Taj Mahal! Can you believe it?! Warning: This is a lengthy post.

A person can't come all of the way to India without traveling to see the Taj Mahal.  It is considered one of the Seven Wonders of the World and it lives up to it's reputation of being a site for all to admire. 

Originally we were supposed to visit this place at sunrise but due to the rain from the day prior it was forcasted as having too much fog to be able to see it.  Instead we got to sleep in a little later and eat a lovely buffet breakfast at the hotel.  Continental breakfast in India is much different than in the U.S.  They roll out the red carpet and serve an amazing number of dishes along with many that are made on the spot to your liking.  It was the same at the Marriott.  Each time I have stayed in a hotel here it blows my mind.

We left at 9am and arrived to an incredible amount of beggars and trinket sellers selling bracelets, whips, drums, etc.  Our bus was a human magnet and we were the prey.  It felt like a repeat performance of when we went to Mahabalapuram, only this time I was a little more prepared to handle it.  I also saw some of the most severely deformed people that I have ever witnessed out begging in front of this lavish site. There was a man who was bent over with knees backwards in a table fashion walking on all fours incapable of standing up.  Many thoughts have entered my mind as to how he became deformed in such an odd way.  It made Quincy and I think of the movie, Slumdog Millionnaire, in which some children were purposely deformed by people to receive more money for begging. My heart hurt for him and many of the others that were out begging to survive either for themselves or who they were serving. Many, sad to say, were children as young as five. The image of the man haunted me in my dreams that night.

Let's not allow this to take away from the Taj as in India there always is contrasts.  A lavish, expensive structure with poverty in front of its gates.  This is the nature of this overpopulated country. 

Being a bit of a sentimental romantic, this memorial is a symbol of crazy love.  Here is a little history for those that are unfamiliar to why this place exists.  It was built by grief stricken, Mugahl Emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his first wife, Mumtaz Mahal.  They were married at age 14 and 15.  She was a wife that never seeked power but always traveled by his side.  She died giving birth to her fourteenth child.  

  After this tragic event happened he began the process of designing and building what is to be considered the jewel of India to honor her.  He spared no expense.  It is the finest example of Mughal architecture combining design elements from Persion, Turkish and Indian architectural styles.  Construction began in 1653 and ended 21 years later. This domed mausoleum employed thousands of craftmen and artisans for many years.  There is an unproven rumour that those that designed it were ordered to never ever recreate anything like this and some say they were physically blinded, maimed or killed to make sure of that.  I hope that isn't true as it makes this crazy obsession lethal and not so appealing. 

The tombs are recessed into the ground at the center of the dome and they are sitting side by side.  The precious and semi- precious stones that were imported from many different surrounding countries are imbedded throughout the ceilings and it is a feast for the eyes. Marble was mined from all over the country to form this perfectly symmetrical, octagonal building that is not unlike a castle in the clouds. 

The roomies-Savannah, Chanelle, Quincy, Mama and Hilary-The only one missing
was Ashley because she didn't come on the trip.



Savannah and Hilary doing the leap.

The grounds and other buildings surrounding the Taj are impeccable. The reflection pool makes for lovely pictures.  Many people took crazy pictures of leaping or picking up the Taj.  I participated in that but really only wished that Russ was next to me so I could wrap my arms around him, kiss him and profess my love to him.  Call me crazy but two weeks is a long time for us to be apart. Someday I would like to bring him here and let him see this place for himself. 

We picked her up!



A little meditation

Even when it is pouring rain, and I mean buckets, it didn't take away from the day.  We didn't let it dampen our spirits.  Many of the volunteers in our group danced in the rain, sliding on the marble walkways and soaking themselves to the skin.  Quincy and I didn't do that but we had fun observing it.  There is a lot of prayer going on inside parts of the building so this tourist atmosphere was another contrast that affected how I wanted to present myself.  It is a place that demands respect as the attention to detail is so evident.  I was in awe of its beauty.

We were two soaked women!

Ramesh, our tour guide, telling us about Agra Fort.

This is the view the emperor saw of
his beloved memorial for eight years.
He then was buried there next to his
true love.

After the Taj we stopped at the hotel, and changed into some dry clothes, ate some lunch and then left to tour the  Agra Fort.  This was where the Emperor was forced to live in house arrest for the last eight years of his life. One of his daughter's stayed with him to tend to his health and take care of him. His third son claimed that he was incompetent to rule, due to illness, (although he was capable) in order to gain power of the throne. The sad thing about this, although the Agra Fort is  by all means a nice establishment, it sits across the water with a full view of this man's building he built out of love for this boy's mother.

We ended our day with some shopping and dinner at Pizza Hut. We all had a desire for some all American food.  There were some too-spicy-for-our-palette pizzas on this menu.  Quincy wanted Canadian bacon and pineapple pizza.  It was nowhere in sight. It completely catered to the tastebuds of India.  We ate cheese bread and dessert.

On our final day we needed to take the bus back to New Delhi to catch our airplane that evening.  The main thing on our agenda was to stop and ride an elephant....another thing on my bucket list.  I have always had a little bit of an obsession for elephants.  I even have a room in my house that is called the elephant room.  I think I am fascinated by them because when they are in the wild they stick together as families.  When they lose a family member, they return and grieve for it. I love that.  Though massive in size, their hearts are gentle.  Elephants are a big part of the Indian culture.  They are everywhere.  They are carved, embroidered, and printed on so many items.  On this day I got to ride one and I can't think of a better place to do this than in India as I wore my newly purchased chudador.

We had one hitch that made me wonder if this would happen.  Our bus broke down in the middle of a busy, little village.  One of the gas pipes broke and leaked all the gas out.  When the bus came to a stop, people were coming up to the bus and banging on it to get us to hand money to them.  There was an unusually, persistent, old lady that made her way around the entire perimeter of the bus banging loudly holding a cup.  Some young men, sweaty in white wife beater shirts, came up once they realized we had all of these beautiful young ladies inside.  They were professing their love and trying to sell us burnt corn on the cob that they vended.  It was all in fun but a little creepy.  The bus became hot and humid and eventually we ventured out under the tour guides watchful eye.  A businessman offered his humble, little office with an overhead fan for people to stand in to cool off.  Derek got us water, so thoughtful.  We were looked at like celebrities and drew quite a crowd.  I even took a picture of some of our admirers.

The man in the center opened his office up for us to cool down. All of the
men posed for me and wanted a kiss as I left. I shaked their hands and kissed
my hand and put it on the young boy in the center's cheek. It made them all laugh.

  Within two hours our van was repaired and we were on our way.  In America, this would never have been fixed this fast.  We would have had to find a hotel as fixing it out of office hours is just too inconvenient.  In India people our labor driven. Making money is important and what time you do it does not matter. They also wanted to get us up and running as our bus took up a lot of space on the side of their congested intersection.

We rode it!  We didn't go too far
but it was enough to cross it off
my bucket list.  This was much
cooler than riding one at a
second rate circus.  It's in India!

Looking into the eyes of an elephant
in India is a bit intimidating.

Quincy actually kissed it!  I don't know
if that was on her bucket list!

We did make it to the elephant ride.  There were also camels to ride and a pair of dressed up monkeys to pet.  Unfortunately, Annie was bitten by one and later had to get rabies shots because of it.  Not many people can say they were bitten by a monkey in India.

It was a great weekend and we made it home rather late but feeling renewed and more than ready to see the children the next day.  I found that I missed them so much.