Agra- An Inconvenient Truth

Edit: I have no wifi and WordPress is uploading my pics to the start of this blog only, so I’ll upload pics here later when I have wifi. I have some stunners so check back to see them soon

It’s one of the things you have to do if you go to India; go see the Taj Mahal. Everyone knows about it, everyone has seen the famous Process Diana photo, and now the famous William and Kate replication. Everyone I know who goes to India goes to see the Taj, has their photo taken in the centre point, probably a perspective matched shot of them holding the brass tip, and about a quintillion photos of the whole site (yep, that’s a number). I can’t blame anyone for this; it’s such a breathtaking site and it really is a once in a lifetime experience.

The truly incredible thing about the whole Taj Mahal site is the genius engineering that went into the building. There are so many design decisions that really make this so special, from the perfect symmetry around the whole site as well as the tomb itself, the ventilation considerations made to keep the tomb cool, the optical illusions you experience when looking from the main entrance, the truly incredible craftsmanship to incorporate precious stones of intricate patterns and Islamic calligraphy into the white marble, and the fact that the minarets are actually angled 3degrees off perfect alignment so those viewing always see all four, but also in case of an earthquake they would fall away from the tomb. Considering this was built hundreds of years ago this is truly astounding. 

When we were being guided around by Prakash, our awesome guide and photographer, he told us the granite came from Rajasthan, the neighbouring state, I’m on my way to now. It’s worth mentioning though this is hardly driving from Cambridgeshire to Suffolk or actually leaving London (I know my London friends, it’s almost unthinkable isn’t it), this was a 700km journey, pulling an unthinkable volume of granite and marble by horse and cart. No wonder it took 22 years and 20,000 people to build!

We spent a few hours at the site, and I was more than happy just sitting and looking ate the building, it really is that stunning. After the Taj we headed across the city to the Agra Fort, which is somewhat overshadowed by the Taj. Unlike most temples in India either dedicated to gods or dudes, the Taj is built for love and in memory of Shan Jahan’s favourite wife and only true love, who died giving birth to their 14th child. 

Sorry Kelly, as much as I love you, I don’t think I’ll be able to top the Taj..

The second must see is Agra Fort..

Agra Fort has adopted a number of roles over the years, and is now 80% a military base. It’s quite nice it’s still used for government purposes I guess. It was a shame we couldn’t see it all, but what was open to the public was pretty awesome. There are so many layers of the fort that offer difference architectural design changes as the fort was built up and modernised by different leaders over hundreds of years. My favourite part though was overlooking the Taj and the surrounding greenery. I could have spent hours just looking over the horizon to be honest, and for those that know me personally I’m not too good at just sitting. I really loved the contrast of designs and colours around the whole site, and to be honest I liked the contrast against the almost perfectly kept Taj. This fort has seen better days in parts…

Once we did these two sites, we decided to head to Mehtab Bagh ( the Black Taj) and its’s gardens on the other side of the river from the Taj for a different view. The gardens are lovely, tranquil, quiet, and well worth a visit to escape the all round carnage. The Black Taj was meant to be a palace for the King directly opposite that of his love, so he could watch over her but sadly only the foundations were completed before his third sun overthrew him, imprisoned him at Agra Fort and killed his two elder brothers to become king. The ruins of the foundations are still present today. We had hoped to stay until after sunset but security had a different opinion. Still, it was great to see the Taj from a different angle and chat with other tourists.

Then, there’s the inconvenient truth.

I’m just going to say it…

Agra is a shit hole.


I know many of you are probably thinking I’m just saying this because of the opulence we are used to in the UK in contrast to India, but seriously, look past the Taj and the red fort, it really is a shit hole. This is comparing against what I’ve seen so far in this truly wonderful country.

For example, as soon as I got off the train the smell of sulphur stabs you in the nostrils, I can only assume from the polluted river which was abnormally low, thus a huge pile of rubbish sat festering around the banks. I’ve said before in previous blogs I didn’t get when people moaned about the smell bomb of India, but THIS epitomised Ming to me! Unfortunately it didn’t stop there, even some food I had tasted of sulphur (obviously using local unfiltered water) and brushing my teeth using the standard taps overpowered my minty fresh toothpaste with rank egg-like gag inducing taste. Needless to say, and without being too graphic, my body wasn’t a fan (projects ladies, if you’re reading this, your leaving present came in handy!!). I never found out why this was so bad, but my hostel manager said that it is a big problem in Agra, and even locals can’t drink the water; such a shame considering the famine in some areas of India. Water water everywhere and not a drop to drink comes to mind…

Then there’s the bugs. There is a break out of Dengue fever and Chicken Gunia in Agra at present so we had to be careful all the time. Because it’s rained so much over monsoon season there are more mosquitos than usual. No one can help this I appreciate, but I found that most establishments struggled to do much about this, so restaurants and our hostel were covered in bugs, and sitting outside was literally like running the gauntlet with some pretty nasty diseases. I didn’t fancy that at all.

Finally, and possibly the most annoying thing for me was the blatant gentrification that oozed through Agra. Locals can’t drink any water, but a 5* Meridien hotel can build whatever it wants and offer a world class service to its guests whilst people outside live in a box. I went into one of the many top hotels scattering the city to nick some wifi and have a coffee. The coffee cost more than any street food I’ve eaten in all of India! The level of opulence I saw around reminded me of trips to Abu Dhabi, which is quite literally another world and totally adrift from reality for the majority of the human race. 

The reason this upset me, is it was obvious many people probably fly into, India and onwards to Agra, see the Taj, and piss off again. The paradox of 5* hotels against the local experience is mind blowing, there are literally people living outside the hotel walls in boxes! I’m not naive to think this wouldn’t happen near a world heritage site and that this is the basic supply and demand economics, it’s just sad the government aren’t doing more to resolve the water issue. 

Finally, Agra is the biggest tourist trap imaginable. Everything has a markup, EVERYTHING! We absolutely decimated our budget seeing the must see sites, eating and getting around, and we only had breakfast and dinner. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad we saw the sites, but some of the ticket officers were royally taking the piss with their foreigner inflation (not the establishments inflation, which was bad enough, but the officers on the gates themselves). Rickshaw drivers were literally driving down the road next to us walking for hundreds of metres trying to get us in their vehicles, whilst street vendors selling snow globes and other bits of crap followed us on the other side. I even went for a bloody run earlier around Agra and had the same thing happen. 

No mate, i don’t want a lift, I’m clearly going for a run. Look at my attire. Getting a taxi down the road somewhat defeats the object of going for a run…..

So I probably sound like a moany little bitch, but I wanted to make the point to our people planning trips to India reading this, when going to Agra, get in, and get out! The good is great, but the bad is bad…

I’m now on my way to Jaipur which I can’t wait for. Everyone I have spoken to says Rajistan is an amazing state to visit and Jaipur is different to anywhere else we’ve visited so far. We are staying with a guy from Couchsurfing too, which will be interesting in itself. The best way to experience the local culture is to stay within it, so let’s hope we really get a chance to see it.

Edit: I have no wifi and WordPress isn’t uploading my pics to the right part of my blog so I’ll upload pics here later when I have wifi.