Agra - supposedly the city of love

But really the city of smog, tourists and touts.

So we finally made it to see the Taj. THE TAJ. One of the seven new wonders of the world. The Taj itself was beautiful, a marble dream castle (well tomb...) pearched on a cloud...on no wait, it is actually just surrounded by a think smog, that makes it LOOK like it is floating on a cloud. We got up super early to see the sun rise over the Taj, but there was no sun rise, it had problems getting through the haze. In fact there was a little counter at one of the sites in Agra that informed us that the particulate matter in the air (whatever that is....pieces of holy flying cow dung) was 7 times the safe level. 7 times. Every time you breathed it was like smoking....only probably worse for you. If there is anything this trip has taught me to appreciate, it is snot. Man, that little runny stuff that filters my nasal passage is LITERALLY saving my life here.

You like that? I related the Taj....to my appreciation for snot. What has this country done to me! :)

So we rented a car, and took a crazy whirl wind tour of Agra, which included the Taj, the Red Fort, some other fort, some other mosque and the Baby Taj. Remember how I said a few entries back that I was forted out...well now I really am! But the tour was whirl wind, the touts were in super aggressive form, the air was impossible to breath, and for the first time, I wished I weren't in India. LUCKILY, our driver took us off the beaten path to an Indian truck stop for dinner. Which was amazing. The only white people for miles around, and the truck stops are NOTORIOUS for amazing food. They are called Dhabas. The truckers were there, sleeping, taking a break to eat...and of course drinking their heads off! It was an amazing site to see!

After a night train we find ourselves in Varanasi, the city on the Ganges. The whole city is situated in a long strip along the Ganges, and littered with ghats. Including the burning ghats, where funeral processions bring their dead down to the river and burn them on the ghat. We are going to get up early tomorrow and go on a sunrise boat trip down the river, to see the pilgrams at morning prayer and the city as it wakes up. Then it is off on a plane to the south! A whole new adventure!

We are all in pretty good spirits. And no one has really gotten sick, though we have been passing around a nasty head cold. I have even ventured to eat a few raw vegetable bites, and I have survived. Everyday I try something more that the boys think I am crazy to do....some unpealed tomatoes...a lassi with a little ice in it...street food! YUM! My culinary experience has been amazing! Long live Aloo Palak (Potato Spinach!).