Initial Response

Hi.
This might end up being long because I need to explain some complicated situations and I will detail my severe culture shock. Also, I mean no harm- I respect India and it's people wholeheartedly.
We accidentally woke up at 7am. We ate breakfast and left with a driver of the hotel for a day of sightseeing.

.... my god, where do I start...

That is a picture from the roof of our hotel.
So first we went to a monument called, "Qutub Minar". I didn't know what this place was until the end of the 30 minute visit. So as Dad and I are walking around this place aimlessly, several girls walk up to me and ask for a photograph. This made me feel like Paris Hilton. So anyway. The monuments we cool and everything... I just didn't understand what the heck I was looking at. Well... until this guy came up to me.
This dude was 22 years old and very nice and wanted pictures and wants to visit New York and told me a lot about the freakin' things I had been staring at. Very nice.

Ok so next we went on over to a food market! People were selling all types of fruits and vegetables! Like this:
There were just rows and rows and rows of this stuff happening. (Main observation: It seemed like every single person was selling something, but every single person was buying NOTHING!)
After this small food market journey our driver took us to an annoying situation in a textile/jewelry/figurine shop. Huge, 2-story shop with several different sections of goods, each manned by an EXTREMELY persistent salesman. You think those people selling hair straighteners in the mall are annoying??? WHAT IN THE WORLD, these men wouldn't STOP for NOTHING/ANYTHING!!! Very nice people, but I just could not take the persistence. It was unbearable. I was unable to bare it. I bared not. One hour later- we left that shop.
Key word- "Henna Assault". Definition: When a woman at a tourist site physically grabs your arm (as your father continues to walk down the path, not noticing you're being assaulted) and begins to apply a henna tattoo without asking or saying a word,,, and then asks for too much money.
After this we went to The Lotus Temple. Google that.

After all this sight seeing we took an hour nap then got on the road to Agra.

This next section will describe some thoughts I had while on this 5 hour drive.
- This country does not have any sort of care for road rules, road safety, or road anything at ALL. Can I tell you something?- I ALMOST DIED TODAY. Several times. And actually, the dog we hit probably DID die today. Did you laugh at that!? Our driver did. Awk. Anyway, I can't even EXPLAIN this to you. No stop signs, no stop lights, no lanes (well, they HAVE lanes, they just aren't respected), no bike lane, no helmets, I mean, literally: NOTHING. You just fly down the crowded highway in any lane at any speed, just make sure you honk several hundred times an hour to alert everyone where you are. I almost lost my life, Mom. Here is a picture sequence that doesn't show the look on my face or my tense body parts.


That is a 2-lane road.
Sometimes this happens:

-Trash is just everywhere. If countries could be opposites, India and Japan would be opposites. I'm not trying to highlight the bad things about this country. Really. I'm merely highlighting the major sources of my culture shock. The roadside from Delhi to Agra is covered in trash. Just littered. Photo:
(Also, free animals) Now, I think this just comes with the severe poverty+serious population density.
- I saw some very, very poor people today. While driving, a young child ran up to the window with bunches of flowers to sell. I declined with a shake of the head... but the girl persisted (common theme), shaking her head 'yes'. She then made a movement with her hand that resembled eating. And so I was like, :-O. And the car started driving faster... and so she ran, knocking on the window, and finally the trunk as we sped up. Poor, poor people. I saw two children pooping on the ground. Just squat-pooping. Severe poverty.
-I've only seen a few police personnel.
-There are hundreds of half-built buildings lining the streets. No construction crews. Just empty half-buildings all over.
- It's hot here. But not humid like in Georgia. This means that you can wear long sleeves and not die. Most men wear long sleeves and long pants on 100+ degree weather.
-Some of you (Briana/Kelli) would cry over the skinny dogs we saw today. Oh yeah, our car hit one.
-It's midnight. Everyone is honking on the street.
-Everyone here loves cricket.

I'm tired now. Taj Mahal at 5:45 in the morning. It's midnight. Can I sleep? :-) Loves. BTW, I don't read this after I write it. So pay no mind to typos.