Animals salvatges i paranys de ciutat / Wild life and traps in the city

Des que varem escriure el darrer blog entre altres coses hem tingut la sort de veure tres cadells de tigre en el seu entorn natural, lliures i salvatges, des d'una torre d'observacio a pocs metres! Va ser un mati extraordinari que recordarem durant molt de temps; era el tercer dia al Parc Nacional de Dudhwa i encara que el dia abans haviem vist rinoceronts de ben aprop (a tres o quatre metres!) des de dalt d'un elefant, hi haviem anat esperant tenir la sort de veure un tigre... aixi que tres el darrer mati que hi erem va ser molt afortunat i ens va deixar molt contents i satisfets. A mes del parc de Dudhwa, hem visitat Gorakhpur, Lucknow, Orchha i el famos temple de Khajuraho (conegut per les talles erotiques, encara que n'hi ha moltes mes que no ho son, tant o mes impressionants), i ara som a Agra. Era evident que hi haviem de passar, per veure el Taj i el Red Fort, i encara que ens feia mandra viure la part mes turistica i comercialitzada de l'India, les visites a tots dos monuments no ens han decepcionat. El Taj fins que no el veus no t'adones de lo bonic i gran que es, i encara que ahir hi havia forca gent que tambe el visitaven, ens va impressionar. Es clar que darrera hi ha una historia entre romantica i trista, la d'un senyor amb molts diners que sempre que viatjava volia que la seva dona preferida l'acompanyes, i en una ocasio en que anava a fer la guerra i va fer que tambe l'acompanyes, ella es va posar de part (del seu 14e fill!) i s'hi va quedar... aleshores al tornar ell va dir que abans de morir li havia demanat que contruis un monument per fer saber a tothom com de gran havia estat el seu amor... qui vulgui que s'ho cregui! En la construccio d'aquest monument hi varen participar 22000 treballadors durant una pila d'anys, i ben segur que mes d'un hi va deixar la pell; les incrustacions en el marbre son de pedres de colors portades de diversos paisos llunyans i el mateix marbre el varen transportar 2000 elefants des de mes de 300 quilometres de distancia. Aqui a Agra t'atabalen tota l'estona intentant vendre't tot tipus de reproduccions i bagateles relacionades d'alguna manera amb el Taj. Avui hem (de fet he sigut jo el que hi ha caigut) caigut en el conegut parany que en ciutats com Agra et posen els conductors de rickshaws: et proposen de portar-te on tu vols per un preu raonable i aixi que has acordat el desti et convencen - i un cop dalt del vehicle i en una zona allunyada no tens gaires opcions- que acceptis de visitar una zona de botigues on ells rebran una comissio encara que tu no compris res i aixi els ajudes a guanyar algun diner mentre tu veus la ciutat i algunes botigues; el que no t'expliquen es que despres de visitar el lloc on volies anar et passaras dues o tres hores anant d'una botiga a una altra en una zona gens interessant de la ciutat, ja que cal anar almenys a 5 llocs per rebre ells una quantitat acceptable de comissions, i el que havia de ser un dia de passeig tranquil es converteix en una empipadora i llarga processo de visites a botigues on venen coses que no vols a preus infalts per als turistes, i a sobre al acabar el recorregut, com que ha fet tants quilometres i saps que es realment una feina molt dura, especialment pels ciclistes de mes de 60 anys que ens portaven, els acabes pagant el doble del que havies acordat i ben segur, mes del que t'hauria costat anar on volies i tornar en un dels molts tricicles motoritzats que fan el servei de taxi.

Since our last blog, amongst other things we've been lucky enough to see three tiger cubs in their natural habitat, free and wild, from an observation tower a few metres away. It was an extraordinary morning which we'll remember for a long time; it was out third day in Dudhwa National Park and even though we'd seen rhinos the day before from the back of an elephant (about 3 or 4m away!), we were hoping we'd see a tiger .... and so three the following morning means we were very lucky and we were thrilled. As well as Dudhwa, we've visited Gorakhpur, Lucknow, Orchha, the famous temple at Khajuraho (known for its erotic carvings, although there are many more that are of other subjects that are as or more impressive) and now we are in Agra. Obviously we had to come here, to visit the Taj and the Red Fort, although we were worried about visiting one of India's most touristy and commercialised places, however the two monuments didn't fail to impress. Until you see the Taj, you can't appreciate its beauty and size, and even though there were lots of visitors yesterday, it was impressive.
There is, of course, a sad and romantic story behind it of a man who had lots of money and who, when travelling, liked his favourite wife to accompany him and who had her accompany him to war where she went into labour (their 14th child!) and died .... and so, on his return he said that before she passed away she asked him to build a monument to show the greatness of their love ... and whoever saw it would know. Twenty-two thousand workers participated in the construction of this monument over a period of many years, and many must have died. The coloured stones set into the marble were brought from far and wide and the marble itself was brought by 2,000 elephants from over 300km away.
Here in Agra they hassle you to buy all sorts of reproductions and junk somehow related to the Taj all the time. Today we fell (actually it was Manel who fell) for a known scam by local rickshaw drivers in cities like this. They agreed to take us where we wanted for a reasonable price and once we were near where we wanted to be, they convinced us to go to another area and visit some shops where they would receive a commission even if we didn't buy anything, thus helping them earn some extra money. What they didn't warn us was that this would turn out to be a three hour tour of uninteresting parts of the city as they need to take you to at least 5 shops to get reasonable commissions. What was going to be a relaxed day wandering in the old town had by then become a long and annoying succession of visits to shops where they sell things you don't want at inflated, tourist prices. At the end of the journey, as they had cycled many kilometres and as it is a very tough job, especially for the elderly drivers we had, we ended up paying double what we had agreed and obviously more than we should have paid to go to where we had originally wanted and back, even in a motorised rickshaw!