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Published: April 18th 2013
After an early start (5am) we hopped into a car – bleary eyed - for the six hour round trip to Agra. Along the way we encountered various sites: cows, pigs and goats… that all apparently enjoy napping in the middle of the main roads. We also saw families on motorbikes (no helmets), mothers clinging on to their babies with one hand, clinging on to the driver with another. Seeing a baby’s tiny feet dangle off a motorcycle as oncoming trucks were beeping and blaring their way towards them... The first time we felt a tad sick. Yikes.
We also saw many open buses, completely overcrowded. People were even hanging off the back of the buses and clinging onto the roof tops – for dear life I should imagine. Needless to say, we felt a little guilty travelling by ‘car’.
After a sleepy journey we finally arrived safely in Agra and, well, what can I say… the Taj Mahal is one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. You step outside and it quite literally takes your breath away. You need a moment or two to gather yourself together again, before you’re able to start walking towards
Taj Mahal
One of the wonders of the worldit. The photo’s won’t do it justice…. you’ve really got to see it to believe just how stunning it actually is.
So just a (very) little bit of background info: the Taj Mahal was built byMughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his third wife, Mumtaz Mahal. Mumtaz died during childbirth (child No.14!), Shah Jahan was grief-stricken. Jahan's grief illustrates the love story traditionally held as an inspiration for Taj Mahal… The
Emperor himself described the Taj in these words
‘Should guilty seek asylum here,
Like one pardoned, he becomes free from sin.
Should a sinner make his way to this mansion,
All his past sins are to be washed away.
The sight of this mansion creates sorrowing sighs;
And the sun and the moon shed tears from their eyes.
In this world this edifice has been made;
To display thereby the creator's glory.’
It took 22 years to complete and with 22,000 men. The designs are so intricate and beautiful, the white marble of the building representing the ‘purity’ of his love…. We both agree, a once in a lifetime experience and definitely the most stunning man-made site
in the world.
We had a lot of people ‘not so sneakily’ taking pictures of us today. In fact, they came up to us quite confidently and asked to have their picture taken with us, but it did not stop with one… different family members ran up one by one to have their picture taken with us. We couldn’t believe that we were standing in front of the Taj Mahal and it was us they wanted pictures of :/ We also couldn’t get over the “you -beautiful” remarks, which clearly contradicts the actual state of us – red, sweaty, frizzy haired messes...
Yet of course for every (uncalled for) ‘beautiful’ remark we do have to have a little giggle at the men who refer to us as “healthy” looking … at the same time this is being said, they will gesture something that looks remarkably like a very “large” whale. We blame it on our clothes, which we have now started referring to as our ‘tent clothes’ (and nothing at all to do with the amount of curries and cottage cheese we are eating…) We were actually asked the other night if we were “sisters” because “we look…”
(gesture: very large whale) “healthy”.
We’re off to bed now, pretty shattered. Night night all. Thank you for reading, love to all. Onto Jaipur tomorrow….
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Carley
non-member comment
Wow - you two healthy whales:) The pictures all look amazing. Travel safe. Im also enjoying cottage cheese now with protein lol