Blogs from Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India, Asia - page 81

The city of Agra has turned out to be the most fun yet. Today began with a nice walk to the Agra fort. The fort provided some beautiful views of the very dry Yamuna river and the Taj Mahal in the distance. We then took a peaceful stroll through the Shajahan park which led to the Taj Ganj area in front of the Taj Mahal. We ate lunch on a rooftop restaurant with a wonderful view of the Taj and also were able to watch pigeon trainers at work on the adjacent rooftops. We spent the afternoon exploring the magnificence of the Taj Mahal and stayed until sunset. The detail that went into the construction is insane. We then made our way to a local music shop which provided a free citar show. The citar player ... read more

Well this was the most spectacular and beautiful place on earth (so far at least anyway!) James and I spent ages wandering round the Taj Mahal trying to describe it so we could then let you know what it was like. But we just cannot describe the breath taking beauty and peacefulness of this incredible monument of love. We enjoyed this monument so much we came back again! So we saw the sunset on the 24th Jan and the sunrise at 6.30am on the 25th Jan. Which one was better? Neither they were equally as amazing and we recommended it to an austrailian couple from Perth and they took our advice and went to see it again(we ended up meeting them the next day in Jaipur!). We have included some photos of the Taj Mahal, we ... read more

Friday afternoon I took myself for a wander through the back streets of Jaipur. Note... If Quincy Jones Soul Bosanova is good for bopping through the doped up alleyways of Pushkar, Paul Okenfolds techno remix of the James Bond theme is excelent for surviving the mean streets of Jaipur. Though you still attract plenty of attention walking around the back streets you have nowhere near the harrasement you get around the shops, and people are more interested in you than they are in what money you might want to part with. It's odd, there are days of the week and times at night when I'm not overly keen on walking between my front door up the high street in Wigton to the Indian takeaway, but I never seem to have any qualms about venturing into unknown ... read more

I am back in Delhi now after my little trip down to Agra, and quite a trip it was too.... On Sunday night I was feeling pretty odd having left the company of Sanjay and Preeti and everyone with a chance to finally get my head around things a bit. I had some dinner and then went up to my room and almost cried with joy to find an english speaking channel on my tv showing that classic Arnold Sharwzeneger film 'Kinder Garden Cop', awful it may be but it cheered me up no end! You can't really venture out on your own in the evening, or rather, you shouldn't, so I didn't. But I was quite happy in my strange windowless hotel room with curtains on the wall and Arnie on TV. Everyone seems to ... read more

We thought the Taj Mahal restaurant in Lewisham, London was tasty, then we saw the real thing! I have to confess I shed a small tear when I first glimpsed the awesome sight of the Taj Mahal. Built by a Mughal Emperor in honour of his much beloved wife who died giving birth to their 14th child. Denise asked me what I would build her if she died, I assured her I would complete the conservatory at the back of our house she keeps talking about!... read more