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Jeff Robson's Travels
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Location Date Pakistan 1707091200 South Korea 1531004400 India 
1530918000 Thailand 1529967600 United Arab Emirates 1503097200 -
- Plane from Mumbai was delayed & no Internet at all at the airport. Apparently the rain had knocked out their routers so there was no connectivity for anyone!
- Arrived in Delhi & Shantanu got a SIM card for me then dropped me off at the hotel on his way home.
- As I was quite late arriving, I didn't even get time to sleep before my driver came to pick me up at 2.30am for my trip to Taj Mahal.
- Just slept in the car for most of the trip on the way there (& back!) ... & had to trust that he knew where he was going & would get me there in one piece!
- Unfortunately we didn't make it to Agra by sunrise (6.00am) as I wanted, but it was probably about 6.30am so not too much later.
- Saw some peacocks in the wild, sitting on powerlines & running across the road!
- Picked up the tour guide in Agra. Didn't realise my tour cost didn't actually include a tour guide (his cost was extra). His English was quite good & he was very knowledgable about the Taj Mahal (as you'd expect given that he visits it almost every day).
- As we were so early, no queues, not too many tourists, beautiful light, not too hot, & not as many hawkers.
- Approached by a couple of photographers who wanted to take photos of me with their camera (then sell them to me) plus take photos of me with my camera. Eventually I found one that would take photos of me just using my camera & we went in.
- Wow! Seeing it in real life was such an amazing experience. It's such a beautiful building. We had perfect light & weather with clear blue skies & soft light.
- It took 30 years to build & cost the equivalent of $30m to build. And it's all just a giant tomb (I didn't realise). There's hardly anything inside, apart from the crypt.
- It was built by a Persian king (ruling in the area at the time) for his wife who passed away. So basically it's a monument to love.
- The photographer seemed to know what he was doing regarding locations & posing but I'm less confident he always had the right settings on my camera. Hopefully the photos are good!
- After going around to all the different spots, he eventually left me with my guide who wandered around with me for the rest of my time there. I liked that he was my personal guide so I could take as long as I wanted. He also seemed to enjoy taking photos with my iPhone & had some good ideas of locations & framing.
- Surprised to see squirrels everywhere, bouncing around all over the grass - very cute, but impossible to photograph with my lens!
- The marble is inlaid with semi-precious stones which sparkle in the light. Some have been stolen but most are still in tact.
- I was originally planning to visit the Taj Mahal on Friday after my trek but then (fortunately) found out that it's closed every Friday, hence I visited today. I found out why it's closed: every Friday they put up scaffolding & have been progressively cleaning the whole building. They've done an amazing job too - it looks like it's brand new! You'd nver think it was 400 years old. You can see a clear line on one side where part has been cleaned & the rest hasn't been done yet.
- The king's original plan was to build a white monument for his wife plus a black one across the river for himself. Unfortunately he never got any further than the foundations for his own one (not sure why) but you can see these across the river.
- We wandered around the Taj Mahal & all its attached buildings for a few hours. I didn't realise there are so many sub-buildings there either!
- Afterwards, we visited a "craft shop" ie shop where they make the inlaid stone used in the Taj Mahal then take you into their showroom. I bought a little bowl. Beautiful work & so much skill & effort!
- Eventually went to Agra Fort (the red fort). It was interesting but hasn't been maintained that much so is generally in a poor condition on the inside. Bats in quite a few buildings which stink a bit & make sounds like birds.
- More squirrels including some guys who basically rent out their squirrels to sit on your hand (for a fee of course!). Very cute tho.
- Saw my first cows wandering the roads in Agra! Bit of a hazard but everyone just drives around them!
- Visited the Baby-Taj ("Tomb of I'timād-ud-Daulah") as well. Not quite so interesting so I can see why not many people go there.
- As it was hot & humid, I decided to just go back to the hotel in Delhi afterwards: about 4 hrs drive away.
- Took a little longer due to rain etc so ended up arriving in the middle of peak hour traffic.
- Eventually made our way back to the hotel. I had dinner & packed up all my bags ready for another early start tomorrow.
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