There and Back Again Part VIII: Taj Mahal
Saturday, March 11, 2006
There and Back Again Part VIII: Taj Mahal
The bus sped down the roads in the plains,and as we crossed the border of Agra we had lunch at a famous hotel in the region,called Ashok or something like that.It was a pretty grand hotel i must say,and the food was fabulous.Or perhaps,i was just starving my ass off.
Streets of Agra.
Dinner with the boys.
Anyway,we checked in to our hotel shortly after and checked out our rooms.The funny thing was,we were initially told that our hotel would be "Amor",though it sounded like the name of a cheap motel in the middle of Nevada desert,with blinking neon lights and a hot naked neon-made girl in the sign,it still sounded better than the actual hotel that we stayed at over the night."Amor" turned out to be "Amar",a typo error.That error along made our hearts sink as we pulled up at the hotel that afternoon.
Hotel Amo...i mean,Amar.
First of all,the hotel was under renovation,which reduced the size of the lobby to the size of a children's swimming pool.We were also doubtful of the pictures in the brochures,which showed swimming pools and a bar.We found the bar soon enough,but it was only a little bigger than my room.The swimming pool is hidden in a remote corner of the hotel,and none of us actually knew that it was there at all.
The room was bad,with the teleivision in bad condition.It had a hundred channels,but half of them had static all over the place,while the other half was pure Hindi stuff.Even the Cartoon Network was dubbed in Hindi,and that was just bad.Dexter sounded like a transexual and Dee Dee sounded hysterical.More,hysterical anyway.But anyhow,Jonathan and i shared the room,and we figured it wouldnt hurt to have a lousy room since we'd only be spending one night in it.
Indian Rambo on TV.
The water in the bathroom was...how should i call it.Unpredictable?I had trouble turning the water on,and when it was turned on it didnt have hot water.I had to keep it running for almost ten minutes for any hint of hot water.And when the hot water finally came the water started to drip out of the shower like a spoilt tap.That pissed me off,especially that night when i tried to bathe.The water was scorching hot,and halfway through the shower it blasted right into my face and i went screaming.And the water tasted salty,almost like sweat.It was as if the water was recycled from the floors above.Bad,very bad.
Anyway,that night we went around the town of Agra shopping,and that was interesting.At night we checked ourselves into the Pizza Hut near the hotel because of the ridiculous price it had on the menu.Six Singapore dollars for two person,completed with icecreams,garlic bread,drinks and two pizzas.
Hallelujah.
That's right.INR 150,only.Unbelievable indeed.
Anyway,we woke up bright and early for our trip to Taj Mahal.Due to the lack of sleep i had the previous night,i was particularly irritated by the morning call at 5am when the phone rang.It wasnt one of those normal ringtones,but sounded like a broken fire alarm for some reason.Jonathan woke up first,answered the call and moaned into the reciever.Slammed it down and continued to sleep.I was laughing so hard with my eyes half opened at his reaction to the phone call,he didnt even notice.
I was really excited to see the Taj Mahal,really.I was jumping around in the bus like a kid.I mean,it is one of the seven wonders of the world.Another reason was how much i have been looking forward to seeing it in India.I mean,let's face it.Im probably never going to visit India on my own accord.It's not a place that attracts me,period.Save for the Taj,of course.But anyway,visiting it has been on my mind throughout the whole India trip,and so i was particularly excited about everything.
After buying a few sourvenirs from the side of the buses we headed off to the Taj,which werent very far from the hotel we were at.We got off,and were immediately swamped by the locals selling identical sourvenirs at drastically different prices.Being the bargain king,i managed to get the lowest price for almost everything i bought.Boo-Hoo to CYS,who bought that handmade chess piece from that crying little kid for S$60.Sometimes you wonder where his brain actually grows,or if he flushed it down the toilet when he was a kid.Seriously,i know you are a christian and all,but that kid was clearly out there to trick your money.I bought the exact same chess set for INR 110,that is a little more than S$4.So seriously,you got conned.Genius.
We entered through the Western gate,according to the guide.The Taj Mahal was surrounded by low walls all around it made out of sandstone.Four gates,with the Northern gate leading to the Taj itself.We got through the Western gate and before us was the main square,with a bunch of tourists already swarming up the steps to the Northern gate.Around the gates it self were words carved into the marble,inscriptions from the Koran.On top of the Norhtern gate were twenty-two little domes,that signified the years it took to build the Taj Mahal.
