Day Two: Agra

On the second day of our trip we drove down to Agra. When we were working on planning, the driver said it would take 5 hours to drive the 200 km. Fortunately it didn't take that long because we didn't leave Delhi until about 10:30. I think it took us more like three and a half. It rained while we were on the road but by the time we got to Agra, it had stopped. There was a lot of standing water though and at one point as we were going through the city there was a huge puddle and people were backed up in both directions trying to get through it. We made it but we passed a rickshaw that had gotten stuck.

While there are some other things to do in Agra, our time was limited (especially with the late start) so we only had time to see the Taj Mahal. Which was still pretty cool. The way it's set up is, you have to park the car and then either walk, get a horse cart (which we did), a camel cart, or a bike rickshaw to the entrance of the Taj complex which is about 1.5 km away. Also at the parking place we decided to hire a guide. He started telling us the history of the place as we drove to the entrance.

The gate that leads to the Taj Mahal (after the ticket gate)

The Taj complex starts with a gate in a wall where you buy your ticket and go through security. One funny thing is that our ticket included a bottle of water (you couldn't take your own in, I don't remember why) and shoe covers so we didn't have to take our shoes off (although I kind of wish we had, I've found I like walking around barefoot).

Once through the gate, there is another gate that leads to where the Taj actually is. Because it was a Sunday afternoon, there were a ton of people there. Most of whom wanted to get their picture taken with Anna. A group would come up an take several pictures with just trading out who stood on either side of us.

So as everyone knows, the Taj Mahal is a tomb built for the man's wife. Apparently she was the second wife of three. I wondered how the other two wives (who have to share a tomb) thought of that but oh well. The man is also buried there. Apparently he was going to build a matching one out of black marble but he ran out of money so he had to go there. Unfortunately his tomb messed up the symmetry of the place but I guess we will forgive him. Other than that, the whole place is symmetrical. There is even a mosque to the left so they built a guest house on the right that matches the mosque.

The mosque to the left.

The guide said that the four pillars lean out slightly because if there is an earthquake, that way they will fall out and not on the Taj itself. Apparently there was an earthquake not long before he started building it but hasn't been one since then. I guess it's better to be safe than sorry.

Detail of the relief carving and inlay. The color is all inlay of semiprecious stones.

There was no photography inside the tomb and Jason didn't sneak any pictures this time. It was really dark and hot and stuffy and smelly in there though. We were glad when it was time to leave the tomb room. Ironically, what we saw were actually only replicas of the tombs which are underground. You used to be able to go down and see them and the replicas up top were for the peasants but that part has been closed off. Probably good because who knows how dark and hot and stuffy and smelly that would have been.

Another close-up of the marble carving.

We were for about two hours before getting back in the car and driving to Jaipur. This part of the journey was 235 km and the driver said it would take 5-6 hours. Fortunately it didn't take that long. By the time we got to our hotel it was more like 4. The road was not in good shape and it was worsened by construction but at least there wasn't traffic once we got out of Agra. One cool thing was that as we were driving through the country side, we saw a bunch of peacocks. I think the peacock is the national bird and they are everywhere here. Since they like to show off, they are easy to spot, usually in the middle of a field of on top of a building or something like that.

Getting to our hotel took a little while. Our driver didn't know where it was so he stopped and asked for directions several times. Sometimes the person didn't know where it was either but a couple of times they did. We only had to turn around once so that was nice. Our hotel was great but I will talk about that in the Jaipur post.