Today started at 4:30AM—so basically my day started at
night. Our hotel is literally down the road from the Taj Mahal-but because it
is such a popular attraction we needed to be there when the gates opened. And
as much as it sucked to get out of my fluffy bed that early, it was worth it.
The sun rising at the Taj was really cool, and lets be honest, the Taj itself
is just really cool. AMAZING actually. Kind of like my understanding of Ghandi,
I have always thought the Taj was magnificent and I’ve always wanted to see it,
but I didn't know a lot about it. I should of googled it before I came—oh wait
I don’t have internet. But it was unreal. Its beauty, how old it is (it was
built in the mid 1600’s and took about 20 years), the fact that it is all made
out of marble which means it was hand chiseled (chip chip chip) by thousands of
people-AND-is perfectly aligned-completely geometrically aligned. I didn’t know
this prior to seeing it but it isn’t all white. When you get up close there are
all sorts of inlay stone work, made from precious and semiprecious stones such
as lapis, onyx, rubies, emeralds, etc. The settings were chiseled into the huge
piece of marble and pretty much all of them are still in place-due to the
preciseness of the stone cutting and the secret glue that was used to place
them as well. There is so much detail in
every nook and cranny. Whole panels of
tiny little details carved so intricately; where one mess up at the end would
have required the whole piece to be thrown away, which you know had to happen a
time or two. We couldn’t take pictures
inside but that's okay because I got plenty of pictures of the outside. I can
see why most people include in on the list of the Seven Wonders of the World. I
didn’t want to leave—but I ended up having to a little sooner then the rest of
the group because the eighth wonder of the world—which had been rumbling in my
stomach all morning-was dangerously close to making its debut. And of course
the squatters were on the other side of the complex (the Taj is just one of the
buildings within the complex) and I almost didn’t make it. No joke, no
exaggeration, I was scoping out possible bushes to hide behind as I was sweaty
like a marathoner, clenching my fists (and every other part of my lower body
for that matter) and walking as briskly as I could (despite the pain it caused
me) to the restroom. I don’t even want to think about how my grimacing face
must have looked to passerby’s. I assure you it wasn’t pretty. I began
emotionally preparing myself to accept/deal with being the first tourist to
full on mess themselves at the Taj Mahal. And to shield myself against the
pointing and laughing and camera flashing that was bound to accompany my newfound
claim to fame. On top of all this, I was praying pretty freaking hard, I may
have even offered a few prayers to Allah simple because of where I was and
because I needed all the help I could get. By some miracle, I reached the
bathroom, and at that point running (while clenching still so I’m sure it
looked super good) was necessary. The bathroom attendant was yelling something
at me to (come to find out later she was wasn’t asking for money she was
telling me to come get toilet paper from her---which would have been INCREDIBLY
helpful) to which I yelled back “I can’t! Ill pay you later!!” as I was
shutting the door in her face. Needless to say, having no toilet paper made
cleaning up eventful too but I’ll spare you those details. It suffices to say
that I’m pretty sure I lost/left at least 5 lbs worth of my insides at the Taj
Mahal. I’m just really really grateful that it didn’t end up being in or on the Taj Mahal.
At first they tease you by making you go through this big courtyard.....
And then you go through the actual gate.....
My very first glimpse...
AND FINALLY!!!!!
Of course you have to take a group pic
And then the photographer has you do little poses and you feel kind of silly but its okay because you are at the freaking Taj Mahal!!!
All your friends take amazing Taj Mahal selfies---and you try too (because you already feel like a dork from the photographer's poses so what the heck) and FAIL miserably several several times. Then there is one that semi works out---still not very good by any means---but it makes it into the blogposts pics because it was a funny memory.
Then you obviously have no choice but to take more pictures, but I was nice and only added three more here.
(Love this girl!)
You get to rock temple open house booties at the Taj too!
Sadly, pictures are not allowed inside.......
And it's even gorgeous from the back!
Ironically, the first thing we did after the Taj Mahal was go
back to our hotel so we could eat at the most amazing breakfast buffet around.
I tried to be cautious at first, but when it came down to it I was starving and
they had real buttermilk pancakes so I dug right in. I figured that if the
Delhi Belly was going to show up again it would be better to have that happen
at our hotel instead of another sacred land mark. Luckily, I was “okay” for the
rest of the day though-not fully better, just okay. See, God/Allah do love me!
