Day 6

Right so that was Sunday. First I have to add a strange experience. On my way to Hunuman's tomb on day 4 or 5? I was at a stop light with four slum kids trying to sell me crayons and batteries, for what purpose im not sure, when this old decrepit man with a cane and a shawl from bibilical days came round and started whacking them with his stick. Weird.

Anyways india is full of such bizarre sightings, especially Delhi.

So Sunday I woke up early, around 6am and took a rickshaw to the Nizummadin Train station. Riding in a rickshaw is not fun, and can be seriously dangerous. In fact, I feel quite confident in stating that its more risky than riding a motorcycle. The rickshaw driver keeps NO distance, and has so many "almost accidents" that it becomes a really good example of India's general lack of regard for individual human life. Recently a law was passed to raise rickshaw rates, but not the quality of teh rickshaws or that of the roads.

So I arrived at the train station at 7am for a 7:15 train. I thought it was gonna be a quick ticket and get a good seat situation. i was wrong. There were ten really really long lines with pretty poor looking indians all backed together ass to ass style shoving and grinding. So i got in line and hoped for the best. I was literally smashed up against the guy in front of me and the guy behind me was shoving his pelvis into me buttocks. Anything to make sure nobody cuts. So with this psuedo sexual dance i finally made it to the front o fthe line, where i managed to slip the man my money and get a ticket. It was 7:16. I ran to the platform and noticed that the train had started moving adn people were hanging one foot in one foot out of the entryways. I ran along the train and hopped on, pushing my way in, ending up between and entrance, a toilet, a family of five, and a couple beggar looking types. For the next three hours I stook there, and listened to my ipod. For the first hour the tracks out of delhi are populated by Delhi's famous slums. These are the poorest dwellings i have ever scene. Shacks made of cardboard and newspapers, surrounded by dumpsites, naked toddlers and pigs running around in the trash picking at it for treasure; old men bathing in dirty sewage water, women shitting near the tracks. Strangely enough, people find it important to brush their teeth in these situations, as i saw more than a few people brushing.

Made it to Agra. Immediately, as the lonely plant book warned, I was accosted by a travel agent guy of sorts who offered a rickshaw ride to Taj Mahal for only 52 ruppees. I tried to distance my self but he stuck to me like a fly sticks to shit. Finally i succumbed and got in a rickshaw with one of his cronies and took the ride. The guy turned out to be really coool, and showed me a little book where people wrote great reviews of his "agra tour". So for 400 R he took me around from 10 am to 7 pm to all the sites agra has to offer. We did the Agra Fort, the Agra Market, the Baby Taj, and finally teh Taj Majal. He stopped at vantage points and told me what to photograph, and told me stories. We stopped for Chai a few times, which is my new favorite drink and is pretty much the coffee of india.

The sights were great, but on their own, not worth a trip to Agra, which was hot at 45 degrees Celsius! Most annoying were the peddlers selling tours and trinklets, who just would not cease to annoy, and little boys and girls with mashed up faces begging for a couple ruppees. Of course if you give them a ruppee the rest of the town sees this and feels they deserve a couple ruppees too. So i give no ruppees. At the Baby Taj a group of 7 boys surrounded me and wanted to "talk" and i literally told them "get the fuck away from me i want to be alone" and that didnt work, so i killed them off with a shotgun i keep just for that purpose.

Finally i got the taj mahal, and Wow. Most beautiful building Ive ever seen. Not much to say here, except the inside is not impressive. I had to shit, so I looked about for a toilet. Couldnt find one. Then i found one and went inside to realize that there was no light. The stalls were pitch black. I told the attendent and he just shrugged. Not a good situation. Then the attendent told me to wait and got a lighter with a tiny flashlight from some lady and gave it to me with a roll of toilet paper. The stall was flooded with liquid, which I like to think was water, adn the light didnt do much. But I managed to relieve myself. Fucking taj majal, they charge foreigners 20 times more than indians, and they cant even supply some light in the bathroom! how does india except to get ahead?? Suffice it to say, the Taj Majal was awesome.

Got to the train, found a seat. After half an hour though, at a stop, a million women boarded and it was expected for me to stand and let them sit. So I did, thinking no big deal. It wouldnt be if teh train hadnt taken five hours instead of three to arrive at the destination. I stood for 4.5 hours, my ipod battery dead, no scene to look at (it was night), tired and dehydrated. What amazed me was how tolerant the indians were of this two hour delay without explanation. Nobody seemed worried at all the the train crawled along at exactly one mile perhour for the last two hours. People were standing and joking. I was incensed. And since nobody spoke english, i had no idea what was going on or when we would arrive. Finally we arrived adn i made my way home, after bargaining down the rickshaw ride from 450 r to 80. Long day, but worth it fo' sho'.

Day 7,

not much, Michal was better. Bought a road atlas, a bag, a couple tools, set up the motorcycle, went to sleep early, waking up at 5am departure.