The Mighty Taj Mahal

The Mighty Taj
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I woke up at 5am and couldn't go back to sleep so lay in our scummy room listening to the amazing sounds of the Muslim call to prayer echoing out from the various mosques around our hotel.

At 6am we got up and went off with Shabbu to the Taj Mahal. It turns out that Shabbu is married and has a 5 week old daughter. He told us that his mother is very traditional and that his wedding was arranged by his and his wife's parents. He and his wife didn't meet before the wedding but they spoke to each other on the phone, something his mother was very disapproving of and so the phone calls had to be kept secret.

Compulsory 'holding the Taj' shot
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After getting touched up or 'frisked' as they like to call it, by the female security guards (what exactly I was meant to be smuggling into the Taj Mahal in my breasts I am not sure) we began our walk through the gateway of the Taj Mahal. Even the gate house of this amazing building is stunning.

The Taj Mahal itself is amazing, we were gob-smacked. It is so beautiful, it looks like it is made out of cloud and as though it is floating above the courtyard it is built on.

Detail of the Taj. It is covered in little carved flowers and jemstone details.
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Apparently it took 22 years to build with 22000 people working on it and though it was built in the 16th century, it is hard to imagine it being built as well or as quickly today.

It was great arriving so early as it meant that we had a few hours there before the hordes of people arrived. Though even when it did fill up the huge, well manicured gardens that surround it were strangely peaceful.

We spent a few hours just wandering around the gardens watching the parakeets and kites flying around and the chipmonks running up trees and the many monkeys chasing each other and doing sommersaults. The monkeys here seem a lot more mellow that the attitudinal ones in Thailand and Malaysia. While walking we kept catching glimpses of the mighty Taj through the trees and reflections of it in the many fountains and ponds that surround it.

Once we had taken the compulsory 'holding the Taj Mahal in my finger tips' shot as demonstrated by Bill Bailey, we made our way back to Shabbu and his rickshaw and headed for somewhere to eat.

Shoe protection in case we damaged the mighty Taj...
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After informing us, with a cheerful grin, that, 'this is a gay' Shabbu took us to a lovely local place to eat where we got a yummy dahl and mixed veg curry plus three cups of masala chai all for about $2.

We spent the afternoon looking around Agra fort which is a really impressive building with amazing views of the Taj Mahal. This was where we first experienced the 'photo slide' that Simon warned us about. This is where some Indian men come up and ask to take a photo of you as a couple. The guy who was to be in the photo then positioned himself next to me and his friend who was taking the photo did a not-so-subtle slide with the camera so that the picture just included me and his mate. Jon said that this made him feel rather feral so we made a hasty retreat.

After the fort we took Shabbu to an amazingly dirty cafe on the top of Hotel Shanti Om which has a stunning view of the Taj Mahal where we sat  chatting and sipping our yummy chai and watching the sunset turning the Taj from red to blue to purple before making our way to the train station

where we said a sad farewell to the lovely Shabbu and boarded our train for Jaipur.