Agra - another hole

As noted in the Aurangabad post, where there are tourists there are touts. We found that most Indian touts and hawkers know more about what you are spending in India than you probably do. They likely have cousins or siblings or some other family members who have worked in your home country, so they know what the salary is there. They also know how much it costs to get to India from where ever it is that you live. They also are well aware of how much money each hotel and guest room costs, so if they see you coming out of a place they have a pretty good idea of how much you are spending to be in their town.

Don't get me wrong, not all Indians are out for your cash. We met the sweetest fellow and his family on the train ride to Agra, who shared his home made dinner with us. He said "if I could, I'd invite you to my home and share dinner. But I cannot, so this will have to do." We politely refused, but he stuffed us silly with some of the best food we had when we were in India. It was vegetarian and it was spicy and delicious. This man made an impression on us.

Unfortunately, in tourist traps like Agra there are tons of other folks who do want your dough. Our moto-rickshaw driver scammed us - twice! We found this great internet place just across the street from our hotel, and we visited a few times. The funny thing is that there were a couple of other internet shops on the way, and the owners would see us coming and start shouting out bargains for us - "you should not go to his shop. you should come to mine. much cheaper." And so it went.

Unfortunately, we don't have any good photos to illustrate the frustration and dogged perspicacity (one of my favorite words) of the touts and hawkers. Instead, I just put up a picture of a camel we saw in Agra.