Yawn. We had a wake-up call for 5 a.m. and our tour car arrived at 6:15. We were very surprised to see a very nice small SUV for us to ride in. We started off for our day trip south to Agra, home of the Taj Mahal. The itinerary from the tour company states our drive is about 2-1/2 hours. The initial part of the drive takes us on a fairly modern freeway through part of the city of Delhi. We pass many ultramodern skyscrapers. I am assuming most are business and probably some hotels. We then exited the freeway to a divided road that took us to the outside of the city. This road passed some very modern and beautiful apartments and shopping complexes. But just outside those complexes were areas covered with small shacks, tents, and businesses in all sorts of disrepair and poor condition. It was quite an extreme contrast. We had to stop in one area to pay a toll. Sitting there taking the toll were two men with one of the large smoking pipes sitting on a little fire. Unfortunately I was unable to get a picture of that. We then continued on for the rest of our journey. For a good distance we traveled on divided road with painted lanes. But, that doesn’t mean anything in particular. I think it’s just a “suggestion” for driving. Cars drive down the center of the line, half in one lane, half in the other. One can also just pull over into a lane if one wants in it. The car ahead gets the right of way and the car behind either slows down or moves into the next lane and so on. Our driver also constantly is honking his horn…..either at the car in front of him or next to us – especially if they are drifting over to our space – or to let someone know we are attempting to pass or just at the birds in the road to get them to scatter. We passed through a couple of toll booths. If one decides their lane is going too slow they maneuver over into the next lane, even if it means they cut ahead of waiting cars. At one toll area the computer had just gone down. It threw the whole place “into a tizzy”. Everybody came out of their booths, yelling and gesturing. Nobody was taking money or letting anybody through so drivers got out of their cars yelling. Finally the toll people decided to just take money and let people through Quite a fiasco! After a couple of hours we stopped at a roadside “rest stop”. We were told it is for the “toilet and tea”. The toilets are in a building just before the main door. Surprisingly it is fairly clean and there are commodes! A little lady hurried in right after me greeting me. She told me to wait and ran to get a roll of toilet paper with which she rolled off a long piece of it and handed it to me. When I was finished she rushed to the sink and turned on the water…..then handed me a small stack of paper napkins to wipe my hands on. Of course they disintegrated as I tried to dry my hands. I thanked her and started out the door with her following me yelling “tip, tip”. I didn’t have any rupees and tried to explain that. She kept saying “tip”. I finally got her to understand that my husband had the rupees and I’d have to get some to give her. Sam came out of the men’s room and met me and we went on into the store. He said the same thing happened to him only the man closed the door and wouldn’t let him out until he gave him a tip. The smallest rupee Sam had on him was a 100 so he had to give that to him. That is a significant amount for that type of service here. In the store we found rows and rows of tourist type items. Walking to the back of the store we found a small restaurant where we ordered hot tea for me and a coke for Sam. Finishing that rather quickly we got up to leave. We were stopped by one of the salesmen who informed us that our driver was eating so we could just take our time looking around. Maybe we would want to buy something? So, we thought sure, why not. We’ll look. He stayed right next to us. I found a little carving of the Taj Mahal and decided I’d buy that as a souvenir. He found a little basket to put it in. Every time we commented on how nice or how cute something was he tried to put it into the basket. He followed us all around the store. When we were through he had several items in the basket. We told him that we didn’t want everything, just the Taj and a small photo book of the Taj so he took us to the cash register where we paid. He then put his hands together, bowed slightly and said it would be nice if we were to tip him for being so helpful to us!!! By then we had change so I gave him 50 rupees. We then made our way outside where I found the little lady and gave her 10 rupees. She probably felt cheated! We hadn’t been outside very long before our driver hurried out and we started on our way. Leaving the parking lot we passed a man sitting at the entrance with a pet monkey who was dancing. On the other side of the entrance was a man playing a flute and a boy holding a huge snake!! Yuck!! I know they are there hoping people will stop to take pictures and give them something. We just continued on. And on and on. We passed a couple of big Hindu temple areas where there were giant statues of the god the temple served. By giant I mean 4-5 stories tall, all painted and gilded. The driver told us that in that area of India the god, Shiva, is worshipped. There was one with spears and snakes wrapped around him. I don’t know the name of that one. We finally reached the city of Agra….about 11 a.m. So much for a 2-1/2 hr drive! It is just a small city – only about 3+ million. Maneuvering the streets crowded with beggars tapping on the car windows, cows wandering around, hundreds of motorcycles, bikes, trucks, cars, walking and standing people and mounds of trash we finally pulled over to the side of one street where the driver said our guide would meet us.
