Hello
If there is one building that will capture your heart and imagination its the Taj Mahal!
When we arrived in Agra it was mid afternoon, we said a final farewell to our driver who had driven us every other day for the past week and wondered into the backpacker area. Agra is a mess, it is sooo dirty! Obviously all we saw was the cheap area to stay but considering this area is just on the outside wall of the Taj Mahal it couldn't be more the opposite. Everything is caked in dirt, the pavements the shops the people. We were walking towards a couple of guesthouses that we could see in the distance and casually looking around at the different butchers, bakers and candlestick makers around when an image caught my eye and stuck in my brain. Just after we walked past I asked kim if she had seen what I had? she said yes and we didn't say anything else about it and walked on. It wasn't until later that we discussed the dead body which had been at our feet earlier on. The man lieing twisted, eyes open with flies all over him on the floor. No one else batted an eyelid at the sight we both saw. It was weird and I still dont know how I felt about it - the way im trying to look at it is that its the circle of life, I just hope that he had someone to bury him?
Anyway we found a hostel to stay in and decided to pay a little extra each to have a slightly cleaner room, it also had cable tv - I hadnt watched tv since I started travelling so it was quite a treat. Due to the fact that Agra has little else of interest apart from the Taj (which we had arrived too late to see) We spent that afternoon watching american gameshows and trying to recreat some of the challenges on them. It was actually really funny, especially witnessing kims blind determination and her refusing to give up until she pulled the trick off and therefore won the imaginary money and my respect for her efforts. We have made a few of these challenges into a drinking game to try later :)

The following day we both woke with excitement - we were going to see one of the seven wonders of the world and neither of us could wait.
After dropping our backpacks at the Train station ready for us to catch our night train later we headed straight there without a moment to waste. I have read a fair bit about the Taj so forgive me for the amount of facts I may well drop into this blog. First fact is that no motorised vehicle is allowed within 500 meters of the infamous Taj because agra is majorly polluted and years ago when tuk tuks, cars and buses could drive right up to the gates so much pollution was created that acid rain fell on the Taj and erroded some of the outer walls. Because of this me and Kimberley had to walk the last bit of the way through the gardens filled with beggars and rubbish up to the entry gates.
The cost of getting into the Taj is stupid really, again it cements the goverments out look on tourists - a native pays 30 rupees (50p) to get in where as a foreign tourist pays 700 rupees to gain entry!! its only the equivalent of 10 pounds but at the end of the day its the principle of paying so much more.
I paid it regardless and after a short queue we where in. The Taj Mahal is insanely beautiful - if a building can be described as that?! It really is though, regardless of the masses of tourist, the smog hovering above or the fact the sun only shone down for the briefest of seconds that building is the most spectacular thing I have ever seen. I felt like I had just wondered into a disney castle grounds - I was waiting for birds to tweet and small rabbits and deer to start winking and whispering to me lol

I don't know whether you know the story of the Taj but I think it makes the building all the more magical - so im going to bore you all with more facts - as well as a little bit of possible fiction.
The Taj Mahal was commissioned by an Emperor as a tomb for his second wife who died giving birth - he was madly in love with her and wanted to house her in a house of beauty, where he believed she so rightfully belonged. He called upon the best craftsmen from every corner of India and Asia and bought them the finest materials to work with. After the Taj Mahal was completed the emperor cut off the hands of all of the craftsmen who worked on the building so that they could never build anything of the same magnitude ever again (now that's gratitude for you!).
The building is pure creamy white and what you mostly dont see in pictures is the flowers that embellish all parts of it - the precious stones inside the flowers glitter in the sun and when I sat there looking at it I was swept away by these little details and the beauty of such an iconic image. I still cant believe I saw it and I still cant quite tell you how it feels - you simply have to witness it yourself to get what I mean.

Inside, the tomb of the emperor and his wife is barely lit so as not to damage the stone - but from what you can see in the hazy light its a simple housing for a lovestruck couple. One cool thing I heard from a tour guide who I tagged behind lol was that the orange coloured flowers inside the tomb are the only ones made from precious stones sourced in India and when the sun goes down these gems glow in the dark. The light the room in an orange haze - a spectacle seen by very few and something I would have loved to witness.

Anyway, that was the Taj and after me and kim had done the diana picture (which was ruined by some japanese guys who kept absentmindedly walking behind the shot) and took the classic picture of us holding the Taj in our hand we left and headed to Varanasi to see the ganges.