Exceeds expectation

They call the Taj Mahal the greatest monument to love in the world. We have been disappointed with most things in India, but when we saw the Taj for the first time we definitely weren't disappointed. It cost the equivalent of US$ 300 million in today's money to build and is worth every cent. We crossed the river yesterday and saw the Taj from the back - no tourists and great light. Today we will visit the red fort and 'little' Taj' and tomorrow go and walk round the Taj Mahal.

Agra is a poor city - one of the poorest we have seen. We wondered where the money (ten pounds for tourists) goes to - definitely not the people.

There a few other sights to see in Agra including the Fort and a few old churches. The Red Fort was impressive, but we'd seen so many by this time that it was just another big, red, old, building! The weather has become more stifling and the heat oppressive.

The eye of the tiger

Garry got up at 5am to catch the jeep going into Ranthambore National Park. The aim was to spot the Indian tiger. There aren't many of them left, but Ranthambore is one of the best places to spot one. He woke Sam up at 10am with a cup of tea and a scowl. No tiger this time.

We both went out in the afternoon and after spotting crocodiles, deer, wild boar, owls and hundreds of birds we came out of the park without seeing the tiger. Gggrrrrrrr....

The park was beautiful and although we were disappointed (as well as broke!) it was a great experience. We caught the train to Agra with an Irish couple who were fresh off the boat horrified that we had travelled through India like this. The train was busy and we had no seats so it was a bit rough. We arrived at Agra at 10.30pm and didn't realise that our hotel had a great view of the Taj Mahal until we woke up the next morning and opened the curtains. WOW!