More than 2 weeks have past by since I’ve last updated the weblog, I’m sorry for that! The reason for this is because of an unscheduled change of plan and lack of time: due to intestinal problems I’d been having we decided to go to Delhi to have it checked up by a medical doctor in an internationally accredited hospital. As the doctor decided to run a stool and blood test we had to wait for a couple of days in Delhi belly … I wanted to stay there as short as possible so as to carry on with the original itinerary. Unfortunately we had to stay there for 5 days and they even had to search ‘within’ with an endoscope. I won’t go into the details, let’s just say it’s not comfortable … The hospital was however good and the doctor told me I’m suffering from IBS, meaning “irritable bowel syndrome”; so no parasites, no bugs, no ulcers. That was good enough for me though I was quite puzzled by these problems that seem to keep coming back.
Now back to nicer stuff: before going to Delhi we were in Agra: the location of the world heritage site of the mausoleum “Taj Mahal”. We took the night train from Bundi, again a tiresome 12 hour journey with snoring people in a bad smelling, dirty train. On that train we met a very nice woman who was traveling with her son. They were from the Bask country and she was actively engaged in promoting peace over there. She told us some amazing stories of what it’s like if you want to make a change over there and how local people would often react with silence when another terrorist attack takes place - out of fear for repercussions.
When we arrived in Agra the next morning they decided to join us to the same hotel and we did a little bit of sight seeing. As an appetizer for the real thing we went to visit the “baby Taj” that was constructed before the real one. We hooked up with our Bask friends a couple of time and had a good time with them.
The next morning at 06:00 AM we were the first to enter the REAL Taj Mahal. It was indeed astounding and worth the money (it’s the most expensive monument in India costing about 15 Euro’s for foreign visitors!). Very soon the place was loaded with people, but nonetheless it was impressive as well as the outlying buildings and garden. Especially the feature of the changing of the white domed marble with the moving of the sun is fascinating!
That same day we left for Delhi. I won’t go too much into that because it was just boring and annoying to be there. Something that is worthwhile mentioning is the Ghandi museum we visited; the story of this man is touching.