After entering the Western Gate.Persian style towers at both sides.
A little back story to the Taj Mahal itself.They call it a tribute to beauty,and quite literally too.It was built buy this Muslim king called Shah Jahan,who built it for his second wife,Mumtaz Mahal,who died at child birth.She was the most favoured queen by the people,as well as Shah Jahan himself.And her death brought great grief to everybody.Therefore,Shah Jahan ordered builders from all over the world,which included India,China,France and Iran,to gather in Agra to build this palace in memory of his late wife.
The Northern Gate,or the Main Gate they call it.
Anyway,we entered through the Northern gate,and before was the beautiful and astounding Taj Mahal.It took my breath away then,when i first laid eyes upon the building.It was early in the morning then,and the air was misty.The morning sun cascaded down the side of the magnificient dome at the top,and the building shimmered softly in the morning sun.It was beautiful,and i honestly speaking im out of words to describe it.It was like a living being,music frozen in time,history before our eyes.
First sight of Taj Mahal,for me.
In full glory.
The Mosque at the edge of a cliff.
One of the four towers,leaning six inches outwards.So that when an Earthquake hits the area it would fall outwards,instead of inwards into the main building.Genius.
Front entrance.
Inscriptions from the Koran.
We took pictures,lots of it as i walked closer to the Taj Mahal itself.The four towers stood tall at each corner of the building.The amazing thing about Taj Mahal,besides its beauty,is the perfect symmetry of the whole place.Left to right,from any direction,it is a perfect symmetry.From the top of the dome,all the way down to the gardens that laid before our feet.One thing,however,that wasnt symmetrical was the tomb of the king and the queen in the middle of the palace.On the left laid the king,and the right laid the queen.This is the only non-symmetrical aspect of the whole place.Otherwise,it was perfect.In fact,due to this imperfection,it made the story a tad bit more mysterious and beautiful all at the same time.
Plastic covers for our shoes.
We were in awe,as we put on plastic bags around our shoes as we entered the place.Photographs were not allowed in the interior,which is why i never took any.But then again,the most beautiful aspect was the exterior anyway,so nothing you'd miss.
We had merely half an hour to tour the place,which was awfully short really.But it was truly an astounding place,and made the whole trip to India worthy of remembrance.
Picture perfect.
Music frozen in time.
The bus sped down the roads in the plains,and as we crossed the border of Agra we had lunch at a famous hotel in the region,called Ashok or something like that.It was a pretty grand hotel i must say,and the food was fabulous.Or perhaps,i was just starving my ass off.
Streets of Agra.
Dinner with the boys.
Anyway,we checked in to our hotel shortly after and checked out our rooms.The funny thing was,we were initially told that our hotel would be "Amor",though it sounded like the name of a cheap motel in the middle of Nevada desert,with blinking neon lights and a hot naked neon-made girl in the sign,it still sounded better than the actual hotel that we stayed at over the night."Amor" turned out to be "Amar",a typo error.That error along made our hearts sink as we pulled up at the hotel that afternoon.
Hotel Amo...i mean,Amar.
First of all,the hotel was under renovation,which reduced the size of the lobby to the size of a children's swimming pool.We were also doubtful of the pictures in the brochures,which showed swimming pools and a bar.We found the bar soon enough,but it was only a little bigger than my room.The swimming pool is hidden in a remote corner of the hotel,and none of us actually knew that it was there at all.
The room was bad,with the teleivision in bad condition.It had a hundred channels,but half of them had static all over the place,while the other half was pure Hindi stuff.Even the Cartoon Network was dubbed in Hindi,and that was just bad.Dexter sounded like a transexual and Dee Dee sounded hysterical.More,hysterical anyway.But anyhow,Jonathan and i shared the room,and we figured it wouldnt hurt to have a lousy room since we'd only be spending one night in it.
Indian Rambo on TV.
The water in the bathroom was...how should i call it.Unpredictable?I had trouble turning the water on,and when it was turned on it didnt have hot water.I had to keep it running for almost ten minutes for any hint of hot water.And when the hot water finally came the water started to drip out of the shower like a spoilt tap.That pissed me off,especially that night when i tried to bathe.The water was scorching hot,and halfway through the shower it blasted right into my face and i went screaming.And the water tasted salty,almost like sweat.It was as if the water was recycled from the floors above.Bad,very bad.
