Cows, Monkeys and a 14 hour train ride.

Friday March 12th. 5:30am. Wake up call from my hotel, it was acutally a knock on the door. 6:00am. Met my driver Aslam in front of the hotel and he took me around the town of Agra. 6:30am. Sunrise by the Taj Mahal. It's actually closed on Friday so I saw it from the back and across the river, still a good view. I knew it was closed but I wanted to leave Delhi and then I didn't want to stay in Agra for another day, oh well. 7:00am. Met 2 hot american girls while taking pictures of the Taj. Good Times. 8-11am. Explored the farming side of Agra. The Yamuna River runs through the Town. This river is very dirty, the water looks like tar but isn't as thick. Everyone in town comes here to do laundry and wash their black buffalo and throw garbage out. The river divides the city and farming area. The farming area was very interesting.

They grow watermelons and carrots and a few other items I can't remember right now. 12pm. Agra Fort. Very Interesting and massive. It was built primarily as a military strcture, construction start in 1565. The distance around the outside walls is 2.5km. 2:30pm. Went to Hotel Amar to go swimming and kill some time before my night train to Varansi. Very nice pool. I met 2 ladies from Vancouver who work in the film industry there. 7pm. Went to Pizza Hut. Yes that's right, the most American thing I could think of. It was really good, I had a Chicken n Spicy Pizza. I think this is also where I started to get sick. So I'm sick now, not too bad though. I started taking my pills for travellers diarehre right away. After Pizza Hut I went to the train station, it was about 8pm and my train didn't leave until 11:30 but I had nothing to do and the train station is pretty safe as long as you don't fall asleep waiting for the train. I met 2 people from Quebec which was good. It was nice to have someone to chat with. On the train I had a sleeper bunk with AC so that was good because it was a 14 hour train ride. Dogs: they are in the street everywhere. although they aren't like dogs back home. Here they are all wild and not friendly at all, which is good because most of them probably have diseases. The dogs attack each other frequently and just roam the streets all day. Cows: King of the Road. The cows in the street are cows that used to be milk cows but when they stop producing milk they just push them into the street because they can't kill them because they are scared. Monekys: Lots of Monkeys in Varansi. This morning while getting ready in my hotel I heard a couple monkeys fighting. So right now I am very close to the Ganges River in Varansi. I'll probably stay here for 2 days before moving again. I have to decided where to go though. Orginally I planned to travel east to Kolkata but I was talking to a man from Bombay and he was pretty adament about not going to Kolkata because there's nothing to do and it's really hot. I may just go to Darjeeling right away. It's nice not having to have plans and I can just to what I want. Even though it has been less then one week that's I've been gone it strangely feels longer. The Ganges River is one of the holiest places in India. More on that later after I explore the town some more. Well thanks for reading and feel free to comment at the bottom of the blog, you don't need to sign in. If you have any questions about India just let me know through there or on facebook. Go Habs Go.