Agra, Friday

1643 OK, went out, found west gate and ATM. Bit uneasy with touts in street but nothing like Hellhole Road or Connaught Place in Delhi. Got cash, need to stash it away. Felt bit edgy in street with cash and with cash card exposed. Saw one microscopic 'shop' where water might be available but didn't really like to go in.

Had quick fiddle with air conditioner, doesn't seem to work. Do wonder if it's overridden centrally and not available unless you ask. The master switch for the room lights is outside in the corridor!

Couple of guys tried to get me into their restaurants, I am a bit unsure what to do. Hotel has a rooftop restaurant but not sure if it will be open yet and it's a bit early. Feel a bit displaced in some strange way. Nothing to do but don't feel that comfortable going out for a wander or just eating somewhere random, on both bodily and financial health grounds.

1702 Oh, the bloke I met on the train was going to Kerala, not sure but think he's based there. He said he was south Indian, tho don't know if Kerala is south India or not (he could have moved, I appreciate that). He said I should have got a tour from Delhi and come on the bus instead of taking the train.

Anyway, I'm going to pop out for a very brief wander see if I can find somewhere to buy water and snacks. I have some nut-mix kind of thing from Delhi but be good to get further supplies in. I may well want to bolt something at arse o'clock tomorrow morning or after doing Taj before trying to get tuktuk for the afternoon's tour.

Chap at desk recommended is it Fahetabar Something, 30kmish west, for second full day here, but he said unless you go by bus (no, no, a thousand times no) you have to get a taxi for a day and it's like 1200-1300 (ie more like 2k by the time you tip). Not saying I won't do it but solo it seems pricey and makes me feel a little exposed to the rapacious instincts of my driver. Will look in guide book, see how amazing it's supposed to be.

Anyway, bit nervous - irrationally so - but let's go quest for snacks. Then come back here and see if I can get food and possibly a beer when go out again 7ish. Fortunately shovelled down a couple of bananas at hotel and my usual 150g packet of bourbon biscuits (on train this time, didn't get up in time to eat them at hotel) so not starving, though by 630-7 I expect to have a keener edge on my apetite.

1728 OK, there is a small (open air, without many actual shelves) shop just opposite the hotel, so I got some tiny packets of peanuts and a bottle of chilled (yay! - Reliance Fresh stuff wasn't, and I didn't like to turn on the fridge in the room which was unplugged) water. That means I didn't get to scope out the other nearby dining options, but it's OK. I am not going off this street so it's fine after dark. Someone just turned the light out on me, I said 'sorry?' meaning 'WTF?' and they turned it back on, but FFS. I am probably going to want to go for a slash at 3am and find the lights don't work.

1918 OK, let's go out. Uploaded some more photos though not all, still, connection works fairly well. Couple of power cuts didn't help.

1928 At Shanti Lodge rooftop restaurant. 200 for a beer! (large) I am having a diet coke for now. Thought I couldn't see the Taj but it is indeed looming way huger than I expected as a silhouette on the night sky; I assumed it would be illuminated, dunno if this is not the case generally or it is because it's closed on Friday.

Diet coke can is 330ml but is amazingly tall.

I am actually feeling just the teensiest bit cold; could be me but I suspect it's 'real', maybe being a few floors up makes the difference too. It is OK, it's sort of pleasant in a way.

Am reading Kurt Vonnegut's 'The Sirens Of Titan', which is good - very good in fact - but I am wondering if I have read it before years ago as it is oddly familiar. No big deal of course.

Not super busy up here, three other tables occupied.

May have a beer after this rather than faff going somewhere else. Obviously don't want to be out mega late or get remotely drunk but one or two won't hurt. The view is as good here as it's going to be anywhere else, actually there is something quite cool about the understated silhouette on the horizon. I could sort of imagine someone being brought in without knowing where they were, then sitting here and after five or ten minutes suddenly noticing this huge familiar silhouette.

Oh, as I was following the taxi driver out of station earlier I could swear the guy behind me was feeling my back with his fingers. Could he have been searching for hidden belt (which isn't *there* on me) or was this just my imagination?

2000 Not bad though meat a bit chewy. Still. Will get a beer if can attract any attention.

2040 Sod it, will have a second beer then call it a night. Beer here is Kingfisher Gold, labelled as is evidently usual here as between 3.25% and 5%. Also as evidently usual it has a stamp saying 'for sale in Uttar Pradesh only'; beers in Delhi had similar.

Oh, lots of people seem to spit in Delhi. Noticed it myself, plus signs on metro etc prohibiting it.

