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Published: April 6th 2008
Taj Mahal
Diana who?After almost a month in India we are at last starting to get a hang of Indian hotel room classifications. It goes something like this: Delux Room (awful); Super Delux Room (half decent); Super Delux Maharaja Palace Suite (quite nice).
The forts and palaces of Rajastan were wonderful but it was time to head east to Agra to see the most famous building in all of India, the Taj Mahal. We stayed literally next door to the Taj Mahal complex within the vehicle exclusion zone which protects the Taj against pollution and has the advantage of keeping out the ever persistant auto-rickshaws drivers.
Once inside the Taj Mahal complex it was like entering another world. The Taj Mahal is surrounded by a series of sandstone walls, gates and other buildings which do a good job of keeping the outside world at bay and hiding the Taj Mahal itself from view until the very last moment. When we walked through the last gate and it was finally revealed in all its glory, surrounded by lawns, ponds and fountains, it took our breath away, and in the early morning light it almost seems to shimmer and float. It was larger than
Taj Mahal
Mirrored perfection we had expected, but beautifully proportioned, and close up it has intricate carving and precious stone inlays.
The Red Fort is Agra's other big sight and whilst impressive in its own right you can't help stealing glimses back to the Taj along the river.
The guide book led us to a fantastic little cafe and Agra institution called Joney's Place where we eat a small mountain of delicious spicy food with banana lassi for about 90p each (including tip!).
After the Red Fort and the Taj Mahal the rest of Agra doesn't have a lot to offer and the town itself is a bit of a mess, so we didn't hang around and got the next night train to Varanasi. The guide book had said that Varanasi was "India in the raw" which made us slightly nervous because India was already raw enough for us! However, we found Varanassi to be probably the most magical place we have been so far in India.
Varanasi is one of Hinduism's most holy cities. Located on the sacred River Ganga (Ganges) it attracts hundreds of holy men and thousands of pilgrims who come here to bath in the holy
Varanasi Ghats
Holy men catching up on the day's news waters, as well as hippies trying to find spirital enlightenment and people like us who just want to come and see what it is all about. At the edge of the river are the Ghats, nearly 100 in number, areas of large stone steps leading into the river, which are used for everything from bathing and washing clothes to cremating the dead.
At sunset we joined the crowds to gather on the banks of the Ganges to watch the sunset ceremonies where monks chant, bells ring, the air is filled with incence and people light small 'wishes' of candles and flowers and let them float on the Ganges into the night. The next morning we chartered a small boat and were quietly rowed past the ghats as dawn broke over the Ganges.
Delhi was a bit of a disaster for both of us as we finally succommed to Delhi Belly (where better). We had four days in the capital but as we spent three of them in our hotel room we ended up having to do Delhi in a day. Maybe it was the way we were feeling but the main sights of Delhi seemed a bit disappointing
and the thing we will remember most is the awful dust and pollution. It's hard to believe that Delhi is to host the Commonwealth Games in 2010 - if the athletes manage to get to their venue in time through all the conjestion then the pollution will finish them off!
After such an awful few days we needed a positive memory of Delhi to take away so went to the Imperial Hotel, an uber-stylish Lutyens designed 1930's hotel. It is a beautiful place, all cool white and marble, with expensive rugs and artwork; they even scent the cooled air with Jasmine! Never has the expression "...died and gone to heaven" been more appropriate.
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