Sunrise

We woke very early in an attempt to beat the crowds to the west gate to watch the sun rise over the Taj. Unfortunately our 'very early' was proved to be different from other peoples 'very early'. So, as we were arrived we were taken a back by the rows upon rows of people bustling around to get tickets, audioguides and a place in the queue. In our defence however, we would have been one of the few there if it hadn't been for the group of about 70 chinese tourists all wearing matching fluorescent orange hats. By the time we got to the front of the ticket queue the man had apparently got no change, although I could see he did, and refused to give me a ticket and subsequently refused to speak to me. With angry Milly well and truly out to play someone else payed for my ticket and Holly and I stormed to the gate queue. Of course in India there are separate men and women queues in which the women's was packed and going back for miles while the mens was fast moving and empty and we were stuck right in the middle of a group of school girls. With phones shoved in our faces left right and centre, I slapped them out the hands of the girls, leapt over the barrier into the empty mens queue. Holl and I stormed forward, our spirits thoroughly wetted, and niftily ducked back into the front of the women's queue. Once frisked we then had to barge through a large crowd of men all waiting for their other halfs that were stuck in the slow queue, which was explained by the extensive metal detectors on the mens side compared to the one on the womens. However once we were in we were overwhelmed by the magnificent beauty of the Taj Mahal. We went on to take many 'silly' photos and go on the tour, brushing of the comments and ridiculing of the many indians that passed us by. It was here that we realised why people had told us to get the hell out of Agra as soon as we could because we rushed out of the compound of the Taj to the safe distance of a roof top restaurant looking over it.