Within 15 minutes a young man opened the front passenger door, jumped in and turned and introduced himself to us as our guide. I never did understand his name although he spoke fairly good English. We then proceeded down the street and finally pulled up to an entrance to the Taj. No, we couldn’t see it yet but this is where we were to start walking. Of course, there were carts available to ride….all camel drawn. We walked on past. There were also people trying to sell small trinkets and souvenirs. We continued on. We then passed through a gate to where tickets were sold to be allowed to enter the grounds of the Taj. Our guide asked us for 1500 rupees. Although we had already paid for our tour it didn’t cover admission fees to the sites. Nor did it cover tips. And, everybody wants a tip for anything they do. Our guide asked us to wait away from the ticket area as he went to purchase our tickets. While we were waiting we noted that ticket price for Indians was 10 rupees. For everyone else it was 750 each! He then came back with the tickets to show us that each one had printed on them the cost of 750. He walked away and came back with two bottles of water and two little plastic wrapped rolls. Those rolls contained one pair of shoe covers each which we will wear later. Then on to get in line to enter the grounds of the Taj. There were 4 lines, 2 for male, 2 for female. In each section there was a line for Indians and one for “high ticket” holders…which meant us. So, our waiting time was cut down significantly. Once we got to the head of the line we did have to go through security again…where once again we got patted down. Then all bags and purses had to be scanned and also looked through to make sure there was no food hidden. That also meant no gum, breath mints, etc. Nothing that could be placed in the mouth to be eaten. Finally on the grounds of the Taj we still did not see the big white building. We were in a huge courtyard surrounded by 20-30ft walls. The one area we had come through originally was for the royal family to enter. Directly across was a gate which historically had been for the common people to enter. To our right was another gate through which diplomatic visitors had traditionally entered. All were constructed of red sandstone. To our left was a huge ornate building covered in red sandstone and white marble. Millions of inlayed precious and semiprecious stones were on the walls in intricate patterns and designs. Up one side, across the top, and down the other side was white marble using inlaid black onyx to write out the verses of the Koran. This is the gate through which we will enter to reach the gardens and the actual Taj Mahal. All the time we are walking here our guide is giving us the medieval history of the conquering of India by the Mongol Muslim rulers leading up to the one who built the Taj.
Walking through the gate we saw it. The Taj Mahal, white marble gleaming in the sunlight with nothing but blue sky surrounding it. A few more steps and we could see the beautiful gardens and pools leading to it. The Taj is a mausoleum for the third and beloved wife of the king at that time. His first two wives were arranged marriages. He was 19 when he first saw the woman who would be his third wife. She was 18. He fell instantly in love with her and loved her deeply until she died. They were married 16 years and she died shortly after birthing their 14th child. History has it that she knew she was going to die and asked him to be a father to their children, not their king…to be a son to her parents, not their king….and to build someplace to bury her which was the most beautiful place in the world and in which people would always remember their love. So, that is why the Taj Mahal was built. Wife #1 and #2 are buried in small tombs at the outside corners of the first courtyard.
