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Published: July 18th 2013
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Ready to head out for the dayOn Saturday, I woke up very early. I decided to get some of my clothes laundered, so I didn’t need to unpack anything further for Sunday. After getting ready, I made my way to the lobby to meet the driver for my tour. It turned out that because I was hungry and would not be there when breakfast opened up, the front desk manager decided to have the head chef make me a special breakfast anyway. He also had them get together some snacks for my day trip. And all the additional services combined did not cost more than $20 USD
A driver came to bring me to another hotel where I would meet up with the other people from other hotels who would join the group. It ended up that the rest of the group were two other women – one from Canada and one from France. We had a driver. They had some bottled water for us and we were off! According to people, it would take a while because the roads were so bad, but as soon as we got out of Delhi, we got on the expressway and it just seemed like a normal highway to
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The restaurant at the Hilton me. Nothing bad at all. There were a few tolls to go through, yes, but nothing that was ‘bad’. Plus we were one of the only cars on the road.
Well, when we finally got near Agra, I could finally understand why people complained about the roads. To say they were bad would be a bit of an understatement. Agra and the outskirts were very poverty stricken. Luckily we were in a locked vehicle, but people could still see in the windows and would just stare at us. The roads were very congested. In order to get to Taj, we had to cross the river on a bridge, which was full of cars. At one point one of the tuk tuks (little cabs) clipped the back of our van. The case for the light came loose and started to hang. So, we were in the middle of the bridge, just got clipped by a little cab and our driver stops the car and gets out. All of the traffic began to swarm around the vehicle. Luckily it was a quick fix, but it was still a little bit of a freaky moment.
As soon as we crossed the
river, the driver pulled over to the side of the road and some guy jumped into the van. Luckily, he introduced himself quickly as our tour guide, Gurput. At one point, the road had been completed demolished in order to make way for a trolley line or something to that effect, and we has a little adventure driving over the raw terrain. These =drivers in India are incredible! Clutch, brake, accelerate, clutch again, e-brake…
When we got to the place where we were to go to Taj, we had to get our tickets. One of the ladies had to use the restroom – which they charged her for, if she wanted toilet paper, that was another charge…it goes to show you there is no such things as a free lunch, right?
After purchasing tickets, we had to take an electronic trolley to get to the security checkpoint. That is one thing about all the places I have been in India – there is often a security checkpoint. Women go on one side and men go on another. Usually for the pat downs they have the women go behind a screen. Upon getting through security, we were ready to
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More of the breakfast buffet enter the outer gates of Taj. We came through the East gate. The man who built Taj had four wives – he built a gate for three of them and then the one he loved the most, he built the Taj Mahal. The white parts one the gates and the Taj itself are a special type of marble found in Agra. The black is not paint, but actually onyx. When you look at the Taj, the writing on the bottom is at a smaller dimension that at the top in order to create an obstacle illusion that all the inscriptions are the same size to someone reading it on the ground.
Another interesting thing at Taj, it the local people, push getting a professional photo of oneself in front of Taj for 100 rupees. Luckily, our guide said he could just do that for free and on our own cameras, so we wouldn’t have to wait for the pictures to get printed. After passing through the outer gates, we were able to get our fist glimpse of Taj. It was spectacular. We took pictures in all the right places, doing all the fun things. It was nice that we
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More of the restaurant were able to have the guide to do that and not to have to bother with the locals. The Taj was completed in 1653 – there are 16 gardens and 53 fountains.
To enter the Taj Mahal itself, we had to put cloth coverings over our shoes and climb a few stairs. I don’t know if it so much for respect of the structure as it is to keep it clean and the marble shiny. The Taj Mahal holds the tomb of the beloved wife, and after the husband died, he was buried there too.
The detail on the Taj Mahal itself is very intricate and beautiful. The colors all come from various stone – lapis, malachite, onyx, marble. There is also a beautiful orange stone called the fire of India and when light hits it, it looks like a flame. The way the designs are inlaid in the marble, is a family secret, protection of the secret is akin to the Coke recipe. The same families that migrated in the 1600’s to work on the Taj are still in Agra today, practicing many of the same techniques that were used back then. Everything is just passed down,
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The gate to Taj via the males of the family – generation to generation.
After leaving the Taj Mahal, we stopped at a family location where the marble inlaying is still done. To be honest it was a little freaky and I felt like I was about to be sold into the sex trade. There were all these men and us three women. We were able to watch them work and it was pretty intricate how they were creating the designs. Then, they brought us into the back room and I for sure thought we were done…but, there was a TON of more designs to purchase. All were very beautiful and VERY expensive and heavy. I was NOT going to buy anything there. After, one of the ladies was conned into buying something she didn’t want, we were off for lunch.
Lunch was served at a very high end hotel in Agra. It was a buffet, which a bunch of stuff that had a lot of spices. I stuck to a lot of rice and nan. I tried a few things. The first thing I tired was something with spinach and potatoes and BOY was it SPICY!
After lunch, we stopped
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A close up of the gate at a jewelry store to see some jewels as well. The star of Agra is a rose colored stone and when light hits it, it makes a six point star. Another jewel is the star of India which is black and when light hits it, it creates a four point star. The place was way overpriced and I was getting pressure from everyone to purchase something. So, I got a pair of earrings. I haggled a little, but was a little annoyed so I caved at $85 USD, but they are very beautiful. To further support my justification, I can only get them in India.
Our next stop on the tour was the Agra Fort. The fort is extremely large and a lot of it is still used for military operations. Only about 20% of the fort is still open to the public to view. The man who built the Taj Mahal was imprisoned at the fort by one of his sons. In the Fort there was a lot of the red sandstone which is prevalent in Delhi and in the inner part, there is a lot of the marble and similar Agra inlay designs as were at the
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Getting ready to enter Taj Mahal. Another cool thing about the fort was all the marvelous views one could see of the Taj – which truly is an elegant structure.
Lucky for us, our tour was done after the fort. I say lucky as It was so hot, humid, sticky. All I wanted to do was take a shower and go to bed. Our trip back into Delhi was no eventful. However, it was pretty cool to see the country side. Every now and then we’d see people cross the expressway. I am still trying to figure out where these people were coming from or going to. It was also interesting to see the various villages and just take in everything. We did run into some road construction – they were hand painting the lane lines and the shoulder –hand painting! Upon arrival back into the city, we ran into a traffic jam. And were literally stopped for a good 45 minutes. I was surprised to see so many people in the city on a weekend evening as in the US, a lot people tend to leave the city after a work week. Saket was jammed back and our driver dropped me at
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Here you can see the script my hotel first. It was nice to get back. I called Shweta to ensure my driver would pick me up as I would need to leave my hotel by 5 am to catch my flight to Bangalore. Needless to say, it was an early night for me.
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Aunt Peggy
non-member comment
Thanks for sending me your blog. I am really enjoying reading about your trip & seeing the pictures.