already dance to the music and the bonfire will be light up in a bit.

This is what i mean by "bonfire setup". I don't know what do they call it.

They begin their ritual prayer as soon as the bonfire is light up.

Few moments later, we found out that we were already dancing with them. Most of them are kids from the neighbourhood and other travellers that were dancing together with me and Farah.

Me and Farah with some kids from the neighbourhood.

There were other travelers from Taiwan too!

We went back to our hostel around 10pm. We don’t want to stay out until midnight, it will be unsafe for us. We had our dinner, instant noodles (maggi) at the rooftop of the hostel. There’s a café and common room at the rooftop. We slept early on that night so that we can wake up earlier to catch sunrise at Taj Mahal on the next day.

That's all! I will continue on my next post. So, stay tuned!

Till then,

Aja.

Don't forget to go beyond~


p/s: my next post might be written in Malay.