We started off our morning with a brief car tour pointing out some governmental buildings of Rajasthan (the state that Jaipur is in). Then we continued on to Amber fort - 11 km North of Jaipur, once the ancient capital of Jaipur state. Here our tourist extravaganza began as we were met by a snake charmer upon stepping out of the car and were soon surrounded by many street vendors. After making it through the crowd we made our way to the elephant stand where we boarded an elephant for the trip up the hill to the fort/palace. So cool...we rode an elephant! Once at the top of the hill we got off our elephant :( and headed inside to hear what stories Raj, our guide for the day, had to share. Since this was our first true tourist experience in India and our first of many palaces, we were pretty excited. This is evident by the sheer volume of photos we took here.
After Amber fort we returned to Jaipur for lunch where we met a fellow traveler who happens to be an incoming first year medical student at Southwestern - small world! The afternoon was reserved for City Palace, the Mausoleum, and shopping at the bazaars - lots of history, beautiful sights, and numerous shops. It was a fun but exhausting day!
That evening we drove out to Chokhi Dhani - a resort that puts on a nightly Indian Renaissance festival-like fair. Here we were able to have dinner as well as enjoy traditional dancers and musicians. In addition to these activities we got mendi drawn on our hands and rode a camel -- so cool! As Vida and I were about to have our camel ride, it started to rain and the power went out, but we were not about to let that get in the way of our opportunity to ride a camel so we sweet talked the camel handler and took a pitch black, rainy camel ride. It was absolutely amazing and so much fun - we laughed the entire time!
The next morning we left Jaipur en route to Agra - home of Taj Mahal and the second city in our "golden triangle" weekend tour. It was interesting to see the countryside in this area since farming seems to be a much larger part of the life here than it is in the south near Chennai and Vellore. One thing that really struck me was the use of camels, and sometimes even elephants, as domestic work animals pulling carts and hauling loads. It just seems so odd, but then here they are not considered exotic animals so I guess it makes sense.
On the road to Agra we stopped at Fatehpur Sikri - "City of Victory" or "perfect city" depending on who you ask. This city was built by Akbar a great Mughal emperor who expanded the empire to cover most of Northern India. Akbar was known for "religious tolerance" taking 3 main wives: 1 Muslim, 1 Hindu, and 1 Christian. He believed in a common truth in all religions - Din-i-llahi = Faith of God.However, Akbar war troubled by an inability to have a son until he visited a Sufi mystic at the site of Fatehpur Sikri. The city was built in honor of the mystic as a physical expression of Din-i-llahi. The problem was that there was no river nearby, so the city was abandoned shortly after Akbar's death - leaving the magnificent ruins that stand today. (In case you were wondering Akbar's liberal ideas about religion were also abandoned.)
Between Gatehpur Sikri and Agra the sun set and we were able to experience the joys of night driving in India. Very scary! There were multiple times that we thought there might be an accident: cars driving without lights then flashing their brights several times to notify us of their presence, bicyclists and pedestrians sharing the road with cars in a state of chaos equal to that in the day, but without the benefit of light. It truly is a disaster waiting to happen!
Somehow, by the grace of God, we arrived safely in Agra and made our way through the crowded, dirty streets headed toward the Taj Mahal. That is until our driver stopped and said he could not take us any farther. There is a 1.5 km perimeter around the Taj Mahal that is supposed to reduce the amount of pollution damage. I'm not sure how much good that will do, but hey I guess it is worth a try. Anyway, at that point we piled out of the car and squished all four of us (Dinesh, Claire, Vida, and I), with our luggage, onto one auto rickshaw to finish our journey at the Shanti Lodge - a budget hotel with a rooftop view of Taj Mahal in the Taj Ganj area (where the artisans lived that worked on the Taj).
After settling into our rooms we met for dinner on the roof. The food was far below average, but it did provide a beautiful moonlight view of the Taj and interesting company. We met a guy from Boston who had spent the last several months doing human rights work in Palestine and an Australian traveler who had been traveling in Nepal but was "strongly advised" to leave before the elections.
The next morning we woke early with hopes of seeing the Taj at sunrise (I guess it happens sometime before 5:45 even though we were told 6:30). Regardless, when Vida and I ran up to the roof for our first view, it took our breath away. There really are no words to describe the amazing presence of this phenomenal structure! After a short walk from our hotel we were at the gate waiting to pay our 750 Rupees, around $18 - 3 times what each person had paid to stay at Shanti Lodge (Rs-500 per room). Once inside the gate we hurried through the courtyard and there it was, a true wonder of the world! It really is more amazing than imaginable. I was awe-struck by the perfect beauty! I hope that my photographs are able to capture even a fraction of the magnificence of this tribute to love.
History of the Taj: Emporer Shah Jahan (Akbar's grandson) built the Taj Mahal as a memorial for his second wife, Mumtaz Mahal, who died giving birth to their 14th child. Construction was completed in 1653 - 5 years later Aurangzeh (Shah Jahan's son) seized power and locked his father in Agra fort where he could only gaze out the window at his marvelous creation. When he died his son laid him next to Mumtaz Mahal, disrupting the perfect symmetry of the monument.
While admiring the beauty of the Taj we coincidentally met up with Lauren, the soon to be MS1 from Southwestern, so we decided to meet her for breakfast at her hotel...much nicer than the Shanti Lodge and with much better food. After breakfast we continued on to Itmad-ud-Daula, aka "Baby Taj." This amazing structure is much smaller than Taj Mahal but it is interestingly more ornate. The Baby Taj was built during the reign of Jehangir, Akbar's son/Shah Jahan's father, and is the tomb of Jehangir's cheif minister - whose daughter happened to marry Jehangir. This was yet another truly amazing sight!
Unfortunately, our schedule did not leave us time for any of the other monuments in Agra so after Baby Taj it was off to Delhi to complete the golden triangle and catch our flight back to Chennai. Oh the drive it was interesting to see the wheat fields being harvested. People would go through cutting the stocks by hand and placing the wheat in small piles. Later they would carry the small piles on their head to a large pile in the center of the field. After that I am not sure what they do. I did see several combines driving down the road, but I never saw them in a field. Also, in town I had seen bundles of wheat sold on the stalk, so who knows what the normal process is.
Our time in Delhi was limited to the drive to the airport, but from the road it seemed like a nice city - fairly clean and working to modernize. Although I very much enjoyed visiting the "golden triangle" I was glad to get back to Vellore where the people are friendlier and it is a more calm and peaceful way of life.
1 comment:
Wow, how amazing!! I am jealous :)
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