clan-des-tiny: February 2011

Day 9
Delhi was the cleanest city I visited during my stay in India. The country's capital went under considerable restructuring before the 2010 Commonwealth Games - before that it was a hot mess and it looked like many of the other Indian cities.

Place # 1: Humayun's Tomb

Apparently Obama came here and since then business has been booming.

side one (front)

side two (back)

Place # 2 Bahá'í House of Worship (Lotus Temple)

Due to the time constrain, I was not able to go inside. Plus it was crazy packed!

Place # 3 Qutab Minar

The detail on the various sculptures are so amazing/pretty/i'd hate to be the person to do that.

the sun wasn't working with me.

People used to be able to go to the top, but due to the amount of attempted and successful suicdes, it's been closed off to the public.

Iron Pillar

Place # 4: The Bazaar

I FINALLY got to go to the bazaar. It's full of....stuff: questionable street food, purses, clothes, pillow cases, boots, knock off chucks, yes you name it. There's also some pretty annoying salesmen. They shove whatever they are selling which is usually place mats, face towels, debit card holders (debit cards are only starting to get big), and toys, in your face. So annoying. Also, it was sooo crowded.

knock off converse

Place # 5: mall

Change in density, the mall was pretty empty. There were several floors - not enough room for horizontal development so up we go. There were mostly European and American stores like Puma, Lacoste, McDonalds, Baskin Robbins, United Colors of Benetton...

For dinner I ate at this place called the Kebab Grill (I have the menu, which I'll probably scan and upload later....). I had this amazing paneer tikka roll. It's paneer (which is cheese) and grilled veggies wrapped in roti. Out of all the delicious food I ate in India, this was by far my favourite.

Paneer Tikka roll = 90 rupees = $2.10

Day 8
It was a loong night with hours and hours of waiting for something.
I woke up in the middle of the night to transfer trains which at first didn't bother me.
The thing is, when I was about to board on the transfer train, the fckng conductor said there was no space to board on - total bullshit (racist pigs). The train system fails in organization on sooo many levels. Anyway, skipping over the miserable parts:

taps in the train station

chai man

Chai or tea is very popular in India, especially in the northern parts where the weather can get quite cold. The chai man hangs around areas with lots of passer-bys, like the station, and sells tea to people. He carries his canister full of chai and he has a stack of cups and yells "CHAI"

Destination reached: Agra

stalls in the station

Place # 1: Fatehphur Sikri

Tradition: make an oath and tie a string through one of the openings. when you accomplish the oath, then you must come back and untie any string (like freedom). For example, I'm going to become a teacher and when that comes true, I must go back and untie a string. I didn't actually get to tie a string around it because I didn't have any string...

stairs of death - steps were hella thick

Place # 2: Taj Mahal

Absolutely gorgeous place. The whole structure, the love story, the detailed etchings - just beautiful. It definitely met my expectations, and perhaps even exceeded it.

rickshaw man

here it finally is. the taj mahal.

As you may notice.....a lot of my pictures are not perfect. There's a scratch on the lens of my camera and India is just a really crowded place. I wish people were not so noticeable in the frame, but what can ya do..

the tombs

yamuna river

You're not allowed taking food inside the area of the Taj Mahal. There is an option of leaving your stuff with the guards so that's what I did - but really, what other choice did I have? When I went to pick up my candy and gum, I found my brand new pack of gum half eaten and only a half a bag of candy left. THIEVES.

At last my shoes did not get stolen.

Place # 3: Agra Fort

At this point of the day, I was pretty pissed/annoyed with the people stuffing shit in my face trying to get me to buy their shit. This happens in many places, especially tourist attractions. These guys just swarm around you with the merchandise and try to get you to buy whatever they are selling. I said no to the other guys, do you really think that I'll change my mind? Soooo terribly annoying.

i can see the taj mahal from here and it's beautiful even from afar

There were a lot of school kids around because of Republic Day.

i still went in

As I was taking a picture of this door, two students approached my mom and I and they just start talking to us. They asked where we were from and stuff like that. I thought it was nice of them to talk to us, rather than stare at us like we were of different species. As we were leaving the Agra Fort, we happened to run into the two girls again and they wished us off saying, "bye auntie." aw, so sweet! although I kinda felt old...