AGRA

We left Delhi after meeting our driver Shyam and our luxury 6-seater Innova. We thought that we would leave the haze behind in Delhi, but it seemed to follow us all the way to Agra as we passed brick making kilns and new high-rise housing compounds after another. We were reminded that everything takes longer than you expect in India, even with private, modern highways. We arrived at our hotel after dark, too late and too cold for a swim, but had dinner on the rooftop accompanied by a tabla and sitar player.

In the morning we were greeted by a thick cloud of fog and doubted whether we would see the Taj or even our fingertips. We headed to the Taj and made it through security but lost our deck of uno, a figure of Ganesh, jelly beans and a pocket knife. Apparently all for security reasons, except for Ganesh, on religious grounds and uno on 'who knows what' grounds.

The fog eventually lifted and the Taj certainly didn't disappoint. The kids started to tire, being bigger attractions than the Taj for most local families.