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Published: July 13th 2006
The Taj in all its glory
No postcard needed here. The Taj is more beautiful than I ever expected.Hey guys,
First things first. Yes there were terrorist attacks here in India this week. 7 bombs went off in Mumbai, which used to be Bombay. Mumbai is no where near to Bangalore. I am in no danger here. Life has been altered very little. The attacks were done by Islamic separatists but only the US media has said anything about Al Queda. The bombs were set off in train stations and first class compartments of trains. 180 people have already been reported dead and hundreds injured. But I am in no way in danger.
I’ll try to keep this one short like the last one. I had hoped to add this yesterday but we went on a field trip that I’ll have to fill you in on later. Today I want to finish up with last weeks stuff.
We left Dehli and took a bus 5 hours up the road to Agra. Agra is the home to the Taj Mahal. It’s even more beautiful than I thought it would be. The Taj was built by a king in memoriam of his wife of 22 years. Its almost all white marble. It took 22 years to build. It
Me and the Taj
Self photography has never looked so good. has 22 little domes on the entrance gate. 22 steps up to the main floor. See a pattern. Actually the king had plans to build an identical Taj in black marble on the other side of river, but his son arrested him and had him locked up for the last 7 years of his life to keep him from bankrupting the dynasty.
The same king also built 2 famous red forts. One in Agra and one just outside. The one in Agra was the most fortified structure I’ve ever been to, in any country. If you were invading you had to fight your way through the following. A 30 ft moat, a double gated entrance, a boxed in courtyard, a second gate that was offset from the first to cut down on elephant attacks (big animals don’t turn well), a third gate and finally a long ramp that defenders could roll big rocks down or pour things off the high walls.
The one outside of town is connected to a mosque that was built in honor of a holy man that blessed a king so that he could have a son. The king had three wives (and 300
Catch-22
Everything at the Taj Mahal is in 22's. Here are the 22 copulas at the top of the gate. concubines), one Muslim, one Christian, and one Hindu (very diplomatic). The Hindu wife gave him the son, so she got two palaces in the red fort. Not to upset his other wives, he let them each have a palace that was smaller but of equal value. The Christian’s was covered in gold while the Muslim’s was laden with jewels. Smart man.
We went over to Jaipur next. The highlight of this part of the trip was the big fort we visited that the only way to get to it was by ELEPHANT. Marcus and I rode one named Ronni. She was really nice and they had dressed her up for the occasion by drawing things on her with chalk. We over tipped the driver which resulted in some extra pictures with Ronni. Well worth it.
Well, it took 13 hours of travel to get to our place in Bangalore on Sunday, but we made it. This week has been awesome but that’s a different update.
Thanks guys for the feedback. The news and personal updates were the best. Hope to hear from you soon. God bless!
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JD Weathers
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Luxemboug
Have you ever been to Luxemboug? now that place would be tough to take over. there is a freakin gourge all around the city. its pretty crazy. oh well, stay safe and keep having fun. Im heading up to Venice again this weekend to reminisce about the engagement. talk to you later.