Long day of travel and some unexpected travel changes to get to the Taj Mahal for a lovely sunset. Very long day, mostly frustrating by the negative people that love to complain.
Photo Gallery: https://pics.mattichan.com/-uwc144/gallery
Morning Start
Woke up at 4:30AM for our 5AM start, and as I was getting ready (literally putting stuff in my bag) at 4:45AM, the staff knocked on my door to rush me out of my room. I told them I was on my way down, and not sure why they were knocking, pretty annoying actually.
Finished up and rushed downstairs and we ended up just waiting for the bus, then also we got on the bus and had to wait for everyone to get to the bus anyway cause people were grabbing their coffee and breakfast (I just started trying to sleep again).
Train Ride
We got to the train station after a little bit of a bus ride, and as we got to the station, there was a lot of traffic (with all the buses you can imagine), they needed us to just get off and walk onto the bus. So we grabbed all our luggage and went. They funneled us from all the buses into a small corridor where they threw marigolds all over us and were playing drums and stuff. Would’ve been a lot cooler, if it weren’t so early in the morning 😂.
We headed out for our 2.5hr ride and we packed into our very nice, air conditioned train cars, and settled in. We had air conditioning and diet coke, so no complaints as I closed my eyes and settled in for a nap.
After a small nap, I realized that we weren’t moving, so I opened my eyes to find that we had stopped and were just sitting on the tracks. After pulling out Google Maps, was surprised to find that we hadn’t moved super far at all, but we had been sitting for quite awhile.
After more sitting, starting and stopping on the train, we figured something was definitely not going according to plan. Around 2 hours in, the Royal Caribbean rep who came to see the world wonder with us, made the announcement that they weren’t sure why we were stopped, but that we were going to miss the Agra Fort, but that we were going to try our best to still have our experience at Taj Mahal at sunset.
Hotel
After starting and stopping, we eventually got to Agra. With all the buses and trains, took 8+ hours to get to the hotel. We were treated with more flower petals and then they took our luggage while we went to go grab food real quick.
Disaster
As I unpacked real quick, I tried to grab my laptop to charge it and do some photo uploading, but when I went to pull it out of my backpack, it wasn’t there. As I checked all my luggage, it dawned on me that I had taken it out and this morning as we were being rushed out of the hotel room, I had left it on the bed in the hotel in Delhi.
Panicked I asked my guide to call the hotel to see if they had found it and if there was any way to recover it.
Taj Mahal
Transit
We left pretty quickly to get to the Taj Mahal to maximize our time there, and we took a bus to a little plaza before transferring to some electric golf cart like vehicles that we took the rest of the way to Taj Mahal. They were pretty quick and nimble and we zig zagged through the gates as we went along.
South Entrance Gate
Got to (and through) the entrance and there were indeed a ton of people there. Took a few photos, but was ready to go through and explore inside and get away from the crowds.
Mausoleum
Walked around the grardens and got views of the mausoleum from all sides with the minarets as well in the nice golden hour sunlight.
Museum
Not to be distracted by just the main building, enjoyed walking around and taking in the buildings on the side, including the museum to the west side of the gardens.
Lots of views across the gardens as well to the other side and other side buildings.
Fauna
Lots of fun fauna as well, including a ton of parakeets, some flying squirrels and a mini-tiger (kidding).
Views from the Garden
Lots of hidden views from the garden and got to explore and just compose some photos from different angles with some neat foreground as well.
Close Up Views
Spent about half an hour as I got closer to the main buildings going around on all sides just admiring the detail and intricacies of the marble.
More Birding and other Wildlife
Some big birds circling around the top as well which made a picturesque scene, which I watched for a while. Pretty graceful the way they soar around.
Looking over the railing toward the river, saw a bunch more wildlife, some dogs (and cows) in the river and some other birds as well. Turned into a beautiful day out there.
Mosque and Assembly Hall
Looked to the outsides of the main building and found that there was no one around, so wandered around taking a few photos.
Sunset
Lovely sunset with the Taj Mahal backlit with the setting sun.
On the way out, got to see the Taj under some foliage foreground.
From the front, got to see the Taj Mahal from long range with the long lens. Would have been even more spectacular with the fountains running, but it was still amazing.
Marble Factory
We stopped at a marble factory on the way back and got to watch some folks actually doing the marble work that was used for the Taj Mahal. Pretty neat little side trip before we headed back to the hotel.
On the way back to the bus, we noticed that there was an amusement park nearby and also a crane with a hanging restaurant up there. Would’ve done it if we had more time.
Hotel
Got back to the hotel and grabbed a quick dinner before turning in to try to get some sleep before the really early morning that we had again to get back to the ship.
Vibe Check
1 parts joy
1 part disgust — at the cruise guests complaining about literally everything
2 parts sadness — for missing Agra Fort and for lack of sleep
1 part fear — for losing my laptop
Feedback
Leave a comment or question if you have any thoughts! Anything you want to know about as we go around the world? Any things you want to share as feedback, or any images that particularly spoke to you. I’ll try to read all of them as time permits!
Matti 
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