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Published: December 26th 2008
How do you like the snazzy panorama picture of the Taj? Yes we took this with our new camera...not bad eh for amateurs?
Our 2 hour train journey from Delhi to Agra (home of the Taj Mahal) was very classy with us being served a pot of tea each, newspapers, breakfast and even chocolate éclair sweets. We used the pre-paid rickshaw stand to get our rickshaw to the hotel but Donna decided she didn’t like the attitude of our designated driver, she says he pushed her and shouted in her ear one too many times and so demanded to the policeman that he change our driver for a nicer man, which he did with a little giggle. So we left for the hotel leaving behind a very bemused and sad driver because he had lost a 50 rupees fare (at least Neil thought so).
Agra itself is not very built up at all and this was quite unexpected, it reminded us a little of Siem Reap in Cambodia (home to the Angkor Wat complex of temples) in a way that is hard to explain unless you have visited both places. Hotel accommodation was not particularly good value here in
Agra...it never is when there are lots of tourists around. But we got an ‘ok’ room at a place called the Sheela Inn, right next to the East Gate of the Taj. Exactly who Sheela was we never found out but Neil had visions of a butch half-Australian half-Indian gal running the place 😉 Instead the receptionist was a Borat look-a-like. Note that after only 3 days in India we had noticed that moustaches are very common on guys over here. We don’t know the significance of this but the trend seems to have been around since a few hundred years ago because we saw paintings of lots of Indians having ‘taches...pictures to come later. Maybe they have particularly cold top lips?
Sitting at one of the many rooftop restaurants with the Taj Mahal view we did a very English/Indian thing and had a pot of tea. They call it Masala Chai here and it comes as strong tea with milk and sugar already added and often has a background ginger flavour...and they like it very sweet! Owing to the very cold weather (20 degrees - see Donna wearing scarf and fleece!) the tea was just what we needed
and at 50p for 4 cups you can’t complain about the price.
Our first impression was that, from a distance, the Taj Mahal looked quite ordinary and we even did a ‘Nature Walk’ near to the Taj to see if it could be more impressive from a different angle. It wasn’t...and the most nature we saw was a frog rubbish bin and one butterfly and cost us £1.50 for the pleasure (rip-off!).
The next day we had planned to get up for sunrise and go and see the Taj at 6:30am. But SOMEONE...Donna...forgot to set the alarm clock which resulted in Neil frog marching us at full speed to try and ‘catch the light’. We paid the 750 rupees each entrance fee and continued our jog to get those crucial photo shots. As we got closer to the actual ‘tomb’ itself you realise how much work and intricacy there is in the building and then it became stunningly apparent how much dedication had put into it’s construction. If you could choose a Wonder of the World that is the most photogenic, it would be the Taj Mahal, it just loves the camera. We call it a tomb because
the guy that built it did so because he was heartbroken because his most loved wife had died. He decided to build the Taj Mahal as a tomb for her body, it took 22 years to build and when he finally died he was laid to rest next to her in the shrine to his love for her. Very romantic...to our parents, see page 3. We took lots of pictures of us at the Taj so you can build your own little shrine of photos of us!
At the time of our visit the Mumbai terrorist attacks had happened only 3 weeks ago and the country seemed to be particularly cautious and very much so at it’s national treasure where each gate of the Taj Mahal was guarded by at least 5 Army personnel with semi-automatic weapons and barricades. Additionally polluting vehicles are not allowed near the Taj because of a fear the pollution will cause acid erosion of the marble the Taj is built out of, this makes the Taj and surrounding area a very secure and tranquil place to stroll around.
On our last day, Neil started with a bad head cold but that didn’t stop
us visiting Agra Fort. Agra used to be the capital of India and Agra Fort was where the country was ruled from. We really liked this place to visit because it was unexpectedly interesting, much more than the Red Fort in Delhi; with it’s harems, ceremonial halls, intricate carvings, gardens and distant views of the Taj. Interesting to note that when the English occupied it, they turned it into an arsenal, typical of us...why couldn’t we have just kept it as a harem?! There is more history to both the Taj Mahal and Agra Fort, if you are interested, you may want to go and google them!
We left Agra in the very early morning to catch a train to Jaipur - a good 5 hours south of Agra but we hadn’t counted on a 6 hour delay in the train’s arrival. More about this in our next blog. Still loving India, there is something about this country that makes you want to take a peek around the next corner just to see what is there.
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Karen (from freezing Glasgow)
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Pretty spectacular!
Hi, great to have you back again. Stubbled across your blogs when you were in Thailand (I think!). We did the SE Asia thing a couple of years ago and did this blog thing, so I like to keep up to date. Anyhow, amazing photos..the Taj looks sooo surreal. Would love to do India (but with a 1 year old, it might take us a while...). Keep the stories coming! Karen