Taj Mahal

Arrived in hotel, had lunch, checked in the room and then headed for the Taj before Sunset

From the hotel a golf car took us to the Taj which is very very near – just turn left from the gate and a few meters –

  then you have to walk a little to the entrance

  It’s 750 rupees for tourists and only 20 rupees for Indians.  They say a good time to come so it is not crowded would be early in the morning

 Strict inspection before entering

 Entry before the Taj

 In India, it’s always about intricate details

 You can have a dramatic entrance to the Taj by standing on this square

 Walking slowly as you see the Taj and its surrounding getting wider and wider 🙂  DRAMATIC 🙂

 WOW!  I feel so blessed just standing and seeing this!  20,000 workers built this for 22 years!  They used elephants to bring the marble.  The base is made of Teakwood Bamboo posts so it is earthquake resistant 🙂  The posts on the sides in the four corners are leaning outwards so in case there is an earthquake it won’t fall on the Taj.  It is 81 meters tall or around 20 stories  

Mumtaz Mahal was the second wife of the Emperor and she was his Love marriage.  The first was arranged and the third was Political.  Mumtaz died while giving birth to her 14th child and she asked the Emperor to build her the Taj and he granted her wish!

View from the opposite side

 Still foggy.  Every 8 years, they clean the Taj Mahal with just soap and water.  We were lucky they just cleaned it 2 years ago and that we didnt catch them cleaning it or else there would be scaffoldings around the structure

The Taj Mahal faces south so that the sunlight is on the Taj Mahal all the time

Good thing you don’t have to remove your shoes, but they give you these to cover your shoes

There are two building on each side – on the left is a mosque and on the right is just an empty building – just to balance the mosque structure 🙂

Beautiful garden view from the top

Everything is in marble and everytime someone walks here, they are cleaning the marble 🙂

Since no photos were allowed, I could only take the entrance to the mausoleum.  There is a line but not so long at the time we were there.  And when you enter it is not as crowded as I expected so it was okay.  We were warned about smell again upon entering, but maybe because it was not crowded and since it is Winter time, then it is okay.  

I got this photo from the internet from cityphotos.us ( http://www.cityphotos.us/taj-mahal-pictures)

 

These are my photos again outside the Taj by the entrance

Indian marble is not porous unlike other kinds of marble

Beautiful inlaid marble – the more precious stones are inside the Taj but we were not allowed to take photos

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