We had a photographer following us around. At the first of the tour our guide brought him to us and asked us if we’d like to have a picture of us in front of the Taj for just 100 rupees. We agreed…that wasn’t much. So at different areas of the gardens he would stop us to take pictures. It’s apparently quite a business as there were several other photographers doing the same thing with other groups. He finally finished and said he would have some ready for us to look at when we finished the tour. Our guide continued the walking tour. As we approached the platforms on which the Taj sits we had to stop to put on our shoe covers. One must either be barefoot or wear shoe covers when walking on the upper courtyard and in the Taj. We again were able to cut through the crowd since we were “high ticket” holders by going up different steps to the upper courtyard. But at the steps leading to the entrance to the Taj we joined the masses again. And, it was a mass. Crowding and pushing mass of people. We entered into the inner area where the crypts are. There are two….one of the king and one of his beloved bride. Hers is in the middle….his next to it but higher on a platform. The crypts are surrounded by a marble filigree fence. You can catch a glimpse of them as you encircle the room. But, you cannot really see them except through a small door and you must encircle the room first. When we got to the doorway our guide tried to get us up close to see them. A man didn’t think we were where we needed to be and yelling and pushing occurred. Sam was even pushed but not severely. That man solidly stood his ground, made sure he took his time to look, then walked away. At that time we were able to see a little. The whole room is significantly smaller and more enclosed than I thought it would be. And, very noisy. Although there are signs to respect by remaining quiet people are talking loudly and yelling. There were also men walking around blowing whistles trying to get people to move on around in the circle. We finally left the room and went to other areas to see small passageways with windows looking into the tomb and the outside courtyard overlooking the river to the back of the Taj. Leaving the upper courtyard to the gardens we made our way back to the gate and the entrance courtyard and out to the hawkers of trinkets. We were taken to the man who had taken our photo to find he had several different poses in a little album along with a cd of all the pics….all for the low price of just 4000 rupees! Most were fairly good pics and Sam wanted to buy them…..so we did….for $70, a “bargain” (or rip-off) because I only had one $50 and one $20 and he couldn’t make change for anything larger. $10 off!! We then climbed aboard a horse-drawn buggy (included in the price of our tour) and were taken to the entrance. Of course we had to tip the buggy driver.
I now know what it feels like to be treated as royalty or VIP’s. At soon as we stepped off the entrance platform our car pulled up and the driver and our guide opened the doors for us. Amidst all the crowd of people we were whisked away. Ta-ta! We were then taken for lunch to a very exclusive 5 star Sheraton hotel with a locked entrance gate manned by costumed old British regiment soldiers. The doorman was costumed also and had a big bushy curled tip mustache. We had to go through security here again with wanding and having my purse and Sam’s camera bag scanned before ever entering the door. The inside of the hotel was gorgeous. We were taken to the dining room which was first-class all the way. It was a buffet meal with choices of Indian or Chinese food. Our guide and driver came to pick us up 45 minutes later and we set out again for the rest of our tour. But first we had to be taken to a shop for a private tour to see how the stone inlays were done. Ulterior motive to this as we were then given a private showing of their beautiful marble inlaid merchandise to purchase. Not in our price range!
Leaving there we were taken to the Agra Fort. The cost for this was 250 rupees each. This is a huge fort built over the time period of the Muslim rule of India. It is very well maintained and fairly intact with several of the palaces being restored. A great part of the fort is still used for the police and military. It was also used and maintained by the British during their rule over India. But the palace areas were open for touring. This was very interesting to go through. At the end of this tour we were taken to a fine jewelry store. We had told our guide we were not doing shopping today but either he didn’t listen to us or this was a required part of the tour. And, again…a private tour of their little museum with some very valuable pieces and then the showrooms. No buying here either!
Back in the car we wove through the streets to a place where our guide was to leave us. He turned around in his seat, put his hands together and bent slightly in a bow all the while reaching his hands out to us for a tip….which we did give him. It is expected although he also got paid by the company we had booked the tour through. It was now 5 p.m. and we started on our way back to Delhi to our hotel….reaching it finally at 10 p.m. And, yes, the driver was tipped also. After a quick room service meal of light sandwiches and cokes we went to bed. A very early wake up call awaits us in the morning.
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