I'm at the TAJ! And everywhere.

I guess it's been quite a while since I posted anything. I'm sure there is a reason for this. Sadly I'm not equipped to post pictures just now. The city of Agra is probably the craziest in terms of traffic and touts and beggars so far, also really dirty and polluted. The Taj Mahal is theoretically surround by a "no pollution zone" where motorized traffic and so forth are not allowed, but the brick walls surrounding the zone are not high enough to keep out monkeys, let alone smog. It is quite an amazing building, but it is quite raucous for a masoleum. I would estimate that there were between 2000 and 5000 people there while we were visiting, mostly Indians(who get in for 10% the price we paid). The gardens are nice though, and most people don't stray into them. We also saw Fateh Sikri, an abandoned Mughal capital, which I thought was fantastic(pictures later).

We moved on to Varanasi which has a reputation for being hectic, but we were all feeling a bit rundown and didn't venture out too much, so it seemed very peaceful. Some at the next table at lunch remarked that it's "very holy--in a religious sense" which I suppose is true. On the river just below our hotel they cremate people in large pyres. This is supposed to guarantee a particularly auspicious rebirth. We took a boat trip down the river at night and saw some interesting Hindu ceremonies, the light was beautiful and we were mobbed by mayflies, which made me think maybe I need to arrange an auspiciuos rebirth. The river is very sacred and many people come to bathe in it here. Apparently the priests have to drink the water everyday, and since it's already run through over 1000 miles of Indian countryside, they are sick most of the time.

From Varanasi it's been a hard two days on local Indian busses, which stop every 1-5 km and take on more people. After about 20 km it seems impossible that more people can be taken on, but they are continually. The amount of baggage we're carrying did not make us any friends, because there is no stowage and we take up the same room as a family of 6. The bus on the Nepali side of the border was more roomy and could carry bags on the roof, but still became quite crowded. Our last bus was so crowded when we got on that we had to ride on the roof for about 30 km, which was an exciting experience. Finally, a short 38 hours after leaving Varanasi we arrived at our hotel in Chitwan National Park(Nepal). This is a journey of almost 250 miles, I reckon we made pretty good time.

Contrary to what we might have supposed it is quite hot here, and in fact the park is mostly Jungle. This morning we went on an elephant back Safari. We were hoping to see a tiger, but maybe we will have better luck tomorrow. We did see two rhinos, which was quite exciting. The jungle was beautiful in the early morning mist, but perhaps not ideal for wildlife viewing. The mahout(elephant driver) seemed determined to make his own way, and while the other elephants tread daintily along established trails, we crashed through the jungle crushing underbrush and occasionally whole tree up to 20 ft tall. Perhaps he was engaging in some kind of arcane silviculture or maybe he was just grumpy, but he would occasionally goad the elephant into thickets when there was a clear way ahead or cause it to trample and tear down trees which were not in our way. It was exciting to say the least. We still have this afternoon and tomorrow in the park, and I'm hoping we'll see a tiger, or at least some marsh muggers(related to crocodiles). After that, onto Kathmandu to complete our lightning tour of Nepal. I wish we had scheduled more time for Nepal, but we have tickets booked to head to Madras. Some day I shall have to come back when I have time to trek.