Another killer wake up call before 5am for the 6 hr bus trip to Agra from Jaipur. Aurore was very sick and we stopped a few times on the way, tried to convince her to take some salt replacement drinks but she wasn't keen. We had a quick lunch and then took the bus to Agra Palace (which is really a fort). The guide was really excellent with lots of unny and intriguing stories about the history of Agra.
We found out some VIP's were going to be visiting that afternoon and so the Taj Mahal was closed from 1.30-4.30pm. Veerendra had only allocated that afternoon to see it so we thought we might miss it altogether!
On the way to seeing what happened, we got caught in an almightly traffic jam for about 40-mins anyway and decided we'd get up at 4.45am so we could try and be there at 6am tmrw when it first opened and see it quickly before getting our planned 8.15am train.
Veerendra also suggested he knew a 'secret back entrance' to the Taj Mahal which we could walk to and see if we could get in. By this time it was about 4.30pm, so we said we'll see how we go. It can't have been all that secret as about 60 people were trying the same thing, After about a 2kms walk, we all ended up disappointed as the guards were adament that no-one was getting in. The VIP's still hadn't left the complex (they arrived late) and could potentially see us from the other side of Taj Mahal area. After waiting about another 45-mins and being bitten alive by mosquitos and worrying about the monkey's, were were allowed in just as the sun was falling behind the building.
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