Playing Tourist...

is exhausting.
Taj Mahal. Yep. I can now say, “been there, done that.” Just got back from a long weekend in Bharatpur and Agra. Nine of us ended up renting a van, and had a driver- which was the way to go. I probably would have ended up in some random town in the desert if we would've had to deal with the bus system.
Let me backtrack a little...
Friday night, a group of us went out to eat at McDonalds. It's so good here! I had the veggie burger and found out they deliver. Hell yeah! Totally going to take advantage of that service while I'm here. Then we went out to this 'pub.' It closes at 11pm. Oh well, I was able to order beer- still no PBR, but had some King Fischer. The waiters were dressed up like cowboys, and the dj kept playing Linkin Park and Enrique Inglesias. So, that was weird, but we managed to unwind a little.
Saturday, our first stop was at a Fatehpur Sikri. This fortress was built in 1569 by Moghul Emperor, Akbar. It was really huge, and the architecture was amazing and there is a mosque made of white marble and mother of pearl on the inside. The downside to this place was the harassment that was everywhere. We were greeted by about 20 (not even exaggerating) merchants shoving necklaces, postcards, and other crap in our face. They were relentless, and continued to follow us into the fort. I used to smile, and say 'no thanks.' Now it's gotten to not talking at all, or if that doesn't work- speaking broken Hindi to tell them to go away. Then, if that isn't effective, I've started resorting to saying not so nice words in English. Nothing really works. I now shutter when I hear, “hello, madam.” Someday some nice person is going to say that, and I'm just going to be so jaded that I will automatically say something pissy.
Then we headed to Agra to see the mighty Taj Mahal. It was 15 rupees for Indians, and 750 (20US) for foreigners- they didn't go for the 'student discount' plea. There were separate womens and mens lines. There was only one checkpoint for the women and three for the men. This is the kind of b.s. that gets under my skin.

After we got in, it was time to see one of the world's top man-made wonders. It's really an incredible feeling to walk through the gates and see this structure appear. It's so beautiful, and the pictures in books don't even come close to showing it accurately. We spent about four hours wondering around the grounds.


People here are really curious when they see non-Indians, and especially when they find out we're American. We tried to sit down for a little bit, and I looked up to see six guys taking pictures of us. I now tell guys that it'll cost 50 rupees- might as well try to make a profit. Most of the time, we just say no. It's downright creepy. However, it's hard to turn down families when they ask. I wonder how many pictures we're in with random Indians. Overall the Taj Mahal is so surreal, and it was worth going.
That night we drove to Bhartapur, and went to a bird sanctuary on Sunday. Yeah, I know- bird sanctuary? It was supposed to be well known, and was on the way back to Jaipur. We had a guide who was cool for the most part (he tried getting a bigger tip out of us). We saw monkeys, antelope, herons, owls, king fishers, a snake, and other birds. I lost interest in the tour about thirty minutes into it.
I now have two papers to write this week, and will do noting relating to homework tonight. Me and Carly are planning our remaining four weekends until the internship. We want to get the heck out of Rajasthan and experience other (hopefully more progressive) parts of India. Going south seems to be in the plan.