Anyway,that night we went around the town of Agra shopping,and that was interesting.At night we checked ourselves into the Pizza Hut near the hotel because of the ridiculous price it had on the menu.Six Singapore dollars for two person,completed with icecreams,garlic bread,drinks and two pizzas.
Hallelujah.
That's right.INR 150,only.Unbelievable indeed.
Anyway,we woke up bright and early for our trip to Taj Mahal.Due to the lack of sleep i had the previous night,i was particularly irritated by the morning call at 5am when the phone rang.It wasnt one of those normal ringtones,but sounded like a broken fire alarm for some reason.Jonathan woke up first,answered the call and moaned into the reciever.Slammed it down and continued to sleep.I was laughing so hard with my eyes half opened at his reaction to the phone call,he didnt even notice.
I was really excited to see the Taj Mahal,really.I was jumping around in the bus like a kid.I mean,it is one of the seven wonders of the world.Another reason was how much i have been looking forward to seeing it in India.I mean,let's face it.Im probably never going to visit India on my own accord.It's not a place that attracts me,period.Save for the Taj,of course.But anyway,visiting it has been on my mind throughout the whole India trip,and so i was particularly excited about everything.
After buying a few sourvenirs from the side of the buses we headed off to the Taj,which werent very far from the hotel we were at.We got off,and were immediately swamped by the locals selling identical sourvenirs at drastically different prices.Being the bargain king,i managed to get the lowest price for almost everything i bought.Boo-Hoo to CYS,who bought that handmade chess piece from that crying little kid for S$60.Sometimes you wonder where his brain actually grows,or if he flushed it down the toilet when he was a kid.Seriously,i know you are a christian and all,but that kid was clearly out there to trick your money.I bought the exact same chess set for INR 110,that is a little more than S$4.So seriously,you got conned.Genius.
We entered through the Western gate,according to the guide.The Taj Mahal was surrounded by low walls all around it made out of sandstone.Four gates,with the Northern gate leading to the Taj itself.We got through the Western gate and before us was the main square,with a bunch of tourists already swarming up the steps to the Northern gate.Around the gates it self were words carved into the marble,inscriptions from the Koran.On top of the Norhtern gate were twenty-two little domes,that signified the years it took to build the Taj Mahal.
After entering the Western Gate.Persian style towers at both sides.
A little back story to the Taj Mahal itself.They call it a tribute to beauty,and quite literally too.It was built buy this Muslim king called Shah Jahan,who built it for his second wife,Mumtaz Mahal,who died at child birth.She was the most favoured queen by the people,as well as Shah Jahan himself.And her death brought great grief to everybody.Therefore,Shah Jahan ordered builders from all over the world,which included India,China,France and Iran,to gather in Agra to build this palace in memory of his late wife.
The Northern Gate,or the Main Gate they call it.
Anyway,we entered through the Northern gate,and before was the beautiful and astounding Taj Mahal.It took my breath away then,when i first laid eyes upon the building.It was early in the morning then,and the air was misty.The morning sun cascaded down the side of the magnificient dome at the top,and the building shimmered softly in the morning sun.It was beautiful,and i honestly speaking im out of words to describe it.It was like a living being,music frozen in time,history before our eyes.
First sight of Taj Mahal,for me.
In full glory.
The Mosque at the edge of a cliff.
One of the four towers,leaning six inches outwards.So that when an Earthquake hits the area it would fall outwards,instead of inwards into the main building.Genius.
Front entrance.
Inscriptions from the Koran.
We took pictures,lots of it as i walked closer to the Taj Mahal itself.The four towers stood tall at each corner of the building.The amazing thing about Taj Mahal,besides its beauty,is the perfect symmetry of the whole place.Left to right,from any direction,it is a perfect symmetry.From the top of the dome,all the way down to the gardens that laid before our feet.One thing,however,that wasnt symmetrical was the tomb of the king and the queen in the middle of the palace.On the left laid the king,and the right laid the queen.This is the only non-symmetrical aspect of the whole place.Otherwise,it was perfect.In fact,due to this imperfection,it made the story a tad bit more mysterious and beautiful all at the same time.
Plastic covers for our shoes.
We were in awe,as we put on plastic bags around our shoes as we entered the place.Photographs were not allowed in the interior,which is why i never took any.But then again,the most beautiful aspect was the exterior anyway,so nothing you'd miss.
We had merely half an hour to tour the place,which was awfully short really.But it was truly an astounding place,and made the whole trip to India worthy of remembrance.
Picture perfect.
Music frozen in time.
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