Blog - India 2012 #1: Taj Mahal
India 2012 #1: Taj Mahal
For my summer holiday (a bit late at the beginning of October), we went to North India and visited the said "golden triangle" formed of Delhi, Agra and Jaipur.
We first spent 2 nights in Delhi, more on that later. Then we went to Taj Mahal located in Agra in the west. (It's worth a look on Google Maps!)
Local friends had recommended us to book a taxi for our trip, but instead we chose to use public transportation as we usually do. Getting to Agra takes 5 hours by car or 2 hours by express train. We had booked train tickets for 6am on Monday, and despite having heard of scammers who try to distract passengers into using a different train company by telling them their train was canceled, when we were approached by one it first sounded real and we got close to being duped.
We boarded our train and got to Agra without trouble, meanwhile enjoying the included breakfast on board. Then we took a prepaid auto rickshaw (Rs. 100) to get to Taj Mahal's gate. We had made a friend at the station but we were able to sit all three in the back of the small-looking three-wheeler. At one point the driver gave short rides to a friend and a policeman, sitting on his sides, so we were 6!
After leaving our luggage in the locker room, securing our backpacks to the metal racks, we bought our tickets (and dodging an "official guide", he was funny though) and went through security (had my mints and gum confiscated). Then we could finally enter the site!
There was a photographer who helped everyone taking their photos in popular poses without asking for anything in return.
The tomb, the main white building of Taj Mahal, was really beautiful, from far away and also up close. It kept getting more blinding as we approached so I ended up putting on my sunglasses. Taj Mahal is all in marble and its walls are decorated in semi-precious stones cut and placed in flower shapes.
While the palace was designed to be entirely symmetric, with the queen's tomb placed in the center, once the king died his tomb was placed next to the queen's, breaking the perfection.
This is a piece from a watch of Titan's Heritage series, inspired by details of Taj Mahal.
Larger sizes and more photos at Flickr
Posted on October 19, 2012 at 22:15 | Tweet
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