The last two days have been a bit trying. As of yesterday morning we planned to continue to Pushkar, a small village with temples surrounding a lake. Late morning we reviewed what we’ve done thus far and concluded that what we’ve been doing hasn’t really lined up with what our mental image of India would be. I pictured dense jungles, peaceful yogic retreats, and hammocks. Although we’ve had heaps of delicious food and amazing people-experiences the nature side has been lacking. We hoped to head to the South near Kerala and Goa for more of the greenery but the rainy season seems to last until late September. Thus, today we pulled the trigger on flights to Bangkok for the month before we meet Sam & Avi in Nepal. The prices hurt… we paid around $400 for flights from Delhi to Bangkok and Bangkok to Kathmandu in early October.
We took a bus to Agra last night and scored seats next to a man with truly impressive burping capabilities. Afterwards we ate a spicy thali for dinner at an outdoor restaurant near the bus stop and happily chowed down fresh-from-the-fire chapatis.
This morning we woke up at 5 am to watch the sunrise at the Taj Mahal. The 100 rupee ride took us across the river to Mehtab Bagh park where we walked down a dirt road to a peaceful, deserted view of the Taj. While we sat a stray dog continually nudged me in search of scratches. Although we would’ve liked to enter the Taj the 1000 rupee price tag deterred us. Unbeknownst to us, today was one of the few days per year where the Taj is free from 7 am to 10 am due to an Islamic holiday. This coincided well with our Murphy’s law day (we didn’t find out until we got back to the hostel). 
On the walk back to the main road loudspeakers played hindi music at a deafening level starting at 7 am. People seemed unfazed. Not sure if this is the norm or if it was due to the holiday today… either way I can’t picture the same scenario playing out very well in the United States.
On the bright side, my kindle turned up at the last minute before leaving Jaipur. An employee had found it in my room and held it for safe keeping.
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