The Rise of Taj

Hi everyone,

It's official…WE HAVE SEEN THE TAJ MAHAL. And what a sight it was...

However, before we get to that, we wanted to let you know about our drive from Jaipur to Agra. Absolute craziness…Cars and trucks whizzing by us in the wrong direction along the highway, our driver Rajesh sliding into the opposite lane with some near misses…I had commented to our guide earlier in the day about how good the highway was, and then we hit Uttar Pradesh, the region where Agra is located. The road was pretty patchy, the villages gradually deteriorated as we got closer to Agra and the garbage piles grew larger and larger. I'm going to be honest with everyone…Agra itself is a bit of a dump (literally), but the Taj makes the visit well worthwhile.

On the way to Agra, we stopped at a remarkable sight known as Fatehpur Sikri built by Emperor Akbar in honour of Chishti (a Sufi saint) in the mid 1500's. It's an amazing city, laid out very similarly to the Forbidden City in Beijing. Please see the attached photo for a "look-see".

Today, in addition to the Taj Mahal, we saw a "mini Taj" that contained the tombs of Mumtaz's parents. For those that don't know, Mumtaz was one of Emperor Shah Jahan's wives (obviously his favourite). Although it was fairly small, the intricacies of this monument were spectacular (see attached photo).

In the afternoon, under a very rainy sky, we saw the Agra Fort. Today was actually the first day of our travels that we've had rain, so we knew our luck was bound to run out eventually. In some ways the rain is a bit of a blessing as the area around here is extremely dry and the water table from which the citizens draw their water via wells has been receding for the last four or five years. Please see attached photos from the fort as well as our lineup shot ("the Usual Suspects") as we sought shelter from the rain. Mike's taking the picture, and our trusty guide Vikram is being sheltered from the rain by Nadia's mom, Fozie... And now for the Taj…The Taj is really a place that you have to see for yourself. No picture, video or verbal description can do it justice. The amount of labour and craftsmanship that went into this structure is absolutely phenomenal. Fortunately, the rain held out for us, even though we were unable to get the sunrise or sunset conditions we were hoping for. We managed to get "professionally" done photos, but since we don't have the digi versions, we've sent a couple of our own amateur shots.

We're back into Delhi tomorrow for an overnight stop before heading onward to Varanasi. We will attempt to connect again by e-mail in Varanasi.

Bye everyone,
Mike and Nadia