Day #20 - Everest BaseCamp
Thursday, March 10, 2022
Itinerary- Agra Day Tour
Well, besides absorbing the culture and learning more about India as a whole, the one site I was most interested in visiting during my time in India was the Taj Mahal. Today I made that happen!!
I had an early morning alarm set for 5:30am so I could meet my driver/guide at the reception desk for our 6am departure to the Taj Mahal. We wanted to get there for sunrise. Spectacular!! My 2-hr walk about at the Taj Mahal did not disappoint. Here’s some take-away notes:
(1). Constructed in the 17th century - started 1631 and finalized in 1653. 20,000 people worked on it. 22 years to finish.
(2). It’s a Mausoleum. King of Mughal Dynasty (Emperor Shahjahan) built this for his 3rd wife (Queen Mumtaz Mahal). 14 children from this wife. She died giving birth to last child. She was only 39. Only 6 children survived after their births.
(3). When the queen died, she was kept 6 months as a mummy because the king was looking for the right architect to build the Taj Mahal. 24-year old designed it.
(4) Taj (crown). Mahal (palace). Taj Mahal is the “Crown Palace”
(5). The Taj Mahal was never lived in - only a tomb.
(6). Left of Taj Mahal is an active mosque. Closed to the public on Fridays - only the descendants of the workers can visit.
Right of Taj Mahal is a guest house (nobody lives there)
(7). Perfect symmetry - intricate design made from marble. Single blocks of marble - no joints. No marble panel was the same. Marble brought in by elephants. Used marble because it’s non-porous, a crystal, and has a translucent nature
(8). Nobody can drive within 1km of the Taj Mahal because of pollution. Must use electric carts and then walk.
(9). 4 colors of stones used on the intricate designs within the Taj Mahal - red, green, black, yellow. There are no paintings - just different colored stones.
(10). Jumana River runs behind the Taj Mahal.
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After the tour of the Taj Mahal, we came back to the hotel for a couple hours for some additional rest, to grab breakfast, pack-up, and check out. We met at 10:30am for the next part of the tour - Agra Fort.
Agra Fort is a huge Fort that once held the entire town of Agra - protecting the people from outside rulers/states. Some interesting things I learned during the tour:
(1). There was both a wet moat (filled with alligators) and a dry moat (filled with tigers) around the perimeter of the Fort.
(2). 3 entrances - all angled to help with protection. Uphill into fort - they could roll cannon balls, etc down the hill if attacked. The walls provided an echo effect - makes it easy to hear who’s coming
(3). 70 percent of the Fort is used by the army - making it not available to the public.
(4). The King’s palace was made of marble like the Taj Mahal. No paintings - just the different color of stones. The King would have 3 wives - each living in their own palace within the Fort.
(5). 6,000-7,000 lived in fort at 1 time
(6). The King who built the Taj Mahal was actually isolated for 8 years by his son - the next King. It was thought he was spending too much time/resources on the Taj Mahal - and not maintaining the kingdom.
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After the morning tours - we stopped by a marble shop. (I like doing tours - but these “sale stops” are always apart of the itinerary). It was interesting to see how they achieved the designs found at the Taj Mahal. The detail required in processing the colored marble was fascinating. I ended up buying a small piece of marble as a memory - about $20. There were many marble pieces for hundreds, even thousands of dollars. I normally don’t buy anything - but it was a cool souvenir.
It was early afternoon now - we next took the 4-hr drive to Jaipur- my tour destination for tomorrow. My driver and I stopped for a quick lunch on the way. I wasn’t too hungry after a great continental breakfast from earlier. I just grabbed a bowl of vegetable soup.
Some interesting things on the drive:
(1). You have to stop and pay a tax as you enter each new state
(2). During the colder months (Nov-March) - they use cow dung for heating purposes. We passed an area where cow dung was laid out to dry.
(3). Road conditions are much better than I expected. There are still random tractors, small taxis, etc on the expressways going 10-15 mph requiring cars/trucks to brake abruptly.
(4). There are often times where families are riding on the back of a motorcycle. I saw 3 small children with a man & women (not the safest setup in the world)
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We rolled into Jaipur around 5:30pm. I got checked in and worked with the staff to help me setup a Covid-19 test on Sat (12th) morning before we drive back to Delhi. I need to once again provide a negative Covid-19 test result to board my plane to the US on Sunday (13th) morning at 1:30am.
Today was a really interesting and educational day. The Taj Mahal was incredible to see in person. I’ve found myself say the phrase - “Well, it’s not the Tajal Mahal, but…… “. I’m not sure where that came from - but it makes some sense to me now. I asked my guide about why other kings didn’t build such elaborate temples for their wives. His response was: “They did - there’s many amazing palaces all over India. Many of which could be considered better than the Taj Mahal”. That’s interesting to me - but not surprising. I’ve seen other things in my travels around the world consistent with this. Sometimes - the promotion for an area is just first class. The area is great - but you never realize there are other places that may be just as special- or maybe even more so. Think about all those amazing places we’ll never see/hear about.
I’m going to sign off for now. Goodnight from Jaipur, India!!!
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