Day 2

Today we had a really early wake up call, we were all up at 4.30am for our visit to the Taj Mahal. It was pitch black when we left the hotel and we managed to be one of the first in the queue. It seemed quite crazy to be queuing by 5.30 but all the streets were already starting to get really busy. We waited in the queue drinking Chi watching monkeys climb across the walls! Chi is a really really sweet Indian tea, We are not too keen!

Being one of the first to enter the Taj Mahal was definitely worth the early start. It was incredible to see it without hundreds of tourists crowding around. The gates opened just before sunrise, this was an experience I will never forget!! Obviously we were standard tourists and all had loads of photos in front of it. I even got into trouble for having a picture in my ELHAP top as it was seen as advertisement! Haha. We spent about 2 hours wondering around the grounds and actually went inside the Taj Mahal. The marble work was so detailed and still in such good condition you could tell if was extremely well looked after. Our tour guide told us the history about the Taj Mahal, it means 'Crown Palace' and is known as the 'Temple of Love'. The Royal gate has 22 domes to symbolise the amount of years it took to build.

The Taj Mahal was built by fifth Mogul Sazahan who had a wife and 14 children. Sadly his wife died from internal bleeding after her 14th child but before she died she had 3 wishes for her husband. Firstly for him never to marry again, secondly to look after and care for all their children and finally to make something on her grave that was beautiful so people would know how much he loved her and would come and visit her.

The towers were built at 90 degrees so if they fell they would fall out wards and not towards the dome. A mosque was built towards the left and the exact building was built the other side to balance it out, however, this was not a mosque because of its positioning. There are 16 gardens and 53 fountains as it was built in 1653. Sazahan paid every labourer until death on conditions that they would never do any work like this in the world. When Sazahan died he was also buried at the Taj Mahal with his wife but his grave was not central. This is the only thing not symmetrical at the Taj Mahal because they believe god is the only person who can make something completely perfect.

We went back to the hotel for buffet breakfast before heading off to the red fort in Agra. The red fort was red in colour and was built to guard the emperor of the city. The level of security was very high.....first intruders had to climb a wall then waiting for them behind the wall was water surrounding the fort full of hungry crocodiles then there was another wall. After that there was a draw string bridge high walls again and behind the walls was tigers. If they managed to get past all of that they then had the army with guns waiting for them. If that wasn't enough the entrance was built on a slope so guards would wait at the top and roll stone balls down to crush intruders! So they didn't have much chance!! The fort was huge and took around 2 hours to walk round. So after our hard work we went for a snack at Costa Coffee Indian style! This was interesting and it was far cheaper then the Costa back at home! After that we headed back to the hotel for some free time. Us ladies had henna done on our hands and arms so now we feel like we really are in India! Once we were all decorated and dry we headed to the Gardens behind the Taj Mahal to take pictures at sunset. We all sat on a wall waiting for sunset chatting and taking funny pictures entertaining the locals. There ended up not being much of a sunset which was a shame so we headed out to dinner. Jai took us to a really nice open top restaurant so we sat on the terrace and there was 2 men playing instruments in the background. We all had a lovely meal then for dessert Jai bought us a few bottles of rum. We all started on the shots (which I'm sure was bigger than your average shot), but all ended up in bed pretty early as we were exhausted!

Lots of love Gemma and Charlotte xxx