The melatonin I took to jumpstart my jetlag recovery is already kicking in, so I'm going to keep this brief and hope that I don't start typing nonsense as I usually do when I blog while actively falling asleep. There wasn't nearly enough sleep last night (or in the last two days, or two weeks) to keep me going today - but since most of today's activity involved riding in a car, where I got to nap, I somehow found a way to survive.
Lillian and I rendezvoused for breakfast, and then we met the driver who was taking us to Agra. He helped us run vital errands first (sim cards and atms so that we can feel like members of human society again), and then drove us to Agra, with a stop at some restaurant/highway rest stop called 'Highway Masala' so that we could eat/stretch our legs/get some much-needed caffeine (okay, maybe I was the only one who needed caffeine). The Indian government opened a new express highway from Delhi to Agra a couple of years ago, so so while getting out of Gurgaon/Delhi was just as nightmare-inducing as always, the highway itself was quite lovely. And Highway Masala was decent enough; amusingly, the bottled Starbucks mocha frappuccino that I bought on a whim (I haven't had one of those in at least a year, I'd guess) was like $7, which was more than me and Lillian's entire lunch. So, way to make me feel like an awful imperialist, Starbucks!
We finally reached Agra around 4:30, and we were promptly greeted by Vinay (the guy I used when my dad and I came to Agra in 2010, who is friends with my friend Chris (of Chris and Natasha, whom you haven't heard much about here for awhile since they moved to Colorado and so are out of my daily picture for now)). He whisked us away to the Taj Mahal, and we got there just in time to do the full tour while the sun was setting. I hadn't been at sunset before, and it was pretty awesome - there were fewer crowds than during my last two visits, and it's true that the differing light throughout the day creates a totally different experience. You can see a photo on my instagram if you're so inclined...
...and then we went to some marble craftsmen workshop, where they demonstrated the techniques used to construct the Taj. This is the same marble workshop my dad and I went to in 2010, and they showed us how they cut the various semiprecious gems, etc., and inlay it into marble. We sat around for a long time after as they tried to sell us stuff, and I quite enjoyed joking around with the guy who gave us the main spiel (enough that I bought myself a small marble elephant, because I clearly need more Indian stuff). But eventually we made our escape (after telling the pashmina guy upstairs that we had absolutely no interest in his wares), came back to the hotel to take a quick breather, and then had dinner with Vinay and his brother Vishal. It was my second butter chicken of the day, which was probably too much - but I tried to order tandoori chicken with rice, and the server was so appalled at me ordering rice with dry chicken (which should be eaten with naan, which I can't eat) that I switched to butter chicken to soothe his frayed nerves. Lol.
Anyway, Vinay and Vishal were good, but luckily dinner was pretty short - I'm tired, both physically (understandable) and mentally/socially, since I feel like I've been traveling for days (spoiler: I have been) and I haven't had that much time to myself. And it takes energy to parse accents and languages I don't understand and weird radio stations and constant car honking...so the drive wasn't exactly relaxing, even if it was leagues better than taking a train.
So I'm going to take my exhausted self to bed, hope I sleep for eight hours, and also hope that my social equilibrium returns...goodnight!
Lillian and I rendezvoused for breakfast, and then we met the driver who was taking us to Agra. He helped us run vital errands first (sim cards and atms so that we can feel like members of human society again), and then drove us to Agra, with a stop at some restaurant/highway rest stop called 'Highway Masala' so that we could eat/stretch our legs/get some much-needed caffeine (okay, maybe I was the only one who needed caffeine). The Indian government opened a new express highway from Delhi to Agra a couple of years ago, so so while getting out of Gurgaon/Delhi was just as nightmare-inducing as always, the highway itself was quite lovely. And Highway Masala was decent enough; amusingly, the bottled Starbucks mocha frappuccino that I bought on a whim (I haven't had one of those in at least a year, I'd guess) was like $7, which was more than me and Lillian's entire lunch. So, way to make me feel like an awful imperialist, Starbucks!
We finally reached Agra around 4:30, and we were promptly greeted by Vinay (the guy I used when my dad and I came to Agra in 2010, who is friends with my friend Chris (of Chris and Natasha, whom you haven't heard much about here for awhile since they moved to Colorado and so are out of my daily picture for now)). He whisked us away to the Taj Mahal, and we got there just in time to do the full tour while the sun was setting. I hadn't been at sunset before, and it was pretty awesome - there were fewer crowds than during my last two visits, and it's true that the differing light throughout the day creates a totally different experience. You can see a photo on my instagram if you're so inclined...
...and then we went to some marble craftsmen workshop, where they demonstrated the techniques used to construct the Taj. This is the same marble workshop my dad and I went to in 2010, and they showed us how they cut the various semiprecious gems, etc., and inlay it into marble. We sat around for a long time after as they tried to sell us stuff, and I quite enjoyed joking around with the guy who gave us the main spiel (enough that I bought myself a small marble elephant, because I clearly need more Indian stuff). But eventually we made our escape (after telling the pashmina guy upstairs that we had absolutely no interest in his wares), came back to the hotel to take a quick breather, and then had dinner with Vinay and his brother Vishal. It was my second butter chicken of the day, which was probably too much - but I tried to order tandoori chicken with rice, and the server was so appalled at me ordering rice with dry chicken (which should be eaten with naan, which I can't eat) that I switched to butter chicken to soothe his frayed nerves. Lol.
Anyway, Vinay and Vishal were good, but luckily dinner was pretty short - I'm tired, both physically (understandable) and mentally/socially, since I feel like I've been traveling for days (spoiler: I have been) and I haven't had that much time to myself. And it takes energy to parse accents and languages I don't understand and weird radio stations and constant car honking...so the drive wasn't exactly relaxing, even if it was leagues better than taking a train.
So I'm going to take my exhausted self to bed, hope I sleep for eight hours, and also hope that my social equilibrium returns...goodnight!
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