Day 570 - Marvelling at the Marble

In case anyone hasn't caught on from our previous blog posts, we tend to hate mornings that begin with an alarm - we're supposed to be on a travelling holiday for goodness sake! Despite this, we've managed to place ourselves at the site of one of the world's most famous monuments, and therefore dragging ourselves out of bed this morning was a manageable task. Plus we needed to get there early to miss the crowds of people, because we chose the national week-long winter holiday as the time to visit the most popular place in India!

Unfortunately we rose early only to find a blanket of cold, grey fog over the entire city but by the time we finished brekky a tinge of blue was starting to enter the skyline. Even though we had seen the Taj from the distance yesterday afternoon, seeing it close up this morning was breathtaking. Even the crowds of hundreds of people didn't take away from the magnificence of it, even though it did mean getting that perfect photo with no one in the way was near impossible!
We spent nearly 3 hours wandering around, treating ourselves to different perspective and coming full circle to repeat some of them again and again as it was impossible to absorb the magical detail of the intricately carved white marble beauty. After taking in as much as we could we went out for food and then made the walk to the Agra Fort, declining offers of tuk-tuk and cycle-rickshaw rides every 100m along the way! As is often the case, the walk on our way somewhere is just as interesting as the site itself. As we walked we laughed in amazement at the rickshaws driving past so packed full that men clung to the roof while standing on the bumper; grandmas in saris with their grandchildren sneaking under a hole in the fence to avoid buying a ticket; 3 kids on one bike screaming out hello to us as they battled with the traffic; peanut, fruit, tobacco sellers all selling their goods from their wooden trolleys they roll around on rickety old bicycle wheels; and many more wonderful and intriguing things! Even with all there is to see we still manage to keep an eye on the ground to avoid the piles of crap that dot the path.
Having seen the Taj only a few hours earlier, it took us a while to see the fort for the amazing World Heritage sight that it is, but soon we were lost in a world of dusty red stone and white marble. The elaborate carving throughout the fort was more fitting for a palace and the age of the fort was openly displayed in the scarred walls that had shed their outer skin. Ironically the highlight of the fort was looking out over the Taj from a distance, just like the Taj's creator had done after imprisoned in the fort by his own son.

After a big day of sight seeing we returned to the busy, noisy streets that surround the Taj complex where enjoyed our favourite pastime of munching food and slurping chai.

Adlibing the TAJ MAHAL.