Breathless

Day 409
It was dark when I left the hotel. I had about a 10 minute walk to the train station and had hoped to get a tuk tuk, but the only guy there wanted way too much money. When I pointed out that I knew just where the station was he lowered his price and we were both happy. I was just glad to not have to walk in the dark.

The train ride wasn't long and I think that I slept thru most of it. When the train pulled into Agra tuk tuk madness ensued. From the moment that I had gotten off of the train I had thought that a man was following me, but he never spoke to me so I figured that I was being ridiculous. He then preceded to pick a huge fight with my tuk tuk driver. They were both screaming and I thought that punches would be thrown. I ended up finding a different driver and thought I had got away. The first guy I had spoke to though found me and wanted to know what the problem was. I told him that his argument made me feel unsafe and that I wouldn't go anywhere with anyone who made me feel uncomfortable. My tuk tuk driver seemed to understand and drove off before the first guy could protest any more.

I bargained a bit at the hostel before settling on a room and dumping my things. I then headed out for lunch. Its so weird that even in Agra, the most popular tourist place in India, all the resturants are empty.

After eating I thought that I would wander to the main bazaar but the tuk tuks were just so annoying that I just walked in a circle and returned to my hotel. It was the only way to escape.

For sunset I went up on my hotels roof where I had an amazing view of the Taj, it almost brought a tear to my eye. It is so much more amazing than I can describe, or than any pictures can show. Several people on nearby roofs were flying kites and on other roofs monkeys played tag. I stayed there until it was too dark to see and then headed off to sleep. I was going to have an early morning.