Here’s what I assumed would happen when I checked into my hotel in Agra: I’d drink water and snack on a pack of cashews while mending the first night. The first day I’d just order a light breakfast from room service and lots more water, taking it easy, possibly heading down to the hotel restaurant for a light dinner. The next day I’d head to the Taj Mahal, spend the afternoon there before grabbing dinner around there and heading back, all in preparation for leaving the next day.

Here’s what actually happened: I drank some water and had a pack of cashews. The next day, I felt … exactly as bad as I had the day before. I couldn’t bear the thought of eating, was weak and nauseous through the day, and felt like I was becoming dangerously dehydrated. I did manage to order some soup and some tacos¹ around dinnertime, along with some orange juice and more bottled water. But by that evening I was still feeling sick enough to do some emergency Googling and break out the supply of Cipro I had stashed before I started traveling.

I had a truly dreadful night of sleep, and when I woke up I gave up on any thoughts of leaving the hotel. I did manage to order room service breakfast² and after about 6 hours was finally starting to feel like maybe, someday, I could consider leaving the hotel room again. I ordered soup and a veggie burger for dinner.³ My checking out of the hotel was the first time I set foot in Agra since I checked in to the hotel.

Really, if you’re lying sick in bed staring at four walls, it doesn’t make a lot of difference where those walls are located. I’d rather have friends I could rely on in emergencies nearby, obviously. And it feels like a bigger waste losing a day in Delhi or Agra than losing a day in New York City or even London, at this point.

But I think there’s a more subtle loss, here. Here’s the advice on how to avoid getting sick while traveling: only drink bottled water. Don’t eat street food. Avoid uncooked meat. Don’t eat raw vegetables or salads. Avoid warm, moist food, like sauces or buffets. Avoid fresh fruit unless you can peel it yourself. Stick to pasteurized milk; if you aren’t sure, avoid dairy products and ice cream. Don’t eat ice, which also means avoiding cocktails.

In other words, a lot of the fun of travelling becomes impossible. Practically speaking you can’t actually follow all the advice above: the veggie burger I got had some kind of (mayo-based?) sauce on it, and I’ve no idea if the soups I had were boiled after adding whatever creams or garnishes they had floating in them. But even if you were to follow it all to the letter, you’re suddenly experiencing the world as an endless vector of potential disease. Not exactly the endless potential for wonder I’m trying to cultivate.

I did, on my final day, feel well enough to brave Agra enough to see the sights. It was my last day in Agra⁴ so I checked out, stuck my stuff in luggage storage at the hotel and went to see the Taj Mahal.

In a lot of ways, the Taj Mahal is the whole reason I came to India in the first place. I mean, India has been on my list of places I’d like to see for a long time, and having a month-long hole in my January travels, coupled with a chance run-in with an American who had been recently and brought the ongoing rumors that the government of India will be closing the Taj Mahal for repairs in the near future.⁵ And even then, I was sufficiently feeling unwell that I was considering possibly just heading back to Delhi.⁶ But by 11 I was feeling approximately okay, so I decided to take a chance.

And, look, I write a lot about the value of actually doing things, of traveling someplace and walking through someplace and experiencing it rather than reading about it or looking at the pictures. But this was simply stunning. I know it shows up on a lot of “places to see before you die” lists⁷ but it’s really incredible just to be there, to be able to run your hand across the marble and feel the sculpture, the inlaid malachite and lapis lazuli, to feel the unbelievable symmetry of the place. I suppose I’m a natural sucker for art, but it was really like seeing a Van Gogh or a Monet⁸ for the first time and being struck wordless.

After I went to the Agra Fort — where Shah Jahan, who built the Taj Mahal, was imprisoned after being usurped by his son — and spent a cool afternoon sitting on a balustrade, gazing downriver at the Taj Mahal, just as Shah Jahan must have done, hundreds of years ago.

Next: Delhi (DEL) to Bangalore (BLR)
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Footnotes

¹ It’s hard to find “plain” stuff on some of these room service menus, and these — simple bean tacos — seemed like about as tame as I could find.

² French toast

³ Even that turned out to be optimistic, as there was still half of the burger that I just couldn’t finish.

⁴ Plane tickets into and out of Agra were ridiculously expensive, but with a 3 hour train ticket to Delhi costing about $6, it made sense to fly out of Delhi and just take the train in and out. Luckily, that meant I had a plane ticket for Friday, and could get to Delhi pretty much anytime, just to check in and stay for the night.

⁵ It’s hard to know how seriously to take these, given the sheer amount of tourist money it brings in every year. And if the L-train shutdown in New York City reveals anything, it’s that you really shouldn’t count on politicians for consistency. But it was in my mind.

⁶ In my limited experience India’s trains, contrary to the fairly common pictures with dozens of locals hanging off them, are in general reliable, reasonably clean, and not crowded. And there are sleeper berths available, which if all you feel safe commiting to is a fetal curl is a godsend.

⁷ And I’m aware of the incredible amount of privilege wrapped up in those lists in the first place. You’ll be fine dying if you never make it to Agra, I promise.

⁸ Or, for me, that room of nine Rothkos at the Tate Modern. Minority opinion, I know.