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Published: March 11th 2007
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Dispite all the bad things we had heard about it we decided to throw caution to the winds and stay in Agra for the night. It turned out not to bed as bad as everyone says at all and we managed to eat without being poisoned (there was a horrible scam that involved poisoning people, rushing them to a phoney Dr who continued to poison them and claim their travel insurance, but it seems to have died out). Our hotel had a roof top view of the Taj Mahal too.
We arose at 5:45 am in order to get to the Taj for sunrise. When we got there is was still pretty dark and the Taj was a dark blue colour. Now most people stay right by the gate to take photos as the sun come up but we burned forwards and as a result go the whole place to ourselves. Watching the sun come up was amazing as the Taj slowly reveals itself to you. Every few minuets I noticed new things and saw more of the amazing detail on the stonework. We were really lucky as we got right into the centre of the Taj where the tomb
is before anyone else and had the place to ourselves. It is really beautiful and the wind makes strange noises in there. Of course within 10 minuets there were tour guides shouting and the place was packed.
The Taj itself is an amazingly built building. It is on a platform, which is high enough to mean that the backdrop is only ever sky. It is perfectly symmetrical in ever aspect including the two Mosques that flank it and the garden and gate. It is made for slightly translucent white marble so that it changes from a golden colour at dawn to pink at sunset and blue at dusk. It is inlayed with semi precious stones and wonderful intricate patterns and passages from the Qu’ran.
We stayed for about three hours exploring and admiring it by which time hundreds of people where there. There is a queue all day for the bench where Princess Diana sat in a famous photograph.
We then headed for breakfast and to check out of our hotel before setting off for Agra fort. I loved Agra Fort, it was defiantly my favourite fort in India. It was re-done by the same man who
built the Taj and Delhi Fort and the Big Mosque in Delhi. His apartment is white marble and has a view of the Taj. There are no building between which is great as you still get the same view he would have done of his beloveds tomb (the Taj). The fort is huge and has loads of pretty buildings in it. Highly recommended.
From there we got a cycle rickshaw (much more relaxed than Autos) to the Baby Taj. This isn’t a miniature Taj but actually pre dates the Taj. It is a lovely little tomb with latticework windows and inlayed marble. It is a really peaceful spot to just sit and admire the architecture.
We left Agra for Delhi but our train was very late so we didn’t get there until about midnight. Trying to get an auto was interesting as all the drivers turned out to be drunk but we managed to get a sober taxi driver and safely arrived in Paraganj, the backpacker scene. We got to bed about 1:30 am having been up at 5:45 to get to the Taj. A long but rewarding day.
Delhi was smelly when we got there. The
weather was foul and overcast and not very inspiring. We didn’t do that much first time round but we did visit the Red Fort. This was really disappointing after Agra fort as there isn’t much there and it’s a bit of dump, but still a pleasant afternoon. Near the fort is a big mosque (biggest in India) whose name I forget but you can’t miss it. It is built in the same style as the Taj but is striped in white marble and red sand stone. It is huge and wonderful to behold. Like the Taj it is exquisitely proportioned and very detailed and has a great view of the fort.
We moved on to Amritsar next which is home to the Sikh Golden Temple. This is a very important centre of the Sikh religion. Amritsar itself is a dump and the weather was awful there too. It was actually quite cold and raining so my bare feet were freezing while walking round the temple. The Golden Temple is actually quite small but it is in a man made lake in surrounded by white marble buildings, which makes the whole complex huge. They have free dormitory accommodation there and a
dining hall that feeds thousands everyday. In the morning we walked around and qued up to go into the temple. Inside it is wonderfully decorated. Everyday there is a no stop reading/chanting from the holy book, which you can view on a TV channel called golden TV. This is shown all over India and is constant live footage from the temple. Who needs big brother heh!? We actually went back in the evening to see the holy book being put to bed. This was a wonderful ceremony to witness and I feel privileged to have been there. We were upstairs and could see down to were the book was. At first it just looks like a large lump under lots of covers. The priests then start to ceremoniously take off the covers one by one to eventually reveal the book itself. All the while people were singing and there was a wonderfully peaceful atmosphere. Then there was a short reading from the book before it was put to bed by wrapping it up again in about 10 layers. It was then carried out of the temple in a large covered thrown thing and taken to bed. It was really great
to have seen this all.
The next day we got on a bus and headed up up up to McLeod Ganj in the mountains.
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