Time Warp

OK, so the next two posts are from things I wrote in Agra, a few days ago.

Agra is yet another city with a tough reputation, but which I don't find to be that bad. Yes, the constant flow of "come in my shop!", "Buy my marble doohickey!", and "You want rickshaw madam?" is midly annoying. But there's an easy antidote: ignore them. I don't live here. I don't know these people, and I don't owe them anything. If they think I'm stuck up or rude, who cares? I think they're annoying, and yet that doesn't appear to affect their behavior.

The bottom line - I got off the train without a word from anybody. There's a prepaid auto-rickshaw booth which charges sensible fares to key parts of town. My guesthouse is pretty much everything I could ask for, and dirt cheap. I didn't even face an unusual level of hassle at any of the very, very famous tourist sites I visited. I just don't get what the fuss is about.