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December 8, 1998

"we watched the sunset glimmer off of the three immense domes and the gargantuan, red stone, main gate..."

We have forgotten to mention Josh in any of the previous writings. The plan before we left Kathmandu was as follows: Jeff, Aaron and Mike were going to Sunali to cross the border before Aaron's Nepali visa expired on December 5. He had a fifteen day Indian permit, which only takes one day to get in Nepal, and a flight to the US that left from Delhi on the 13th. Sorry again, but we must backtrack even further. The original plan for Josh, Debbie, and Aaron was to go to Tibet to visit Josh's Uncle John. Things got mixed up; communication got all fouled up. Josh, Debbie and Aaron thought Uncle John couldn't get Chinese visas, and Uncle John thought they didn't want to visit Tibet. In any case, Josh and Deb were coming to India and had applied for six month visas (it takes 1-3 weeks to get them in Nepal). All good, except...WHAT????? Uncle John CAN get Chinese visa's???? What will happen now???? Will Josh and Debbie go to Tibet? And what of Aaron? Will Mike and Jeff continue the mad dash with Aaron to try to arrive in Delhi by the 13th? Will Josh show up in Varanasi? Tune in next week for the exciting conclusion...oh wait, sorry, wrong show...

Too bad so sad for Aaron. He had already changed his ticket home (75 US dollars). Debbie decided she would try to go to Tibet and be home by Christmas. Josh told us he had decided to stick with the boys, wait for his visa, secure Debbie's Chinese access, take another round of Cipro, and fly either to Varanasi or Delhi. In both cities we had picked several meeting places.

Okay, there we were in Sunali with Aaron who said, "Chances are when Josh talks to his family, and gets his Tibetan visa he will be convinced to stay with Deb, and go to Tibet, rather then meet us here in India". This was particularly bothersome to us, because he had our copy of Siddartha; but, the show must go on as the saying goes, and the boys must go on as well: to Agra. Before leaving Varanassi we made an attempt to contact Josh. There is one email shop in Varanasi and we sought it out. Down a maze of alleys, out of the old city, and into the street market.

When we asked for directions:
Indian man: "You go, then turn, across from the fleem!"
Us: "What?"
Indian man: "fleem"
Us: "What?"
Indian man: "fleem"
Us: "Where?"
Indian man: "Movies!"
Us: "Ohhh, film!"
Indian man: "Yes that's what I said - fleem!"

On the seventh there was still no word from Josh, so we booked our train tickets to Agra, home of the Taj Mahal. The train was to leave Varanasi at 5:30 pm and arrive in Agra at 5:30 am. However, use of the emergency stop cable by the Indian locals, so they could get off the train near their villages, instead waiting for those pesky railway stations, delayed our arrival by several hours. (Oh well, C'est L'Inde)

At 7:30 am we hopped off the train and were immediately approached by Deebee, the auto-rickshaw driver. We liked the look of his furry Russian fez, so, we piled into his tiny vehicle with all our bags, and made our way to the Shanti Lodge. Deebee said he would chauffeur us around Agra all day for 150 Rupees (3 US dollars) which sounded good to us. We told him to come back at 10:30 am. We went up to our room, which had an incredible view of the Taj, and slept soundly. Normally, one can get a fair amount of sleep on a night train since everyone has a bed. As luck would have it, however, in our set of beds(they come in groups of six) there was an Indian man who snored so loudly that he would have put Jeff, sleeping in a large echo chamber, to shame. We were kept awake all night!

10:30 am - We must decide - stay in Agra 2 nights or 1? Aaron, fearful of missing his flight and wanting to see as much as possible during his week in India, had us moving at a ferocious pace. Aaron had also changed his opinion regarding Josh. In Varanasi anxious to get to Agra, Aaron had convinced us Josh wasn't going to come to India at all. In Agra, anxious to get to Delhi, Aaron convinced us that Josh might be waiting for us in Delhi. Of course, we realized that Josh may also be reading our copy of Siddartha in Tibet.

Before we went to the travel agent we asked Deebee where we could use the Internet?
Deebee: "What?"
Us: "The Internet!"
Deebee: "What?"
Us: "The Internet!"
Deebee: "What?"
Us: "You know computer, email!"
Deebee: "Ohhh, Internet"
Us: "That's what we said - Internet!"

When we finally got the cyber café in Agra we got some good news and some bad news from Josh, well, here was his email:

"ok boys, all is set for the josher to take india by storm (or by toilet. damn these runs.) i will be leaving nepal from kathmandu airport tomorrow Dec. 9 at exactly (right) 2:50 in the afternoon on Indian Airlines flight 751 and landing in varanasi an hour later. bon voyage kathmandu, bon voyage thamel, bon voyage "visit nepal 98". until we meet again nepal, thanks for the memories! any chance one of you could be at the airport? let me know whatever you can otherwise I'll see you at one of the meeting places."

"oh, as if it wasn't implied, Deb has secured permission to go to tibet and is in the process of working out the details today. happy travels to her. i'll check my email tonight around eight or so. hope to hear from you by then. other wise write me by tomorrow for sure, as that is when i'm leaving. i have faith in you my brothers and partners in crime. ps, i will come bearing gifts - things of great joy (not pringels). -jf "

As it was the 9th, and we were in Agra, we realized that we would have to meet at one of our three destinations in Delhi, instead of Varanasi. We booked our train tickets for the following day, and let Deebee show us the sites of Agra.

The Red Fort in Agra, was an enormous fortress built by several maharajas over several centuries. After being impressed by its size, we learned that we had only seen ¼ of the fort! The rest was closed off and being used by the Indian army. It is in the Red Fort where, after constructing the Taj Mahal as a memorial to his favorite wife, who had died while giving birth to their 14th child, Emperor Shah Jahan was imprisoned by his son, Aurangzeb. He could not leave and could only see his amazing accomplishment, the Taj Mahal, in the distance across the river.

The Taj Mahal was even more impressive then the Red Fort. These pictures can't come close to capturing the size and detail of this historical and incredible monument. Made from marble and intricate inlaid colored stones, The Taj took 22 years to build (1631-1653). Stones and workers were brought to Agra from all over India, Europe, and central Asia. In all, over 20,000 people worked on the building. We circled the Taj and looked at it from many different angles, took our pictures, and returned to the Shanti Lodge where we drank tea and watched the sunset glimmer off of the three immense domes and the gargantuan, red stone, main gate. As we sat, we pondered what the travel agent had told us earlier in the day "Many westerners leave the materialistic west and travel to find truth in the east..."