Did you know that feeding the roaming cows is good karma? So the people buy a bushel of grass to feed the cows in the morning. It's why the cows look healthier than the people here. Remember that cows are holy for the Hindu people. Cows seriously roam the streets here and are treated like pets.
Today we woke up for an early start to drive by bus from Jaipur to Agra. One of the girls was extremely sick to the point where they pre-called a doctor. It meant a ton of bathroom stops. It is slightly terrifying how sick people get in a quick time. I think this girl was being a little reckless with her showering skills. You cannot get water in your mouth or use it to brush your teeth. It's clear but it doesn't mean it's clean. I've been using bottled water to wash my face and brush my teeth. I really don't want to get sick. My stomach has been growly but I blame the lack of pooing and new foods for that rather than being actually sick. Christina do seems to be fine so far but we will see when it hits her. I think it will be Thailand for the runs but that's me betting one friend which is probably bad karma. She's paranoid about getting sick in India which makes me believe she's just telling her body to get sick in Thailand.
Regardless we got to Agra super late at 1 pm which meant we had to have a quick vegetarian lunch. I have a cheese and potato lentil dosai. It was actually really tasty. It's a giant thin pancake made out of rice with butter filled with potatoes and lentils with spice. I'd eat it again.
We went to the Agra Fort but everyone, including myself wanted to speed through so we could get more time at the Taj Mahal. The Agra Fort is another palace for royal families. It was built before the Taj Mahal and is massive. 75% of the land is controlled by the Indian army. The other 25% is a tourist location. It was built by the third Mughal king of red sandstone. The red sandstone is local. It is surrounded by a wet moat and a dry moat. Both historically held wild animals like Jaguars, crocodiles, and tigers. Not going to lie I want a pet jaguar. They just sound cool and look sleek. The entrance was curved road so that enemies on elephants could not ram the door from straight on. One of the Kings had three wives and 5,000 in his harem. Each of the wives was a different religion - Christian, Hindu and Muslim. Other random facts I remember is that there is an entire princess palace made of marble with inlaid precious stones. I saw the largest sapphire I've ever seen. It was three inches round. The women of the harem had strict rules and if they disobeyed then they were executed by two wooden spikes that pulled back and smashed her neck. Sounds a little bloody. The Fort was impeccable but at 43C it was hotter than a sinner in church. It had beautiful views of the Taj Mahal. When waiting outside for bathroom break time, tons of people asked for our photo. Our guide told us after my eyebrows raised and I told a small boy to scram that many of the visitors are actually from the country and have never seen a white person. My demeanour relaxed a lot and I took a few photos with small Indian children.
We then went to the Taj Mahal. It is absolutely amazing. There are four entrances - east, south, west and royal. The royal entrance, not surprisingly, to the white building the world knows as the Taj Mahal. The domes on the royal entrance indicate how many years it took to build the taj (17 years). The entire area is perfectly symmetrical. When you are he Taj Mahal, the building on the left is a mosque and the building on the right is a royal guest house. Taj means crown and mahal means palace.
It was built when the 5th Mogul king's wife died. She'd quested three things - that he never marry again, that he love and treat his children with affection, and that he build a memorial of their external love corner to be buried in. After eight days locked in a room he solicited engineers from around the world for this project. The design is actually Persian which makes the writing on the walls absolutely stunning. The entire white memorial is built out of 1.4 million tones of whIte marble. It is 90 m tall at the highest point and the four small drakes are tilted so as to not cause damage if they fell. It cost about $600 billion USD in today's dollars to construct. The king's son was extremely sick and banished to the Agra Fort until he died. Because of this, the king's dream of building a matching black Taj Mahal for himself was never started.
We went on a Muslim holiday which the name escaped me. As a double edged sword, it was extremely busy but we were fortunate enough to have the actual gravesite tomb be open. It's only open for this three day holiday each year. The queen is buried in the centre and the king is buried on the left of her in a larger tomb. There is a tourist mock up on the main floor for the rest of the year. The intricate designs on the tombs in precious jewels was the prettiest I've seen yet. Only because it's India and this was a memorial, all outside pillars are set with precious stones. It sparkles in he sun.
We waited in line to go inside for about an hour. The line spanned the entire four walls surrounding the taj. We thankfully got to skip the line below because foreigners have their own line until the top line and bottom line merge. Indian people do not respect lines or personal space. They send their kids to sneak forward then the entire family goes to the kids. As one of a dozen white peoples in the taj that day you can't say anything but you can give them dirty looks.
Grandpa sent me a photo from when him and grandma came in 1992 and I recreated that photo. I completely understand why grandma never came back to India but grandpa came back a thousand times. The longer I am here, the more I fall into camp never come back to India. It's interesting but I found that Thailand and Laos are way prettier in terms of temples and palaces. India has a more rich history but it's dirty and not kept. I have found that no one takes care of their belongings or places. It's almost like they believe that it can just be replaced rather than maintained. I have yet to see a building (other than tourist sites deemed by an agency to be important) not even broken or falling apart.
Anyways I digress but the Taj Mahal is a worthwhile see once in your life. I'm not sure the awe factor would be there for a second visit. My only regret is that I haven't seen a straightener in a while so I had my classic lion curls going on.
Dinner was at a BBQ place where Christina and I split chicken tikka and tandoori chicken. I'm a huge fan of tandoori chicken and probably will never eat chicken tikka again. It's a weird yellow green puke colour and kind of tastes like bad soap with garlic.
