Indredible India Part 4 - The Taj-Mahal

Part 4
Saturday Nov. 18, 2006

Up early as the guide was to meet us early so we could catch the Taj-Mahal while the sun was low in the sky. I’ll explain why later. Had a wonderful buffet breakfast at the hotel. The Taj was about a 10 minute drive from the hotel. We had to park fairly far away because they do not let gas powered cars near the Taj for pollution & security reasons. We got into a rickshaw for the rest of the ride. There was a long line to get in as they do a pat down search of each person. Of course the women’s line was way longer than the men’s line. I did meet a very nice woman from Brighton, UK who had just come from a week near the mountains & said it was breathtaking.

Once inside the Taj is amazing. It consists of several buildings, but the largest & most famous is the white domed building that Akbar built for his favorite wife after she died. He is entombed there as well. All the buildings were spectacular, but the main building just amazing. Photos don’t come close to the feeling of awe to be next to it. It is so large & imposing & delicate & beautiful. Carving in marble, inlay work, detail that is incredible. The reason we went early in the morning is because at that time the angle of the sun shines onto the semi-precious inlay stones & makes the building shimmer. John tried to get a photo, but it didn’t show the shimmering. It was beautiful. They say if you visit during a full moon the effect is even more impressive. It was a new moon when we went – can’t have it all. We spent about 3 there with the guide. He let us wander on our own for a while too. He said they get from 10,000 to 15,000 visitors a day there. It is so large that you didn’t get bothered by the other visitors.

After the Taj we decided to just relax in our room until we had to check out. We had a 3:30pm train back to Delhi. It was nice to be away from the hawkers & hustlers. You really need down time in India. The hotel had lovely gardens that we walked through & I found a nice quiet place to read. It was very relaxing.

We had a driver to take us to the train station (arranged by the tour company). The driver was not to leave us until the train left the station. Again we were very glad for this because the train was late & they kept changing platforms where it was to come in. If the driver had not been there we would have been lost. The train was over an hour late. The driver suggested he just drive us back to Delhi, it might be faster. John was tempted, but I said NO. I just couldn’t take being on these roads any more than we had to. It was just too frightening. The wait at the station was interesting. There were lots of flies & beggars which seemed to gravitate towards John. If you closed your eyes & just listened to the people hawking their wares & the other sounds, it sounded to me like a song. There was a man clanging a spoon against his soup bowl to get people’s attention & all sorts of people calling out & it was just musical. I guess the Indian language is a soft rhythmic language. John pointed out the men hosing down the train track & said the driver told him it was to clean the toilet waste that drops while the train is in the station (the train toilets just let out onto the track).

The train came & the driver got us into our seats & left. This was not nearly as nice a train. We were in a sleeper car & had the compartment to ourselves. It was getting dark & the window was so dirty you really couldn’t see out of it. John spent a good part of the trip between cars where there was an opening you could see out of.

Good thing we were going to the last stop, because there is no way to tell where you are or where to get off. We got a little nervous at one point but the conductor said “last stop”. When the train got to Delhi, it was obvious. Suddenly the car as filled with porters trying to take your bags. We only had one small duffle bag, but one of them grabbed it, said 100Rupees & took off. As soon as we got out of the car, there was our friend Alok to meet us. He started talking to the porter & they both began yelling. Finally Alok grabbed the bag from the porter & stormed off. We asked what it was about & he said that the port was charging us a ridiculous price. When he goes there & has several large bags they only charge him 25Rupees, so he was extremely upset that the man was going to charge us 100. He said he just hates it when they rip off foreigners like that.

Alok had his car & Rajnee was waiting. We had planned to have dinner together. After driving around we finally found a restaurant for Indian food. Saturday nights are very busy in Delhi. I’m glad to say that Alok is a better driver than the taxi drivers. Alok & Rajnee ordered for us. They got a variety of India dishes. Rajnee is a veg (that’s what they call themselves). She said she’s never had a piece of meat or egg cross her lips. Being veg is very common among the Hindu & very common in India. Everywhere you go they offer veg food (it is really nice). One item they ordered was another tandoori dish. John found it too hot for him, so he asked for some yogurt. It didn’t bother me, I guess I’m tougher than I thought. We finished with the Indian ice cream & then they took us to the hotel. This night was better, no loudspeaker calling out taxi numbers.