Taj

The Taj framed in the royal entrance gate, the perspective was well planned. Walking forwards from here gives the optical illusion of Taj receding into the backround

We finally made it to Agra last night after a gruelling 12 hour plus train trip (we had seats at least) with last minute half hour stops shortly before Agra (we could have walked, but this place is renowned for copious street dogs, some quite possibly rabid...).
I had been fasting for the day in an attempt to overcome my bowel problem (seems to have worked, well I guess that doesn't prove it ;) ) and Miriam and Sophia weren't feeling flash either.
To put it bluntly ; we felt totally shagged.
And being harrassed by the countries most persistent rickshaw drivers ( he even had a little helper with him who tried to talk tours to you while driving to the destination) at the end of this trip didn't help. We couldn't be bothered with small talk, and I probably seemed a bit rude and abrupt but in the end we got to the guesthouse we had booked (cheap as) and were pleasantly surprised the restaurant was still open; around midnight.
Miriam and Sophia enjoyed a Spaghetti and macaroni with cheese and tomato and I broke my (*hrm* 12 hour) fast with a yummy toasted sandwich (coincidently around the time that the indian Congress party decided to stop Baba Ramdev's (an indian celebrity guru) two day fast against stashing black money abroad...).

Anyway, on to the Taj...

After a few hours of fitful sleep Miriam and I managed to roll out of bed and stumble up the steps to the rooftop restaurant (4:45am) to gaze at the sunrise, as the first light hit the marble dome.
Having registered this with our half-asleep brains and watched a monkey climb a tv aerial, we ambled downstairs again and fell asleep for another couple of hours...


... the alarm came and went and sometime around 9 all three of us climbed the stairs to the restaurant. We all had big appetites and tucked into "crepes" (more chapatiish) and toasted sandwiches.

...While we were eating, our chef, named Javit demonstrated how to wear a saree as me and Sophia wanted to wear our newly purchased cloth to the Taj. He tied it this way and that, causing many laughs from the boys standing round and us watching on... (this demonstration was held in the small kitchen of the rooftop restaurant at our guesthouse) (this was also the guy that told us about the sunrise and when we went up to the rooftop at 4.45, we had to creep past him as he was sleeping on a mattress atop a table fully clothed and no blanket...strange for us, but common among workers here, we are noticing)

After Javit's demo, I was still struggling and not feeling so confident, so he sent us to the women across the road who were experts and pinned everything so it wouldn't fall apart and I was happy and ready to meet the Taj!

As you can see, I dangled it from my fingertips.... (we paid this guide to take us round and he had all these tricks of the eye for the camera and also telling us about the Taj and the optical illusions created by it)

With Jo.... squinting in the sun...

A beautiful detail from the marbled walls of the Taj.

One of the archways.... decorated by red coral and some kind of black stone.. (JO?)

One of the four minarets overlooking into the Yamuna river below that passes by the Taj...

The roof of the royal guest house made of red sandstone which is local to this area.

A detail from the red sandstone guest house. (there is also a matching mosque on the other side of the Taj)

A heron, perhaps? Stalking (or a stalk) its way through the gardens around the Taj.

That's all folks! Gotta get a train to Delhi!
XXX

Jodhpur

The Mehrangarh Fort from the outside, walking up the road towards it.

The 'blue city' (the old part of Jodhpur) seen from inside the fort.

Near the gates into the inner part of the fort. There is a corner just behind us which is a 90 degree angle so that elephants can't get a run up and charge at a great speed. Also there are spikes on the gates.

Sophia and Johannes listening to the audio tour that they provided for us. It was really interesting and very well done.

Inside one of the many courtyards, looking up

The Maharaja's throne made of marble

Inside the "Pleasure Room", where they held poetry readings, music and dance performances.

We got a beautiful demo of traditional music from this guy and his brother. Here he is telling Jo about this instrument called something like 'the Sangar'

Pigeons hanging out.

Inside another one of the internal courtyards of the fort.

There is amazing lattice work like this all throughout the fort. Apparently each window has a different pattern, and enables viewers to look out without being seen themselves. Especially good for the wives who needed to know what was going on below without being gazed upon by unwanted eyes.

I think this is the room where law and courtly matters where dealt with.

Sophia relaxing after our long fort visit. (We were there for hours and hours without food and often in the hot sun, so this restaurant down in the old city was most welcomed).

Down by the markets another day...

Sarees being sold in the markets.

It feels like the end of an era almost, as today is the last spent in Jodhpur before leaving by train tomorrow morning for Agra where we will see the Taj, head to Delhi, and send Sophia off back to Australia.

We've been in this city of around a million (ahhh... we thought when we arrived. Nice and small) for five days now, it is almost becoming a sort of routine being here and we've been able to settle into long explorations of the old town's back streets filled with saree makers and spice sellers, cloth dyers and jewellery crafters. Walking through some of the quieter streets, you get glimpses into the tiny low rooms within the old blue or white stone buildings of scenes all different yet somehow similar: this intense concentration of men or boys gluing beads to the end of a staff with a matchstick end.... or the welding of metals together into some creation not visible to the eye, only the sparks hint to you what is being done. Sometimes eyes peer at you from these crevices and out into the road, other times the task is too absorbing to notice a bunch of foreigners wandering by.
Out in the market place it is all hawkers and beggars: you can't walk ten steps without getting inundated with "where you from?" "Hello!" "Yes......what you want?" shouted across from stalls, shops or boys who follow you talking, talking, trying to coax you into their "very good" shop just over there that is "very famous" even Axyl Rose has been there. True.
We are learning to say "no thank you" in a way that means people will piss off, and learning to ignore the gentle hands of small dirty children tugging at our arms and repeating a phrase over and over and over.... It makes me sad, and yet I've also heard all the stories about money being passed on to a leader-type person and about objects being sold back to the shops that sell them... We carry bananas or small things to eat and hand them out. Yet often the women with the crying babies won't take food and just keep asking for money. Do you really need food then? I think, and start to disbelieve all of them. Who to trust and who not to can be confusing at times.

On the other hand, what is a lot of money to these people is a few dollars to us, so it doesn't hurt to get ripped off a few times, although I feel much better when charged standard price for things.

 FOrgot to mention the stunning fort.... see for yourselves above in the pictures..... it's the biggest in Rajistan.

Street snapshots!

Sophia tasting a delicious street samosa with hot sauce, yum!

 

A fruit seller at the Ahmedabad bus stand. She had some stripey melons for sale which turned out to taste like honeydew melon. Maybe a different indian species?

Miriam chillin out in the courtyard of a restaurant. We had just visited the fort in Jodhpur and were re-hydrating in this place hidden away in the narrow street maze of the old city...