Birthday 2 Taj Mahal at sunrise

13.10.11

We woke up in time to walk the km o the ticket office and back to queue up and get in to the Taj when it opened it's gates at sunrise. The queue wasn't very long but it was a real palava to get in and it kind of took the excitement and anticipation away. men and women had to queue separately. Each person had to go through a metal detector and be frisked. They also had a list of things that you weren't allowed to take in, including food, torches etc. The signs said they provided lockers for these things but of course they didn't and they just confiscated them. There were bag checks taking place. I seemed to have got in the wrong queue as I watched for 20 minutes as a 20 people behind me but had to joined the parallel queue went through. Its seems our queue had the novice security guard who was taking every single thing out of each bag to check. She was rooting through my tissues, looking in my lipbalm, it

was worse than airport security!

Anyway we go through the East gate and then you work towards the north to enter another gate and thats when you get your first sighting of the Taj itself (over the heads of a hundred other people!). That's when you reach the boulevard lined by trees and the long thin ponds with the Taj on a raised rectangular platform at the end with a tall tower at each corner and then on either side is a red stone mosque/palace and the river Yamuna behind.

We headed straight to thr Taj and inside to the actual mauseleum where Mumtaz Mahal and her husband tombs are, they are actually buried further below. We were lucky because it was still very quiet and we could walk around in peace. I was a amazed to see that inside there was the odd bit of grafitti-what sacrilege. It's really difficult to grasp how big and how perfect the Taj is unless you have been. It's incredible to look up inside the large arched entrance and see the contours of the marble. The inscriptions have been painted so that they appear to be exactly the same size whether at the bottom or top which must have quite a feat.

We sat in awe for quite along time on the steps of the mosque adjacent and watched the light change throughout the morning. The shadows created by the arches of the Taj are so soft and gentle. Throughout the morning the marble began to appear brighter and brighter. We were really lucky because there was still alot of the time when you could frame a photo of the Taj without a single person in it. However when we were leaving at 10.30 it was much much busier, with hundred of people walking up the avenue to the monument.

After a fantastic morning we went back to Shila for a yummy omelette breakfast and then walked to the Radisson. By the time we rocked up our 5 star hotel, having walked 2km with out packs in midday heat, we were not looking the part. Nonetheless we were greeted with a fruit cocktail and a cold flannel. The we were taken to our 'Taj' view room! It was very plush. We were so happy to be somewhere so clean and comfortable. We had a lovely afternoon snoozing and then relaxing by the pool, sat in the jacuzzi part drinking a fosters from a can and eating peanuts! We finished off the day with a meal and a few glasses of wine (big treat!).

Birthday 1

12.10.11

We left the guesthouse and swiftly as possible and boarded the train to Agra which was only 2 hours 50 minutes. We were both very excited at the prospect of seeing the Taj.

When we got to Agra we got in a rickshaw the East gate of the Taj Mahal, where we found easily the guesthouse Shila. Where for once we got lucky-theyhad one room available and it was lovely - very clean and peaceful. We had lunch in the courtyard garden and then were told (by our guesthouse and tourist information that from the West gate we could get a free bus to Agra Fort. So we navigated our way around the wall of the Taj to the West gate where we could see the buses. There was no obvious signs to say where they were going or a booth or anything. After a few minutes we spotted a driver so we asked him and he shook his head and

said to wait 10 minutes. So we sat and wait, in the meantime we were constantly being hassled by rickshaw drivers. So I went and asked a group of policemen, they said there was no bus and pointed to a bunch of uniformed that guys that worked for the Agra development department, lounging on large go-carts. So I asked them, they said, 'No bus' but we could pay them to take us. In this time we had seen several groups of Indian tourists being shepherded on to buses and driven away. Eventually we asked the first bus driver again and this time he told us there was no bus. We realised that no one was willing to take us for free even if there was supposed to be a free bus.

We decided to walk up the road a bit as we didn't want to give any business to the drivers that have been continuously hassling us even when we repeatedly said no. And a bit further up the road we negotiated with a cycle rickshaw driver. he took us through a grand park up to Agra Fort.

At the entrance to the Fort we got our first glimpse of the domes of the Taj. It was suprisigly big even 4 or so km's away. Inside the walls of the fort there were good views of the Taj further up the river. The fort is remarkably well preserved built of red sandstone with several marble arched structures inside. Emporer Shahjahan, who built the Taj as a memorial to wife, apparently died here supposedly gazing at his tribute. He was imprisoned here by his son, who had succeeded him. Although most Historians now agree that the 74 year old probably died due to all his drug taking and sex!!

We decided to walk back to the East gate through the park. It was lovely because we didn't get any hassle! When we got to the East Gate we continued up the road away from the Taj to a nature walk along the side of the river. By this time it was close to sunset, so we found a viewing spot at the top of a hill to watch. Unfortunately you couldn't quite see the Taj and the sun at the same time, but we got the gist and the sky was beautiful.

It is Martin's birthdat so to celebrate we had decided to postpone his birthday to the next day when we were actually going to the Taj and then we booked a posh hotel for the evening. So tonight we just had a nice meal in our hotel and got an early night so we would be up before sunrise the next morning.