The problem with going to bed at 645 is I wake up at 345, feeling ready to go and rested. I started to catch up on my journal and then realized I needed to figure out the safe. I ended up going to the front desk and they sent someone up who very quickly demonstrated it and gave me a "look". I was left with the feeling that I had failed women everywhere and feminism in India had just taken a hit.
My Taj Mahal tour began at 600 am. The guide told me that today would be Indian style. I had thoughts about what that might mean, extreme bargaining even at lunch? Everything was within walking distance but he didn't want to walk. This would be a recurring situation throughout the day. His answer to my "Let's walk.": "We will walk later." We got to the ticket house for the Taj and it was packed. He pointed to a spot and told me not to move. He was back about 25 min later and told me that Indian style began now. This involved pushing our way onto a bus while people tried to block me and pull me off anyway they could. I persevered. He may have helped push me through them. Someone did. I saw him pay the driver to sit in the cab. Our next adventure in "Indian Style" was the actual entrance to the Taj Mahal. He directed me to go into the Indian national line because it was completely empty (There are 4 lines to enter the Taj: foreign men, Indian men, foreign women, and Indian women). The guy let me go through and I merged with the other foreigners 100s of people ahead. We went through a working medal detector (those have been everywhere, but have only appeared to function at the hotels, the mall, and here) and all bags and purses (also like everywhere else) went through a scanner.
I was inside in around 5 minutes which was about an hour and half less than I expected with the line. The sun was just beginning to rise and my first glimpse of the Taj was a take your breath away kind of moment.
The Taj Mahal is magical. I have seen so many pictures over the years and nothing has done it justice. It has been described as "perfect" and I would argue that that is appropriate. Built by Shah Jahan and made of white marble and semiprecious stones, one can understand why it took 22 years to build, 20,000 workers, and 20,000 elephants to carry the marble from Rajasthan. The inlay stone work is just short of miraculous. Hundreds of 22 -66 leaf flowers and other decorations in lapis, onyx, amethyst, mother of pearl, turquoise, jade, crystal, coral, and carnelian adorn it. It was built to honor the Moghul's 3rd and favorite wife who died during the birth of their 14th child. There is a legend which hasn't been proven is that he wanted to build a black Taj Mahal on the other side of the river as a shadow to the actual one. For bearing 14 children she deserved the shadow and maybe 2 more. Shah Jahan's son, who is described as "pious and intolerant" eventually seized power from his dad and imprisoned him in Agra Fort where they say he spent his final days at the window of his room looking at the Taj most of the day.
The Taj is currently threatened by air pollution, specifically sulphur dioxide which results in making the marble yellow and flaky forming a fungus (marble cancer). The government has banned all gasoline-fueled vehicles within 500m, enacted laws for the installation of pollution-control devices, and created a ban on new industrial plants in a 10,400 sq km area around it.
After this, it was back to my hotel to eat breakfast and check out. Then on the itinerary was Agra Fort which is really a walled city. The fort was built in the 1500s and in 1558 the moghul at that time made it the capitol and had it rebuilt with red sandstone (It was later partially renovated by Shah Jahan with you guessed it, white marble. I mean when you like something and have thousands of elephants are your command, might as well stick with it). The fort covers 94 acres, has walls that are 70 feet high and a double moat system. The outer moat ring housed crocodiles and the inner ring had tigers.
The guide then told me he would like to take me to teach me about artistic technique. In almost every country I have visited recently this means: I am going to take you to the shops where I get paid if you buy something. So we went to the marble in-lay place where I saw the mini Taj Mahal I had had in my living room growing up (thanks Hasan). This was followed by the embroidery place which had some of the most beautiful intricate tapestries (I couldn't get two thoughts out of my head: 1. Hannah would LOVE THIS. Precious gems + gold thread + incredible artistry. 2. This has to be the origin of those hideous black velvet prints that glow under black light. Think tiger jumping at you. You probably new a guy who owned one in college or at least saw one at Myrtle Beach or the Jersey Shoer.). Next was jewelry. All of it was pretty but unimpressive except for this one pair of earrings. Of course it turns out that they were antiques from the time of the Moghul's, real gold, rubies and emeralds and "the best thing we have in the store". I won't talk about the price. One day. Finally I was taken to a "textiles" shop which was the place I thought I might actually buy something however the fabrics were dull in comparison to almost everything that I had seen adorning Indian women.
Lunch followed at a place called Golden State and was pretty good. After lunch and 4 banks later I had enough rupees to pay the driver and had discovered that the reason most of the banks were out of money was the prime minister demonetized the old 500s and what sounds like completely got rid of the the 1000 bills in November. This equals lines at most banks and ATMs for withdrawal. My guide said it is because he was trying to get rid of counterfeit money.
I paid and tipped the guide and we set off for the 5 hour drive to Ramthanbore. The drive through the country was a wonderful way to see more of villages and towns. I found myself wishing that I could be out walking on the streets. Some brief impressions from my drive. India is incredibly vibrant and has an energy all its own. Seeing it firsthand it makes sense that women working in the field are glittering in bold colored saris. It at least in my few days here is a place in motion and a chaos that makes sense.I can see why people fall in love with this country. It is a place like no other, with its own special indescribable magic, one you have to see and experience to believe.
The Treehouse hotel is beautiful and reminiscent of the Grand Budapest Hotel. Just looking around on arrival made me smile. I almost immediately met a couple from London that had just gotten back from their 3rd safari with only a brief far away tiger sighting that afternoon. She was apparently walking away from them through the trees. They were incredibly nice and asked me to join them at dinner. They were delaying their trip to Jaipur the following day to attempt one more time to see a tiger. We had a delicious dinner (Another buffet. Aaack. So. Much. Delicious. Food.). And it was nice to have company for a meal instead of a guide and or driver staring at me from afar while I eat (I had asked each person to join me but that had politely deferred).
Each night there is an activity at the hotel and tonight it was a BBC wildlife documentary. They were planning to attend. I was tired from my early wake up so I headed to bed.
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