Thank God we’re out of the Mansingh Hotel in Jaipur. Let’s just say…they’ve got some issues. For example, I bought a 24-hour Internet usage card so that I could update the blog and check my e-mail, but each time I closed my browser I had to re-sign into their system and they charged me $15. That wasn’t a fun or easy conversation to have. Over breakfast I talked to another American in the hotel restaurant who informed me that she wasn’t charged any rupees to use the gym the night before. Yet I was. Another guy here was double-charged by the bar, and then after he argued with the bartender he tried to tip the guy only to be rebuffed because there was a tiny corner of the bill that was torn off. So the guy gave him a smaller bill and then tore the bigger bill into tiny pieces and left it on the bar. Slightly passive aggressive, yes…but the guy was drinking peppermint Schnapps, which in and of itself signals a baffling character.
The drive to Agra was to take roughly five hours. We stopped first at the Fatehpur Sikri, which was built in 1570 by the Mughal emperor Akbar (too bad they didn’t have admirals back then, I’m sure there would have been plenty of Admiral Akbars during the Mughal dynasty!). It was the first planned city of the Mughals and also the first one designed in Mughal architecture, which was an amalgam of Indian, Persian and Islamic styles. It took 15 years to build, but was abandoned after 14 because the water supply was unable to sustain the growth of the population. The Fatehpur is also the location where my mom slipped and fell. Poor old lady. Then again, my sister fell down some marble stairs the other day too, and she’s like 40 years younger than my mom. So I guess I’m the most agile member of our family. Or maybe just the least accident prone.
Lunch was at the hotel Laxmi Vilas Palace in Bharatpur, which is a converted palace that now serves as a hotel. That’s pretty common here in India. It was built in 1887 for Raja Ragunath Singh, the younger brother of Bharatpur’s ruler, Maharaja Ram Singh. We were shown the royal lunch treatment, which included delicious foods and big bottles of Kingfisher beer. As a self-proclaimed king, I think I could get used to that kind of lifestyle.
The drive was pretty long, and I slept for a bit on both legs. There were several stops for restroom breaks along the way. India’s traffic is simply unbelievable. Sometimes you only have to drive 50-100 miles but at 30 miles per hour with a seemingly endless amount of cars, busses, bikes and motorcycles constantly changing lanes, cutting each other off and swerving all over the road it takes hours to get anywhere. The train from Delhi to Pushkar took about 6 hours, but by car it would have taken in excess of 11 hours. So we’re breaking the ride up into smaller, more-manageable segments.
We arrived in Agra in the middle of the afternoon. Our hotel was a converted palace, Jaypee Palace. It featured an outdoor running track that spanned the entire property, a bowling alley, and the best gym facilities I’ve experienced so far on this trip. I thought about using the outdoor track because the air quality was much better here than anywhere else we’ve been yet. But as I started to exit my room and decent the stairs towards the track, I noticed a guy was walking his baboon on a leash around the track. Afraid that running might startle the thing and provoke an attack, I chose to find the gym. There I had my own 42-inch flat-screen HD TV to myself with a private treadmill. It was awesome (though the TV show “Masterchef Australia” is decidedly NOT awesome).
I met my mother and sister for dinner after my run at one of the restaurant/bars in the hotel and we shared some tapas.
It’s an early night tonight. We’re waking up at 3am tomorrow to ensure we get to the Taj Mahal just as the sun is rising. Apparently that’s the best time to see the Taj. I’ll let you know in a few hours how it was, I guess.
Rapoon – How Many Of You Understand [MP3]
