The past four days have been a whirlwind. Nathan and I explored what is called the “Golden Triangle”, referring to the triangular shape that marks the routes connecting Delhi, Agra, and Jaipur - all ancient cities with hundreds of historic sites between the three of them. As I write this, Nathan and I have just parted ways for the remainder of our travels: him heading back to Delhi with Santosh, and myself heading to Jodhpur via train, to catch up on what I missed while in the worst of it last weekend.

I’m realizing that I’m ten days into this trip, and super behind on sharing details of what I’ve actually seen and done. I’ll start with sharing more about Agra, since it is still fresh in my mind, and then I’ll try to recap events in Rajasthan and Delhi as soon as I can.

Agra

For our circuit of the Golden Triangle, Caleb (Nathan’s close friend, and founder of Go Deeper Travel) had booked us a car and driver, a man from Agra named Santosh. I can’t overstate how valuable this was for us, as Agra is probably the most chaotic place I’ve ever been in my life. Santosh took care of all of our transportation between the various monuments and our homestay, which would have been a logistical nightmare to work out ourselves, not to mention having to regularly wait on new drivers each time we had to make a trip, and having to deal with and trust a completely different driver on each occasion.

We had an eventful drive to Agra, thanks to a couple of flat tires along the way (Santosh’s spare tire was pretty flat, so it blew two minutes after being driven on). Upon arrival, we found Agra to be quite different from Delhi. Once an ancient Hindu city, Agra became the capital of the Lodi (Muslim) dynasty, and later the capital for multiple generations of the Mughal Empire, so it’s extremely rich in history and culture. It’s quite a slow slog through Agra by car, as you (or your driver) contend with all sorts of competitors for space on it’s main thoroughfare, all ranging in size from that of a commercial tourist bus, to a herd of water buffalo, to merchants carrying loads of fruit or other wares on their heads. The string of storefronts seems to stretch infinitely onward, selling anything from light snacks, to tires, and car horns - as the average lifespan of an Indian car horn is apparently pretty short (I noticed the steering wheels actually have two smaller buttons to activate it - one on either side of the wheel, which explains how drivers can seemingly always be laying on the horn, while still maneuvering through traffic).

The main drag in Agra had a swarm of hotels and restaurants to offer, everything from your tiny, unassuming accommodations, to your grand and luxurious palace type stays. On the restaurant side, Nathan and I only noticed Pizza Hut and Domino’s for American offerings, and were actually really tempted to call in at one of them after so much struggle recently with Indian food and our weakened digestive systems (at that point, the likelihood of a favorable outcome from any visit to the toilet was still very much a toss-up). We stayed for two nights at a place named “Taj Mahal Home Stay,” in the home of a man and his son, both named Asif Khan.

We had a room on the third floor to ourselves, and would head down to the main floor for breakfast with Asif each morning, as well as dinner the second night. For our dinner, they prepared both a vegetarian dish and a chicken dish - along with chapati (a soft, flat bread), white rice, and another type of rice, cooked with tomatoes and onions that was supposed to be very helpful for digestion. This was our second home meal - the first being with Ajaz and his father Wakeel in Mehrauli, which I’ll cover later on. This dinner was much more difficult, because here I was in a nice home, with a truly delicious meal in front of me, but with every bite feeling my stomach protest more and more. It was a kind of situation where you grit your teeth, and try to clear the plate, hoping your host doesn’t graciously heap more on top again (as they tend to in India). If it weren’t for my stomach ordeal of the past few days, I would have tried to clear the entire table, as the food was very good.

Sights in Agra

When we left the Khan’s after breakfast the first morning, Agra was still covered in a blanket of dense fog, resulting in poor conditions for viewing any monument that can be enjoyed from a distance. Our guide, Khurrum, advised that we pass on Taj Mahal in the morning, so we made for the tomb of Akbar, the third Mughal emperor. The tomb was a gorgeous display of Mughal architecture. Built of red sandstone, similar to Humayun’s tomb in Delhi, the stonework was masterfully inlaid with marble, onyx, and other precious stones. Due to the fog, we actually couldn’t see the great tomb until we got very close. It made for this eerie experience, being deep inside an expansive, walled pasture, with a path in front of us leading only into fog, and as we pressed forward, this massive structure slowly materialized before us out of the mists.

After Akbar’s Tomb, we headed to Agra Fort, the crescent-shaped, red sandstone fortress and palace of Akbar and his descendants. Again, this structure contained a stunning display of inlaid art, but also many interesting defensive fortifications - 70 ft walls, a moat that was once full of crocodiles, drawbridges, murder holes, etc. From Agra Fort, we headed to Taj Mahal, one of the seven new wonders of the world, and tomb of Mumtaz Mahal, third wife of the fifth Mughal Emperor, Shah Jahan. The story of the Taj Mahal is really fascinating. Shah Jahan had married twice, both for political reasons, and in neither marriage produced offspring. His third marriage was the only one made out of love, and out of this marriage, he had six children. His wife later died in childbirth, but before her death, she allegedly made three requests to her husband: 1) “Never marry another”, 2) “Take care of my children”, and 3) “Build a monument for me like the world has never seen”. He kept all three of those promises, bringing in architects from Persia, and 20,000 slave laborers from across the world to construct his monument to her. The Taj Mahal was completed 22 years later. It’s considered an architectural masterpiece, finished with white marble, 130 ft minarets stationed at each corner, and landscaped pools and gardens throughout the entire, perfectly-symmetrical complex.

When we arrived at the Taj Mahal, the fog had finally cleared, and sunlight reflecting off of the white marble made the structure almost blinding to look upon. It was a breathtaking sight to behold. From the decadent size and scale of the monument and surrounding complex, to the amount of stunning, fine detail artfully inscribed upon each wall and surface within the tomb, it made for a truly awe-inspiring experience. It’s hard to believe how a structure built almost four hundred years ago could still be so peerless and unrivaled in the world today; it’s older even than my country. It also shed light on an ironic view of Agra and in many cases India in general: Here you have these ornate displays of architecture and craftsmanship, beautiful beyond measure, that required discipline, order, and dedication to build, but they’re surrounded on all sides by what at least I perceive as a sea of chaos and disarray that is the daily life for most of the Indian population.

India is a country of extremes. You can find some of the most beautiful sights and experiences in all of the world, and just minutes away from them feel like you’re in a third world country.