Taj Mahal

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Today we were leaving Rajasthan the setting of Rudyard Kiplings jungle book (another Disney film I've never seen) and heading back to the state of Utter Pradesh. Our destination: Agra



I was really looking forward to visiting Agra, because 1. It is the name of an Indian takeaway in Sleaford near my first posting at RAF Cranwell, where my friend Ronnie and I had many a happy curry. The deal was he'd drive to pick it up and if I ran in to fetch it I could have his left overs-(I left that posting a stone heavier than when I'd arrived)

And 2. Well the most obvious reason of all. It is home to the Taj Mahal, one of the 7 modern wonders of the world, one of the most beautiful buildings and iconic landmarks on earth, and a famous posing place for princess Di.



My alarm went off at 0615 and 10 seconds later Pearl was hammering down the door to make sure I was up. I don't think I can put up with 2 weeks of this! Luckily at breakfast Raghu told me I could get a single room tonight for an extra £10 single supplement, and that was a small price to pay for a good nights sleep.



On the bus, Raghu told us about the different Hindu gods (there are lots!) and about Rama (the one always depicted as a young boy painted blue, holding a bow and arrow, who is the creator of the universe) Shiva who is the destroyer of evil, and son of Shiva who is the most important one of all and who bears the head of the Elephant. Apparently the elephant is an important symbol in Hinduism, as it stands for a good listener (big ears) good sense of smell (trunk) and full of knowledge (big head) Hindus ask this God to bless everything to the point where you can drive a new car untaxed if you are taking it to be blessed. If you move somewhere or buy something it always has to be blessed first.



We had a stop en route and had a coffee and bought some postcards, and it wasn't long before we arrived in Agra, the old capital of India before it moved to Delhi (remember this-that is a good pub quiz question!) firstly we visited Agra Fort which was built by the Mogul emperor Akbah in 1565. It was built as a military structure but was later turned into a palace by Akbahs grandson Shar Jahan who went onto build the Taj Mahal. Shar Jahan was later imprisoned here by his own son for the last 8 years of his life in a part of the fort that overlooked the Taj Mahal which he built as a memorial for his wife who died in childbirth. It is said he spent those years looking at his creation from his prison and crying for his late wife.



We had a really interesting tour here and learned a lot of history about the place. In its day it was decorated with jewels and gold, which would probably be worth billions in today's currency. There was a whispering wall where you stood in certain places and talked and the person at the other side of the room could hear you-so clever. There was even a hole in the wall where a British cannonball had struck and caused damage back in the 1800s. The guide poked fun at me at this point and said it was a good example of why the English are so rubbish at cricket: here was the evidence they couldn't bowl. It was so cleverly designed and built from red sandstone and it was just a lovely place in general with beautiful gardens and flowers. It is still used today by the Indian Army, but we weren't allowed into that part for obvious reasons.



We had another curry buffet lunch, which was awesome-my favourite one yet. Everything was brought fresh to the table and it was kind of like an all you can eat. Paneer was becoming my favourite dish so far, which is not something I usually have at home given that it's a veggie dish, but it was really tasty.



We then moved on to check into our hotel, which was really lovely and clean. I was beaming when I opened my door to see a huge bed all to myself with no snoring to wake me up! It was in a really good location with shops and money exchanges across the road so I went to get some more rupees.

I asked the man to exchange the pounds I had and he just tapped and amount into a calculator and pulled a wedge of notes from under the counter that were wrapped in a rubber band. ' you give me a good deal?' I said, suddenly cursing myself for not checking the exchange rate beforehand. I had a feeling I was about to get ripped off. I had to take my chances though and figured if it was really bad I'd go speak to Raghu.

Fair doos to the man, when I checked the currency on the XE website it was pretty much the same exchange rate as it said on there, so I was happy with that.



Back on the bus we headed for the place which I'm thinking would probably be the highlight of this trip-Taj Mahal. Now I'd heard that after building the taj, Shar Jahan ordered that the workmen have their hands chopped off to stop them ever recreating anything so beautiful ever again. Apparently this is a myth and no such thing happened. What apparently did happen back in 2002 was a restoration project as the taj was becoming so discoloured from pollution, it had a kind of face pack called multani mitti plastered all over it to bring its colour out again. This was made from soil, cereal milk and lime juice once used by Indian women to purify their skin. All polluting traffic is now banned from driving within a certain radius of the building now and instead you hop on a type of electric bus to get to the entrance.



There are loads of things you can't take into the place (again for obvious security reasons) and you have to go through bag and body scanners. It was still a lovely sunny day-perfect weather, and I couldn't believe I was here.



Taj Mahal was built as a tribute to Shar Jahan's wife who died in childbirth, and is said to be the most romantic gesture in the world. (Daryl don't worry- I'm happy with just a bunch of flowers now and then!)



As you walk through a small archway, suddenly there it is, right in front of you, and just looks amazing. It was one of those wow moments in life that are few and far between, and it really does look as fabulous in real life as it does in all the pictures. There were touts everywhere offering to take your pictures for money, but we'd decided to just take ones for each other. We did manage to get plenty and had a decent amount of time to look around. Inside we visited the mausoleum which had replica tombs for Shar Jahan and his wife Mumtaz. You weren't allowed to take photos or talk in this part, but people were blatantly ignoring these signs and flashes were going crazy. The guards where blowing whistles at those taking pictures and it was generally chaotic-not the serene final resting place you'd think. The best part of the place is definitely the exterior. We got some more great pictures outside and had a walk up to the mosque that is still used for prayer. After the sun set, we headed outside again to get the bus back, but not before stopping by a tat shop to buy a mini model of the Taj Mahal to sit on my bookshelf once home.



For dinner we visited a rooftop restaurant and I had a chicken kebab skewer (I picked this as it was BBQed there and then so I knew it was cooked properly.) Not everyone came for food as they were tired and generally sick of curry, so there were only 8 of us instead of the usual 15. It was a nice having a smaller group as we got more chance to chat, and I even sat next to Molly Brown for the second time today, so as to make an effort to put the snoring behind us. Raghu was telling us how he ended up working for the company, and his family either work in tourism or are in the military. We talked about driving tests in India and how when asked many people, didn't know the purpose of the red light (although the test rules have been said to be stricter nowadays, after the driving experiences here I'm sure most still don't know what the red light is for!)



Raghu had warned us that Agra was a really busy overpopulated city, and to be extra careful here as it was crazy. I didn't find this at all, in fact it was cleaner and a lot less hectic than Delhi or Jaipur was, and wished we'd of had 2 days here instead of Jaipur. Back at the hotel I showered and noticed the extractor fan wire handing just above the shower head (great Indian health and safety) so rinsed quickly and hopped into bed. I only read two pages of my kindle before I fell into an amazing sleep. Today was the best yet, and it's days like this where I'm glad I chose to go travelling and see the world. This Agra was a whole lot better than the Sleaford Takeaway.

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