2051 It's now so dark the Taj is just a sort of ghostly shadow which takes some effort to see.

Guy at hotel said I can take my mobile into Taj but the leaflet he gave me says I can't, as does my ancient guide book. I will leave it at hotel, if I read the bumf on Taj tonight I can get by without phone-as-guide-book and I don't want to risk being turned back or losing it if they offer to keep it, and can pick it up at hotel afterwards. This is one reason wanted to check the walk over to entrance today. I expect a stream of pilgrims on that route tomorrow morning anyway.

(Guide book says printed guide books are not allowed as well. Leaflet says you can't take 'handbags'. Who knows? Not a big deal even if a bit weird. They give you a bottle of water apparently, good job as guide book says you can't take your own in. No food allowed in and none to be purchased inside too. Definitely need to guzzle something in the morning jic...)

2119 Got bill, 700, of which 400 is the slightly pricey beer. Made it 850. Not too bad, and though food nowhere near as good and atmosphere much less 'rich' (which is generally more suited to me), compared to 1100 at Kwality with just one beer (tho with coffee) isn't too bad, especially considering the 4th or 5th floor setting with view. I bet the view is better during the day, and it is perhaps more packed. Seems oddly 'right' first view of Taj is this silhouette and need to make a serious effort to be up early tomorrow for proper viewing.

2128 Back at hotel, which is a minute or less walk down road. Odd to hear some music in street, presumably from some other bar - there was no music up at that restaurant, so just bits of other people's conversation to hear.

Seeing henna tattooing ad in street am reminded that saw couple of (Indian) women on train with ornate flowerly subtle-but-large-areas-of-hand-and-arm tattooing, which struck me as odd (or exotic if you want to spin it that way). Hadn't noticed that on any of the women I saw in Delhi, maybe it was there and I just didn't notice.

Will probably try this hotel's rooftop restaurant tomorrow night, or maybe for lunch if I don't feel mega rushed. Frankly unless someone somehow offers (eg via hotel desk) to share a car out to that other place, my inclination is to spend Sunday either doing anything I don't squeeze in tomorrow and/or revisiting Taj eg late afternoon. With regard to lunch, if I really am at Taj by 630, even several hours sightseeing probably gives me plenty of time for a restaurant lunch before going out. Hotel chap half implied his recommended tuktuk driver would be waiting outside, but a) FFS, I am not only tourist even at this hotel, let alone in town, what are the chances he is free? b) While deliberately not saying I wasn't interested, because I am, I was keen to avoid any awkwardness about implying I had to be back here to hire him at any specific time.

2144 Oh, the guy on the train (who incidentally wasn't the chap who told me about the fold-up back to the seat) said it was a shame I was here on my own, it was better to see things with someone so you could share impressions etc as everyone saw things differently. He had a point, but I didn't argue the case (which I do think exists) for seeing things on your own (while I am travelling solo out of necessity, I do think it is a good way to travel in some sense) - if we'd been in a bar I would, but on a train not-far-but-not-sure-how-far from my stop and with other people round and with his at-approximately-similar-level-to-my-Spanish English I wanted to keep the conversation lightish and let him do most of the talking. (I understood 90% of what he said, and he said at one point he got about 50% of what I said. He also said it took time for him to get used to my accent and speed of speaking, but he was getting it during the 30-60 mins we talked, and I also got a bit better with his speech.)

2156 By sheer coincidence, I just read the bit in Sirens of Titan about how Roomford's home on Titan is a replica of the Taj Mahal.

2227 Just had a shower. A hot shower. Which was nice if not as specially nice as I might have imagined.

Am remembering that during today was very glad am travelling light. Felt vulnerable and touristy enough walking to New Delhi stn with bag without trundling some enormous suitcase. Then there would have been extra hassle on the train. Then in the cycle rickshaw to hotel I had to put my bag on my lap, fuck knows how they handle people with bulkier luggage. It was the first time I'd been in a cycle rickshaw, I am not *blaming* the guy but man did it feel ponderously slow, and it's not as if me+my bag is a huge weight. What a shitty job. He was welcome to his (voluntary; would still rankle if I was outright tricked) generous tip. I wish I hadn't given the cab driver such a large tip, but I didn't have a 50 handy plus I knew he would sort out the onward cycle rickshaw and with having my bag on me especially felt vulnerable and no time to be pissing people off for the sake of 50p.

I'm not saying it would be great but I could imagine life being OK (well, the working bit, who knows what kind of lifestyle they have on that income?) as a tuktuk driver. Being a cycle rickshaw 'driver' seems much worse.

Should be going to bed but no major rush, if I'm not tired I'm not tired.

0013 Should be going to bed but apart from not being mega tired, I shaved and despite not as far as I can remember being mega careless, I seem to have ripped half the skin off my face and am waiting for the bleeding to cease. Bit worried the pillow is going to have that pig-slaughtering quality in the morning regardless.