Category Archives: Travel

There was a lot on the agenda for Day 5 in Agra, but we only visited the Fort and went shopping in the afternoon.  

This was the palace of Shah Jahan, the Emperor who built the Taj Mahal.  Aside from it being his residence, his army also lived here

Barun was our tour guide in Agra

Monkeys spotted!! Finally!!  🙂  Friends warned us about monkeys in India- this was the first time we saw some and they were not that many- 

In every palace- a Hall of Audience

It’s a pity that many of the artworks and details on the walls have disappeared, some stolen and some that just faded through time

This hallways was once covered with carpet – imagine how beautiful that must be

And finally the Palace of Shah Jahan

Beautiful Garden surrounded by the living quarters of his 300 concubines.  In the harem there is competition among the concubines, the favored ones have better living conditions of course 🙂  But all are taken cared of including the kids.  It is an honor and a privelege for Indian women to be part of the harem 

Again lots of marble

Heart2Heart just loves the colors, the intricate details in Indian artistry

Shah Jahan was put in house arrest by his own son in this part of his palace where he eventually died

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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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     3 days in Delhi and time to move on to our next destination. Roadtrip!! H2H loves road trips 🙂  IVAT arranges everything so we have our mobile home for the trip and we also have Mohan and James with us the whole trip.  We feel so much safer having them with us

And not to worry, we have plenty plenty bottled water!!!

And we say good bye to Ravi and now have Raj as out tour guide.  It should have been one tourguide as well for the whole trip but Raj had a previous engagement and did not jive with our schedule so he came in already on day 3.  Raj is the tour guide of the stars 🙂  He told us that he has taken many VIPs and stars all around India like Germaine Jackson ( brother of Michael Jackson )  He showed us proof! 🙂

Well, now, he has an addition to his list!

This is how we are in the bus 🙂  It’s very comfortable as we were not full – I had two seats all to myself for me and my snacks 😉 Always fun to travel in a group of friends and/or family

Dad is the faithful agent of Tito Joe, he is always letting everyone listen to the new Christmas album of Tito Joe 

Previous entry:  Going Home to Christmas by Jose Mari Chan 

which he had already downloaded in his iPhone:-)

Driving in India is really a skill!!  They do not need a driver’s license to drive in India, so you can imagine.  But for some reason, they seem to be in control!  Inside the bus, we are all panicking because there were so many times when we thought we would bump another vehicle, but we were lucky nothing bad happened the whole trip. Look at this photo – i took this outside my window- I felt we were going to hit this rickshaw already – it was so close!!  

Ravi told us you have to have 3 good things when driving in India:

1.)  Good brakes

2.)  Good horn  

3.)  and GOOD LUCK! 🙂

 In India, you don’t have to have an engine, but you have to make sure you have a horn!  Everyone there blows your horn and if you do not blow your horn they will blame you for not blowing your horn.  That is their way of knowing you are coming or that you are behind them.  So you will see a lot of signs behind the trucks and buses in nice designs 🙂

 I saw this funny t-shirt in one of the stores 🙂   

You will see many of these type of photos!  Bikes bringing many many packages and delivering them.  I featured something like this before but in China and now I really believe it does exist as I saw it for myself

Previous entry:  Heavy Bicycle Loads January 10, 2011 

And that does not go only for packages, but also for people.  Many are in motorcycles and there are times you will see a whole family of 5 in one small motorcycle, I was not able to take a photo but I saw it! 

Or in a small car or jeep they will be super jam packed! I am not exaggerating!

And I am not kidding when I say you see all kinds of things on the road- cars, buses, trucks, bikes, motorcycles, pedestrian and ANIMALS!

Of course the sacred cows are plenty and sometimes they are just sitting on the road

 bulls

 And even camels

monkeys! but these were in the outskirts already

Sometimes the road is only one lane! and in the mountains!  So when there is a blind corner, the driver just blows his horn! 🙂

For me I just do not look anymore in front instead I look out my window.  There is not much scenery or beautiful views which you see in other countries, but there are many many interesting things to see in the road!  I wish I had brought my SLR camera so i could take the shots while the car was moving.  I really regret not having it with me.  Remember we are driving really fast so it is hard to take the shots but you will see a lot of people who are dressed in colorful outfits, and the scene is so picture perfect even if they are just sitting on the road or walking.  Some tourists even stop just to take the photo

This is our tour guide, Raj ( in the yellow vest ).  He went down to control and direct traffic as we were trying to make a turn due to traffic.  He saved us 2 hours by taking a detour to get to our hotel!  Amazing Raj!

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Temples and Mosques – Another beautiful structure you will see in India!  

Good exercise 🙂

When you get to the top – it’s full of shoes 🙂

You need to wear these robes to enter! I wonder how many people have used them before us…

They sell slippers and socks for 100 rupees in case you didn’t bring! Good business! 🙂

 This is normally how it is during worship days! Wow! I just got this photo from Filmapia.com

There is this bath in the middle and we had the chance to see something spectacular- which after awhile it was empty.  The bath was surrounded and they were all either, brushing their teeth, drinking the water, washing their face, washing their feet, head etc etc  – my dad was able to take a video of it- what an unusual event I have never seen.  At first we were shocked, but then later accepted it as something that was part of their culture – no one seemed to have been bothered about it – it was as if it were a normal occurrence and it was 

Each box on the floor is a space for a person to worship – where they go on their knees and pray – persian carpets used to occupy these boxes one after the other

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