Visited the Taj Mahal (will try and avoid weak curry jokes). It's 750R to enter about eight quid, which seems a lot considering you can stay three nights here for that, but is nothing really and it totally lives up to the hype.
Background is Mughal (Muslim) emporer called Shahjehan (I think) had it built as a tomb for his favourite wife (in the 1600s, again I think). Apparently she bore him 14 kids so I guess he felt he owed her. There's a kind of fort entrance and then gates into the main gardens which are stunning, with a long pool that leads to the big house. You can't take photo's close up so mine - I will load them in Jaipur - don't do it justice.
It is (I'm sure you've all seen pics) a kind of off-white coloured marble building, on a raised level from the gardens, with those Mosque-style domes on top. Inside you expect some kind of palace but there is just this tomb, protected by a kind of marble netting. In the corner of the raised levels are tall towers of the same off-white marble and then there is a sandstone looking Mosque to the left and (would you credit it) a kind of pretend Mosque to the right which is only there to give the whole thing symmetry. It is too stunning to regret it being built, but also a grotesque extravagance when you see the poverty that surrounds it.
Anyway enough serious stuff. Have settled into life in Agra. We have monkeys, camals, horses, donkeys, cows and dogs, just wondering the street here. The hassle is not as bad as in Delhi, apparently it is the worst in Jaipur, nightmare. Chatted to some French folk in the hostel, and yesterday evening to some Indian guys while watching cricket. I moaned about the difficulty getting a beer (lack of a bar/club/pub night scene is one of my gripes about India), they reckoned that not drinking and the old Karma whatsit was what made Indian men such great lovers, big talk for six guys in a cafe on their own, but who am I to comment. When India clinched the series against Sri Lanka we all had these little yellow sweets by way of celebration, that's what you get in a country that doesn't like booze!
I have decided not to go back to Delhi immediately after Jaipur and instead head south to Udaipur and somewhere else that begins with a Ch.. (I forget) and is some old fort. Both sound nice and are apparently calmer and cooler, which will both be a welcome relief if true. And they are on the way to Mumbai where I am due in about a week. The Indian guys thought all this was a bad idea as it was all flooded! I think it's just cos they don't have mates with shops there (in Indian cities people are always trying to get you to go to a shop) and will take my chances.
Background is Mughal (Muslim) emporer called Shahjehan (I think) had it built as a tomb for his favourite wife (in the 1600s, again I think). Apparently she bore him 14 kids so I guess he felt he owed her. There's a kind of fort entrance and then gates into the main gardens which are stunning, with a long pool that leads to the big house. You can't take photo's close up so mine - I will load them in Jaipur - don't do it justice.
It is (I'm sure you've all seen pics) a kind of off-white coloured marble building, on a raised level from the gardens, with those Mosque-style domes on top. Inside you expect some kind of palace but there is just this tomb, protected by a kind of marble netting. In the corner of the raised levels are tall towers of the same off-white marble and then there is a sandstone looking Mosque to the left and (would you credit it) a kind of pretend Mosque to the right which is only there to give the whole thing symmetry. It is too stunning to regret it being built, but also a grotesque extravagance when you see the poverty that surrounds it.
Anyway enough serious stuff. Have settled into life in Agra. We have monkeys, camals, horses, donkeys, cows and dogs, just wondering the street here. The hassle is not as bad as in Delhi, apparently it is the worst in Jaipur, nightmare. Chatted to some French folk in the hostel, and yesterday evening to some Indian guys while watching cricket. I moaned about the difficulty getting a beer (lack of a bar/club/pub night scene is one of my gripes about India), they reckoned that not drinking and the old Karma whatsit was what made Indian men such great lovers, big talk for six guys in a cafe on their own, but who am I to comment. When India clinched the series against Sri Lanka we all had these little yellow sweets by way of celebration, that's what you get in a country that doesn't like booze!
I have decided not to go back to Delhi immediately after Jaipur and instead head south to Udaipur and somewhere else that begins with a Ch.. (I forget) and is some old fort. Both sound nice and are apparently calmer and cooler, which will both be a welcome relief if true. And they are on the way to Mumbai where I am due in about a week. The Indian guys thought all this was a bad idea as it was all flooded! I think it's just cos they don't have mates with shops there (in Indian cities people are always trying to get you to go to a shop) and will take my chances.
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