4th June 1992 Day 320

The Diary

Another train journey - what's going to go wrong this time? Nothing. We bought the tickets easily, the train left Gwalior on time and although we had to stand it only took 1 1/2 hours. The expected onslaught by hawkers & rickshaw-wallahs was not as bad as expected and we got an auto-rickshaw to the Tourist Rest House for 5rp. We were pestered to hire the rickshaw for the rest of the day but we resisted.

After settling in, we decided to get out & about. We stepped foot outside and were inundated with offers of rickshaws. We hired one for 30rp for the rest of the day and he produced his notebook of satisfied customers for us to read. He took us to the GPO & then to a restaurant. We then said we wanted to go to Agra Fort but he insisted we should go & see a marble school first. We eventually agreed and we were met by the fast-talking owner who talked about marble 20% of the time, cricket 5% of the time & sex 75% of the time. Then came the sell, but we weren't interested and left. 


Our rickshaw-wallah then asked if we would like to see some cloth or carpets. No, no, no, no, no. Take us to the fort. He did & then agreed to meet us 2 hours later. We paid 20rp of the 30rp fee and never saw him again. The fort was massive and interesting and provided good views of the Yamuna river and the Taj Mahal in the background. We got round in 1 1/2 hours & couldn't be bothered to wait for our hired man so we caught two rickshaws to the Taj Mahal. 

On the way they wanted to take us to some shop or other but we said no. Then they went on & on how we should help them as they get commission whether we buy anything or not. In the end we got out and walked off and caught an auto-rickshaw to the Taj Mahal. Hordes of tourists. 

More white people than we'd seen in India but thousands more Indians. We resisted the postcard & whip sellers, paid 2rp, were frisked for Walkmans (!) and went in. The entrance gate was impressive enough & the Taj even more so. It wasn't quite as good close up as I was expecting. I thought the marble decorations would be grander and cover a greater area, but I would describe it as pippish to use an old Billingham phrase. We lazed about in the gardens for several hours waiting for a not very good sunset and then caught a rickshaw back for some food. Our rickshaw-wallah was being honest when he said our chosen restaurant was closed but we've learnt never to believe a word they say. We ended up at the restaurant we went to for lunch.

2012
2rp - about 5c to see one of the Wonders of the World. Nowadays it's 750rp or AUD13. Just a bit of inflation. It's still pretty cheap in the grand scheme of things and the ex rate is still similar.