Dear All,
Dan and I arrived in Agra smoothly. It wasn’t till around 9pm dan started to feel unwell..and spent the night sitting on the toilet. So instead of visiting the Taj Mahal the next day dan slept and recovered and I lazed around. He’s in on a 3 day course of antibiotics to clear out the nasty bug(easily purchased without prescription from gupta’s medical supplies). Were not exactly sure what it was, but he’s feeling a lot better today.
So finally today feeling a lot more human, we visited the Taj Mahal. Building started in 1631 by emperor Shah Jhan as a memorial to his second wife Mumtaz Mahal who dies giving birth to their 14th child. Shah Jhan was heartbroken and building started that year and was finally completed in 1653. Sadly Shah Jhan was overthrown that year by his son and spent the rest of his life only gazing at the Taj Mahal from Agra Fort. Eventually his remains joined his wife within the Taj Mahal. The Taj Mahal was built in semi-translucent white marble with inlaid semi-precious stones. From a distance it looks totally white but up close there are beautiful vines, flowers and quotations from the Qu’ran inlaid on all four sides of the Taj Mahal. There are 3 red standstone gates, and two identical red sandstone mosques on either side of the Taj Mahal. Inside a replica of their tombs can be viewed however the real tombs are housed under the floor, it was designed this way to trick thieves.
The Taj Mahal was beautiful. We visited early morning before all the tourist buses arrived so walking up the Taj Mahal was peaceful and very relaxing in the early morning sun. It was beautiful and changed colour as the sun came up, can understand it being one of the seven wonders of the world.
From there we treated ourselves to a very tasty exepensive lunch in a nearby very flash hotel. Lunch seemed expensive but was around the same as prices in Australia, but expensive by Indian standards. The hotel was beautiful and is one of the most talked about hotels in India, Salman Rushdie, Will Smith, Meg Ryan and World Leaders all stay here, just from wandering the entrance dan and I could understand why, it was gorgeous. Although we couldn’t justify the ridiculous prices starting at $900 a night, it was a very nice lunch and afternoon.
Were off to Delhi in the morning for a few nights.
Hope all is well,
Lots of love, Jess xoxxo
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