the taj mahal

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hi everyone, just a quick update. since pushkar, we have been to jaipur and agra. jaipur in known for being the pink city and the whole city is surrounded by the walls of the palace. the palace there is pretty cool, with pink and white walls and its full of museums and shops. we saw a pretty cool temple in jaipur that was made of white marble. it was amazing, even though im not to keen on going inside as i dont want to offend anyone with my ignorant ways. jaipur was a pretty cool place but it was hectic and the traffic was incredible. still not a road rule in sight! we did see a macdonalds and im affraid to say it tempted us in on more than one occasion. funny how it still tasted like curry though!

after jaipur, we made our way to agra (home of the taj mahal). we went via a night stop in bharatpur and the next day we went to fahtapur sikri (dont quote me on the spelling!). fathapur sikri is know for being a ghost town as some clever person decided to build it in the dryest place in india and when they realised getting water was too much effort, it was hastily abandoned. the fort up there was amazing though, full of palaces and temples and the best views yet i think. the temple was huge and the palace was even bigger.

we then made our way to agra. agra had a few riots a few days ago and the city was closed for 3 days. we were a bit worried about going but all is fine here. i think the riots started when a lorry killed 4 people and the crowds here just turn into a mob and anything goes! i think a lot of the police have been suspended for being crap, so nothing new here!

the main part of the day was our visit to the taj mahal. we got there about 4pm and we were going to stay for the sunset. the taj mahal is every bit amazing that i expected it to be and more. its huge and white and majestic and i loved it! needless to say, i took a lot of pictures!we went inside the taj and saw the tomb ( although i dont think its the real one as its supposed to ber underground!). the design on the marble and the architecture was stunning. by far the top sight so far!

anyway, today we leave on our first train and were not sure what class we have booked so hopefully were not in the cheap seats! its a good 24 hour train so hopefully it will be kind of comfortable, though i dont hold much hope!

next stop, aurangabad to see some buddhist caves which look amazing!

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