Agra

Well it has been a great day! We had a nice home cooked Indian style breakfast which consisted of potato panthra and curd or yoghurt. Was very yummy! We are staying with a Sikh family and apparently hindu’s have a lot of jokes about Sikh people and chickens, so when Sud picked us up this morning he made a smart joke in front of the man we are staying with! We will have to tell you the jokes when we get back! We then headed out to the Taj Mahal! Was about 1km walk from the gate where Sud dropped us to the entry gate for the Taj Mahal and the whole way you are pestered to get a guide for the Taj Mahal or buy some keyrings and postcards or get a rickshaw to the gate. So we pretty walked the whole way saying no thank you, no thank you, no thank you, no thank you, NO I AM NOT INTERESTED LEAVE ME ALONE! We finally got to walk through the arch and got our first good look at the Taj Mahal! Was pretty amazing! It was already pretty busy, there were people everywhere! The massive gardens at the front of the Taj spread everyone out a bit so it didn’t feel to chaotic at all was quite peaceful and relaxing. We took heaps of photos and then headed inside! We were given shoe covers so we didn’t have to take off our shoes! I guess there would be a lot of shoes lying around if everyone took them off! We headed up and into the Taj and was actually really quite tall when you got close! Inside was the tomb of Mumtaz Mahal and next to hers, ( the only asymmetrical thing about the Taj Mahal) was Shah Jahan’s tomb aswell. The detail in the Taj is beautiful, all made of white marble with intricate floral designs all in precious stone. The inside was quite small, compared to what it looks from the outside! We walked a few laps around the Taj Mahal and made sure we touched all four towers! We came back down and walked around the Taj again and then found a lovely park bench to sit and enjoy the view of the Taj. It really was amazing I didn’t want to leave! From there we went and had a small lunch as tonight was Pizza Hut night with Sud! Pizza was what Rudi was looking forward to the most when he woke up…not the Taj Mahal! Anyway we had a nice but small lunch…Indian Spicy! Sud then took us to a place that makes carpet and I got to have a go at tying some knots…sounds fun hey! We then had a look at the beautiful carpets they had for sale and of course we bought one. (for the house we don’t have!) Sud had told us he knew these people for a long time and we could send all our other shopping back home from here through UPS! It was about 21kg without the carpet! ARGHHHH! Anyway after a second trip back later in the day so they could get a carton, it is all packaged and sealed and hopefully we arrive safe and sound! We then were running out of time to see the Fort so we decided to do a quick drive around and look from the outside…apparently very similar to the Red Fort in Delhi which we will see on our return to Delhi in a week or so! We then went to what is known as the Baby Taj, it is very similar but not quite as amazing as the Taj! It is a lot smaller but it has a lot more of the intricate work all over and inside aswell! The stones used were not as nice also but very beautiful all the same. We then went to a point behind the Taj on the other side of the river to watch the sun set! It wasn’t too bad but the river is pretty dirty and it wasn’t a very nice spot but the sunset was nice! We then headed back to watch them pack our bits and pieces to send home and decided to skip the pizza as Sud wasn’t very well and we wanted to take him for pizza with us because he said he loves pizza! Rudi was only a little disappointed as he wasn’t very hungry! We have postponed it but he will still get his pizza somewhere! So now we are back home and about to go to the dining room to have some dinner! The man that owns this place invited us to come sit in his living room and I think he said he has his daughters photo album….could be a long night! Anyway continuing on our journey tomorrow, think its about 5 hour drive to Orchha!