Taj Mahal!

While I had a rather uneventful, though tiring, plane ride from Hong Kong to Delhi, my colleague Ann was flying in from LA. After a chauffer mix-up that ended up with Ann being taken to the wrong hotel at first, we met up at 6am for our trip to Agra to see the Taj Mahal.
I can't even being to adequately explain the chaos on the drive from Delhi to Agra, which took about 4hr because you go through several small towns whereas they are almost done constructing a highway where it will only take 2hr. No stoplights, no stopsights, free-for-all at every intersection, buses, trucks, cars, rickshaws, bikes, people, cows, goats, and even a couple camels and elephants - insane! Our company was gracious enough to lend us the driver for the Japanese expat living in Delhi for the day, and he accompanied us to the Taj. After parking and paying the entrance fee you take a little bus about a mile to the entrance.
The Taj Mahal complex is bounded on three sides by red sandstone walls, with the river-facing side left open. It was built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his third wife, Mumtaz Mahal who died during the birth of their 14th child. The construction began around 1632 and was completed around 1653. While the Taj Mahal is probably one of the world's most recognizable buildings, I was awe-stricken by the craftsmanship and intracy of all the buildings in the complex. The calligraphy on the Great Gate reads "O Soul, thou art at rest. Return to the Lord at peace with Him, and He at peace with you." There are people who live outside the Taj that are constantly carving new stone to maintain the beauty. The characters in the stone above are each carved from one piece of stone inlayed in the white marble. After passing through the west gate, we saw the Taj Majal....the 3rd bucket list item of my trip (first diving in the Great Barrier Reef, then walking on the Great Wall of China)....and it certainly did not dissapoint. An interesting fact I learned is that the four towers on the outside of the tomb look like they are at 90 degree angles, however they are actually angled out a little bit. Apparnetly a few years before the construction began there was an earthquake so they built the towers tilted out so they would crash away from the tomb. There has not been another earthquake since thankfully!The tomb is the central focus of the entire complex of the Taj Mahal. To go into the tomb you need to either remove your shoes...or slip on the little booties over your shoes that are provided by the park - I choose the booties! You are not supposed to take pictures in the tomb, so these are some shots of the surrounding buildings and outside of the tomb. All over the Taj there are these gorgeous floral vine designs...our guide showed us that they are made from semi-precious stones inlayed into the marble and they actually glow in the dark, making the Taj Majal breathtaking at sunset. They no longer do sunset tours, but my friends Thomas and Mafer convinced a guide to take them once and I am still jealous!

One view of the grounds...

Ann and I admiring the Taj! On our way back, the bus back to the parking was full. Ann and I were up for walking the mile back through all the vendors...sounded like fun to us. However, our guide refused and said we would get a rickshaw. This was HORRIBLE...Ann and I were MORTIFIED. I felt like the total "ugly american" sterotype. Here we were, 3 people being towed by a guy who was probably only 100lbs soaking wet.
Here we are all crammed in...we made it, slowly, and our driver got a huge tip though I still feel terrible.And then back to the chaos of the 4hr car trip back, before heading off to Mumbai the following day.