Trip to Agra. It's so hard to capture either in a photo or words just exactly how bad the roads are. The bus going back was faster (less stops) so the ride was only about 5 hrs. I got a room at a really fancy hotes -- they were out of regular rooms so they bumped me up to a nicer Suite, all for about $20.

This is it -- here it is... Again, Foreigners pay a different price, US 15, about 10* the local price. More upset tourists. They stay in hotels and eat for next to nothing -- I just don't see what the big deal is if India wants to capitalize on a national treasure or two. They don't seem to capitalize on much else....

Oh, yeah, back to the big, old, white building that everyone comes to Agra to see. Basically, Emperor Sha Jahan built a toumb for his wife who died in child birth in 1630. Twenty-two years and over twenty-thousand workers and craftsmen later, it was finished.

I actually spent quite a bit of time here -- there's really "not that much to see", except for there is so much detail. And the way that it's all put together is pretty amazing. You weren't supposed to take pictures inside, but everyone else was, so heck.... I also took a lot of photos -- without beating this horse to death, here are the ones I liked:

Note -- one of the most amazing things inside is the inlay of semi-precious stones. Tremendous amounts of it, and some of it very detailed (especially when it came to flower petals).

Note 2 -- The Taj does not lean. My camera lens was all the way out to it's widest angle...

My plane leaves from Delhi Saturday morning at 12:50am. I only spent about 12hrs in Delhi. I'll probably be back in Delhi soon, so I wasn't too worried. But I was in, and had driven through some nice parts. I talked for a few hours w/ a guy from Germany. I said that the city seemed to clean and civilized compared to other places (which it did to me) and he looked at me like I was nuts. It was his first day in India and he was going through what I was nearly 5 weeks ago. Interesting way to end the trip...

The last few days have been hard -- too much, too fast and a string of little stupid bad luck things. Getting off of the waiting list and onto the plane followed suit. I had to pay an upgrade fee to get a seat and ... no credit/atm card. Damn. I put it in a stupid place and it got lost. It's canceled and no charges have been put on it. But I realy didn't want that to happen. I have 2 more. But, dang.

The next chapter will describe how, upon landing in Bangkok I managed to get on a plane to Chiang Mai withing about 90 minutes. But for now, there's definitely some processing of India that needs to take place. I haven't traveled that much, but I have a bit. India was different and seems to leave more of a mark on you.

Part of me is really glad to be leaving. The other part is heart broken. As far as the country, the infrastructure, and sometimes, yes, even the people go, there are sooo many ... I don't want to say negatives, because they just are what they are. But they're generally things that we'd see as bad: Poverty. Beauracracy. Inaccurate or just mis-information. Nearly *everything* being done in a half-assed manner in ways that never cease to surprise you and that being seemingly ok with everyone. Livestock everywhere. Excrement of all kinds in the streets. Power outages, scheduled and not scheduled. Broken plumbing. Broken roads. Uncomfortable and old-fashioned transportation. The almost complete apathy of the locals, unless they are minding your business -- telling you where to go, when to go, where to sit, where to stand to take a picture, or getting emotionally charged in even basic discussions. The complete absense of women from streets, restarants, concerts. And of course pushing in front of you should there be any thing resembling a queue beginning to form.

Sound like fun yet? I think the toughest for me was to stop seeing all of the above as a "problem" that needs to be solved. A lot of these are, and they will (given plenty of time) but I finally managed to get past having that be my view of India. Rather it just was what it was and, I have to say I did an outstanding job of keeping my sense of humor, even when others around me couldn't.

So, why am I so sad to leave? Being in a place that is so.... different. And where evertyhing is so cheap.... Once you get over the aforementioned existential vertigo, there's an incredible freedom that you experience. Like getting used to zero-gravity. Once you stop barfing, it's supposed to be pretty cool. There is definitely an adrenaline element to it -- it seems like around every corner or on any taxi ride there is something that will blow you away. You almost get desensitized to seeing things that are just sooooo different.

I'm in Chiang Mai now. It's like being home. In California. The streets and sidewalks are clean. Everyone is polite. The streets, comparitively, seem vacant of people. There are sidewalks here. The cars drive cautiously, staying in their lanes. There are a lot of Thai people around, I can't understand most of them nor read many of the signs, but .... it feels like the planet I used to live on. And it's going to take some getting used to. And I was only gone 5 weeks.