We're Off to Agra!

This morning we left our hotel in Delhi and set out on a very long bus ride to Agra. I tried sleeping as much as I could on the bus but the roads are atrocious here. Literally the entire drive was like going over massive speed bumps, and on top of that the people are constantly driving like there is stop and go traffic. The funniest part about the terrible driving though was the horn honking. Not only did the driver honk the horn every 3 seconds, but the horn sounded like a little jingle. It was actually stuck in my head for parts of the trip. I saw some pretty interesting things on the road, like lots of cows, monkeys on polls, fruit stands, lots of garbage, and of course poverty. We stopped for lunch were I had Panir Butter Masala, which is some kind of Indian cheese in spices/sauce which was pretty good.
Our next stop on the way to Agra was Fatehpur Sikri, the ancient capital of the Mughal Empire from 1571-1585 during Akbar’s reign. There is a mosque and 3 palaces, one for each of his 3 favorite wives. Each wife was of a major religion of the time: Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism. His Hindu wife was his favorite because she was the only wife that bore a son to take over the empire. Her palace was the biggest, and she had a summer side that faced the water, and a winter side that faced the sun. The place had lots of really interesting carving designs that represented many different religions because Akbar was responsible for incorporating people of different religious backgrounds into the empire. Unfortunately we got there a little later than planned so we couldn’t go inside the mosque, but the complex was so interesting from what we did see.
So we’re now staying at Hotel Kont in Agra for the next 2 nights. This hotel is a serious upgrade from the last hotel so I’m excited to get a better night sleep tonight. For dinner I got fried rice because I needed a break from the Indian food, but I managed to get a stomachache afterwards; perhaps Chinese food wasn’t the best choice. Oh well I’m trying things out!
Tomorrow we’re going to the Taj Mahal, enough said!