Rajasthan 3 January 2009

Rajasthan 3 January 2009

Up at 5am, arrive Delhi Station in time for 6.30 train to Agra, train arrives 11.30 departs 11.40.

Although unimpressed, the group is in good spirits. The seats in the train are very comfortable and you can buy tea and snacks from vendors walking up and down the carriages. In Agra we go straight to hotel, check in, time only for toasted sandwich before we walk to the Taj Mahal.

Wow. It is Shah Jahan's monument to, and mausoleum for, his favourite wife Mumtaz Mahal. She died giving birth to their 14th child in 1631. Building started in December that year and took 20,000 workers 22 years to complete.

It is a majestic building, entirely symmetrical (except only for the Shahs tomb placed next to his wife's after he died), beautifully designed and constructed of white marble. The four pillars around the central mausoleum lean slightly outwards so that if they fall down they will topple away from it (in an earthquake). Surrounding structures in red sandstone are complementary and impressive. Beautiful parkland, fountains and ponds between and around the set of buildings complete this awe inspiring experience.

Agra was first made the capital of India in 1501 and subsequently alternated with Delhi as the Moghul capital. Now one of India's most industrialised cities, the pollution is turning the white marble grey. The government is making efforts to clean up the city, including the banning of additional pollution producing factories in the area and motor vehicles near the Taj Mahal.

The authorities are also supporting alternative non-polluting industries, and we are taken to visit one, a carpet factory. It is all manual, spinning and dying the merino wool or silk, producing patterns, weaving(mainly by women in their homes) and finally trimming, treating and washing. The end results are incredibly beautiful in ranges of sizes, colours and patterns. (ps you can buy them at specially low prices and have then DHL'd to your home! maybe I will one day, I have their card)

Next we eat but the spinach and mushroom meal I order is too spicy for me so I hoover up some bits and leftovers from kindly fellow tourists around me.

And so ends the day I visited the Taj Mahal. Awesome and totally worth the hassle of getting there.

All the best, John