After resting a bit-and facetiming with my mom who I hadn’t
talked to for fiveish weeks now-we went to visit Agra Fort. Agra Fort use to be
the living quarters of the the king who built the Taj Mahal as a final resting
place for his wife. There was a portion of the fort that we couldn’t go into
because the government army was currently using it (comforting right) but it
was pretty fascinating. BIG too. I kept envisioning what it would of looked
like back in it’s glory days. I hear there is a movie about the empower and his
wife—a historical love story-that was filmed in the same locations I have
already seen/am going to see while I am in Delhi. I’m pretty sure we have it in
the Elephant house so that is going on my to do list as well. The most
interesting part of Agra Fort wasn’t necessarily the fort itself, as it was
some of the other visitors. There was a whole bus of cross dressed men that
pulled up the same time we did, and our tour guide just casually said “Oh they
are just a bunch of Eunuchs, don’t mind them.” Well I flashed back to the cross
dresser I met in Pondicherry and was curious why they were referred to as
Eunuchs, because my understanding on the word Eunuch comes from the bible and
it doesn’t mean cross dressing men, where apparently here in India that is
exactly what it means. Come to find out, Indians refer to hermaphrodites as
Eunuchs. When a hermaphrodite is born, they are taken away to hermaphrodite
colonies (kind of like leprosy colonies from the best I could understand) where
they live and socialize with only other Eunuchs. To say they are social
outcasts would be an understatement though. At least I would assume so based
off what I saw at Agra Fort. Interestingly enough, in the olden days, like when
these palaces and forts were fully occupied and functioning, Eunuchs were used
as servants/advisors/guardians to the queen and princesses, because they were
“safe” to do so. Crazy huh.
Part of the original wall
What was a swimming pool
Elephant loading and unloading dock
Part of the original wall
What was a swimming pool
After the fort we visited a stone inlay shop that is owned
and operated by the direct descendants of the people who built the Taj Mahal. They showed us how they did it and then showed us their products. It was fascinating, and I
could of bought a lot of things in that store had they not been insanely
expensive. Maybe one day I can justify spending that kind of money on stone
inlayed elephants and table tops. Until then I will just have to enjoy the
pictures I took and settle for much less quality inlay work that I can bargain
hard for.
Those are all individual pieces of stone that the workers hand shape and polish and piece together themselves. Crazy huh!
There was another temple we toured across the road, and then visited this old man and his wife who were potters. We watched him do it flawlessly, and then each tried our hand on the pottery wheel. Treg was a natural, I was okayish as first, but instead of cutting it off when it was small and simple I decided to keep going. Which was a disaster that ended in an unrecognizable pile of clay on the wheel as well as smeared across my left leg. You win some and lose some I guess. I’ve always wanted to try working on a pottery wheel though so I’m glad I got the chance.
He/she was the loudest little squirrel ever
Look at that concentration
Guess which one is mine......
We finally made it to Jaipur-which like a lot of the other
places we have been over the last few days is an ancient turned modern town
made up of mostly Hindus and Muslims--like most of Northern India. Our hotel was SWEET!!. Not sweet as
in super luxiourous like our hotel in Agra was, but sweet as in it was a former
Prime Ministers house that has been renovated as a hotel. It was called Naila
Bagh Palace and palace it was, just a little more modern then the other palaces
we’ve been going to, but still old and historical as well. Think Jane Austen
homes with an Indian flair. The internet
says it is “the former residence of the Royal Rajput Family since 1872.”
Basically it was the coolest. And there were peacocks on the premises—which I
know were there not because I ever saw them but because I heard them plenty of
times. This hotel had a shower, but it was cold---so it wasn’t worth it to me.
Dinner was at another incredible Indian food restaurant with garlic naan again of course. Benson burst my dairy food in India bubble by telling me that the almost all the milk we drink, cheese we eat, etc., comes from water buffalos and not cows. I don't like the milk products here as much as I do the ones at home—and that was before I was told the truth. Now, I still like the milk, it is just a little weird to grasp, but I’m coping fairly well. At dinner there was a funny little puppet show complete with fire effects as well as puppets jumping out at you. I have no idea how people can do all that with the simple use of strings. The puppeteer let us try-those puppets were heavy little things. He was a very humble person too. So humble that I would never write anything sarcastic about him…….ahem…….
Also, it has been weird to be out and about at night. We are out and about the lighted paths of campus at night, but I have never been outside campus at night--that is not allowed--so it has been strangely exciting to experience the "Indian night life scene" some. It's not like it is a ton different, it is just as crowded and stinky and busy and animal filled and awesome as it is in the day. Moral of the story is I love it day or night--night is just a little more new and exciting for me right now.
