We drive to Agra today, after stopping at ‘Monkey Temple’ just outside Jaipur, which is as it says on the tin. The monkeys wander the temple grounds and are highly approachable, as they are used to humans giving them food. The temple can’t be an easy place to keep clean given the monkey’s presence, and I’m a little surprised to find people taking ceremonial dips in the dark water pools of the temple. It’s not clear how active the temple is as it decayed and dirty, though it is obviously a holy site to the Hindus who visit.
At the Agra hotel, which is basic but has a pleasant courtyard in which to congregate, I room with Dave and homesick Dan from Nottingham. Dan, standing at five foot not a lot, has become something of a mascot for the round the world pub crawl crew (Essex Sam, Brummie Gareth, Just John, Chef Martin , etc) as he fits neatly into the back shelf of tuk tuks. I get awoken in the early hours of the following morning by him being noisily deposited, disorientated, into a randomly selected bed.
Earlier I had walked around the streets with Laurie on a hunt for toilet paper, as our stocks were running low. We find some initially at a chemist’s, but at 60 rupees for 2 rolls we ludicrously decide that this is too expensive, so our hunt continues. After about an hour, I propose that we go back to the TP dispensing chemist, but have to acknowledge that I don’t know how to find it again. After an hour or so more, Laurie finds some deposited in the upper shelves in the back corner of a densely stacked store and we have to get the step ladder to get to it.
In between being hassled by tuk tuk / rickshaw drivers, we also spot a six legged cow, which is perhaps a descendent of stock from Bhopal, 500km or so to the south.
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