Currency:
Indian Rupee

Highlights:
The most magical creation in the world - Taj Mahal

Our Adventure:

We hit the road at 05h30 and headed for the Jaipur train station headed for our next stop Agra, the home of the Taj Mahal (translated as 'Crown Palace').

We had heard stories about the Indian trains and when we arrived at the station to say we were all a little bit hesitant may be an understatement. The whole floor of the station was covered with people sleeping or waiting for trains with the strong stench of urine surrounding us. Nice.

We headed for the platform and waited for our 06h00 train headed for Agra to pull into the station and as soon as the train pulled into the station we all looked at each other and knew that the next 6 hours was going to be "interesting". All I can say is that if you ever travel in India on trains do your best to get at least 2nd class tickets. Fortunately our tickets were 2nd class sleeper tickets which meant we were slightly hidden from the chaos and overcrowding on the train (besides the constant offers of breakfast and tea).

6 hours later the train pulled up onto the platform at Agra and we jumped off the train excited to begin our adventures. We though that we had been hassled in the rest of India but it was nothing like Agra where we were surrounded with tuk tuk drivers pleading for our business and offering us everything from a place to stay to a ride into town. Thanks to our travel bible, the Lonely Planet, we headed straight for the prepaid tuk tuk booth and arranged two tuk tuks headed for our home for the evening, Hotel Sheela.

Driving through Agra was an experience in itself - it is a very dirty city covered in litter and it was hard to imagine that one of the most beautiful buildings in the world would be located here. However the magical allure of the Taj Mahal draws tourists like moths to a wondrous flame. The downside of Agra comes in the form of hordes of rickshaw-wallahs (man), touts, unofficial guides and souvenir vendors, whose persistence can be infuriating at times.

After checking in to Hotel Sheela and filling in the reams of paperwork that all Indian hotels require we had some very average lunch and grabbed ourselves a tuk tuk driver and hit the streets of Agra with our Taj Mahal packs consisting of our entrance tickets and a bottle of water.

We jumped off the tuk tuks and headed for the South Gate of the Taj Mahal and as we walked through the gates it was like we were in a completely different world. We were greeted with pristine green gardens and a massive arch gate leading to the Taj Mahal.

As we strolled through the gardens and through the arch gate we caught a first glimpse of the Taj Mahal and it literally took our breath away. Absolutely amazing.

Rabindranath Tagore described it as "a tear drop on the cheek of eternity", Rudyard Kipling as "the embodiment of all things pure" while its creator, Shah Jahan, said it made "the sun and the moon shed tears from their eyes". Every year, tourists numbering almost twice the population of Agra (the current population is around 1 321 410) pass through its gates to catch a once-in-a-lifetime glimpse of what is widely considered the most beautiful building in the world. From our first glimpse we were not disappointed.

The Taj Mahal was built by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in commemoration of his favourite wife, the empress Mumtaz Mahal. In 1631 Mumtaz Mahal died from the birth of their 14th child. The grief-stricken emperor spared no effort in building the tomb in her memory, which is universally acknowledged as one of the most beautiful creations on earth. After his death in 1666 Shah Jahan was buried in a tomb beside his love.

As we wandered through the gardens and the pathways of the Taj Mahal we marvelled at this beautiful building. The colour of the translucent marble keeps changing from dawn to midnight giving it a magical aura in keeping with Shah Jahan's vision that the tomb and garden should represent paradise on earth. And it represented exactly that.

What makes it that much more startling is that the background is so blue with no other buildings in site which really accentuates the white marble. We later learnt that in order to preserve the backdrop, the government takes a stern hand in controlling the pollution in the city (everything has to be made by hand - no machinery allowed - and all vehicles run on green gas).

Our "Indian" guide Venetia (all the Indian people that we met insisted that Venetia was Indian and our tour guide) took us through the history of the Taj Mahal and we explored inside the Taj Mahal, the mosques that line either side (well one side is a mosque and the other is a replica built for balance purposes to follow in the whole symmetry of the palace and the surrounding gardens - my wife really enjoyed that with her love of balance!) and the beautiful views up and down the river at the back of the Taj Mahal.

Truly an amazing building and something that you have to see in your lifetime.

We jumped back onto the tuk tuks and next stop was Agra Fort. The fort was built primarily as a military structure, but Shah Jahan transformed it into a palace, and later it became his gilded prison for eight years after his son Aurangzeb seized power in 1658. Yes, his son arrested him which forced Shah Jahan to look at the magical Taj Mahal through prison bars from Fort Agra.

You can view our photos here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=386892&id=713415257&l=1b47d9a935

We then crossed the bridge into the Old City and spent the rest of the afternoon wondering around Itimad-ud-Daulah (or commonly known as the Baby Taj) and Chini-ka-Rauza.

Just before sunset we headed to the Moon Garden which is on the other side of the river and allowed us to look back at the majestic and magical Taj Mahal. We sat on the spade shaped seats and watched the sun set over the Taj Mahal which concluded a great day of site seeing.

The tuk tuk drivers try and make you stop at as many shops as possible as they get paid a commission for all the people that they bring to the shops and on the way to dinner we found ourselves at a carpet shop. Fortunately it was quite interesting and we learnt about how carpets are made and found out that you can get a carpet made with your portrait on - fortunately they did not manage to convince any of us. It was however one of the first times we saw Greg lose his sense of humour on tour as he had specifically instructed them not to take us to a shop - so he made sure that was the only shop we went to!

Finally we made it to Mehfil restaurant for a well deserved curry (which has been voted the best curry on tour) and an ice cold Kingfisher beer (we had not seen beer for a while and were going through withdrawals) which was a great way to finish a great day out and about.

You can view our photos here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=386898&id=713415257&l=1c1f1175b2

Next stop: Kochi, India.

Cheers,
Leise + Lara