AFN
Today we woke up for an early start to drive by bus from Jaipur to Agra. One of the girls was extremely sick to the point where they pre-called a doctor. It meant a ton of bathroom stops. It is slightly terrifying how sick people get in a quick time. I think this girl was being a little reckless with her showering skills. You cannot get water in your mouth or use it to brush your teeth. It's clear but it doesn't mean it's clean. I've been using bottled water to wash my face and brush my teeth. I really don't want to get sick. My stomach has been growly but I blame the lack of pooing and new foods for that rather than being actually sick. Christina do seems to be fine so far but we will see when it hits her. I think it will be Thailand for the runs but that's me betting one friend which is probably bad karma. She's paranoid about getting sick in India which makes me believe she's just telling her body to get sick in Thailand.
Regardless we got to Agra super late at 1 pm which meant we had to have a quick vegetarian lunch. I have a cheese and potato lentil dosai. It was actually really tasty. It's a giant thin pancake made out of rice with butter filled with potatoes and lentils with spice. I'd eat it again.
We went to the Agra Fort but everyone, including myself wanted to speed through so we could get more time at the Taj Mahal. The Agra Fort is another palace for royal families. It was built before the Taj Mahal and is massive. 75% of the land is controlled by the Indian army. The other 25% is a tourist location. It was built by the third Mughal king of red sandstone. The red sandstone is local. It is surrounded by a wet moat and a dry moat. Both historically held wild animals like Jaguars, crocodiles, and tigers. Not going to lie I want a pet jaguar. They just sound cool and look sleek. The entrance was curved road so that enemies on elephants could not ram the door from straight on. One of the Kings had three wives and 5,000 in his harem. Each of the wives was a different religion - Christian, Hindu and Muslim. Other random facts I remember is that there is an entire princess palace made of marble with inlaid precious stones. I saw the largest sapphire I've ever seen. It was three inches round. The women of the harem had strict rules and if they disobeyed then they were executed by two wooden spikes that pulled back and smashed her neck. Sounds a little bloody. The Fort was impeccable but at 43C it was hotter than a sinner in church. It had beautiful views of the Taj Mahal. When waiting outside for bathroom break time, tons of people asked for our photo. Our guide told us after my eyebrows raised and I told a small boy to scram that many of the visitors are actually from the country and have never seen a white person. My demeanour relaxed a lot and I took a few photos with small Indian children.
We then went to the Taj Mahal. It is absolutely amazing. There are four entrances - east, south, west and royal. The royal entrance, not surprisingly, to the white building the world knows as the Taj Mahal. The domes on the royal entrance indicate how many years it took to build the taj (17 years). The entire area is perfectly symmetrical. When you are he Taj Mahal, the building on the left is a mosque and the building on the right is a royal guest house. Taj means crown and mahal means palace.
It was built when the 5th Mogul king's wife died. She'd quested three things - that he never marry again, that he love and treat his children with affection, and that he build a memorial of their external love corner to be buried in. After eight days locked in a room he solicited engineers from around the world for this project. The design is actually Persian which makes the writing on the walls absolutely stunning. The entire white memorial is built out of 1.4 million tones of whIte marble. It is 90 m tall at the highest point and the four small drakes are tilted so as to not cause damage if they fell. It cost about $600 billion USD in today's dollars to construct. The king's son was extremely sick and banished to the Agra Fort until he died. Because of this, the king's dream of building a matching black Taj Mahal for himself was never started.
We went on a Muslim holiday which the name escaped me. As a double edged sword, it was extremely busy but we were fortunate enough to have the actual gravesite tomb be open. It's only open for this three day holiday each year. The queen is buried in the centre and the king is buried on the left of her in a larger tomb. There is a tourist mock up on the main floor for the rest of the year. The intricate designs on the tombs in precious jewels was the prettiest I've seen yet. Only because it's India and this was a memorial, all outside pillars are set with precious stones. It sparkles in he sun.
We waited in line to go inside for about an hour. The line spanned the entire four walls surrounding the taj. We thankfully got to skip the line below because foreigners have their own line until the top line and bottom line merge. Indian people do not respect lines or personal space. They send their kids to sneak forward then the entire family goes to the kids. As one of a dozen white peoples in the taj that day you can't say anything but you can give them dirty looks.
Grandpa sent me a photo from when him and grandma came in 1992 and I recreated that photo. I completely understand why grandma never came back to India but grandpa came back a thousand times. The longer I am here, the more I fall into camp never come back to India. It's interesting but I found that Thailand and Laos are way prettier in terms of temples and palaces. India has a more rich history but it's dirty and not kept. I have found that no one takes care of their belongings or places. It's almost like they believe that it can just be replaced rather than maintained. I have yet to see a building (other than tourist sites deemed by an agency to be important) not even broken or falling apart.
Anyways I digress but the Taj Mahal is a worthwhile see once in your life. I'm not sure the awe factor would be there for a second visit. My only regret is that I haven't seen a straightener in a while so I had my classic lion curls going on.
Dinner was at a BBQ place where Christina and I split chicken tikka and tandoori chicken. I'm a huge fan of tandoori chicken and probably will never eat chicken tikka again. It's a weird yellow green puke colour and kind of tastes like bad soap with garlic.
AFN
