Sunday, August 14th left hotel at 7am for Agra where the Taj Mahal is located. I was not feeling all that well this morning but there was a group going to see the Taj Mahal and I didn't want to miss out. I think it is about 126 miles from New Delhi but it ended up taking 4 1/2 hours to get there.

There were so many interesting sites along the way! As you can see in the first picture below one of the things you see a lot on the side of the road are cows. Sometimes they are even in the middle of the road!!

All through out the trip - in New Delhi and even in the smaller towns in between you saw people living on the side of the road and I don't mean like in the picture below. The people below actually have a house that looks some what normal. Mostly what you see are people literally living on the side of the road. They just lie on the ground right beside the road - some lay on mats, some right on the dirt. I will try and get a picture of this eventually. Not only are they sleeping on the side of the road they do everything else on the side of the road. I saw one guy shaving, people eating, and even people going to the bathroom (mostly men - although I did see one little girl). The bathroom thing you see a lot - they do face away from you but what I don't understand is why they don't walk 10 more feet to go behind the bush or tree. Same w/ sleeping. You would think they would go 100 feet off the road so it would be more quite and less dusty but nope!


As you see above these people have their cows tied up! This picture was right along the road - we just pulled right over and took a picture.


Here is another typical view right along the road. This is some type of market where they are selling all kinds of things. There was always so much going on right along the road.

There have been so many things that I wish I took pictures of! First, we were about half way through our trip and the driver started pulling over. As he was pulling over we spotted some monkeys and then even a bear! At first we thought they were so cute and we pulled out our cameras - as we were doing this our driver was saying something - there were all kinds of things going on at this point so I didn't really catch what he was saying but I think he was saying something about them wanting money if we took pictures. At first we thought it was okay b/c we wanted to get pictures of the animals. Just as that was going on our driver got out of the car and disappeared. The other people in the car took a few pictures - I ended up not taking any b/c as I looked closer it was kind of sad. They monkey and bear were there so these men could make money and they were very aggressive about it. Just as Beth was done taking a couple pictures the guy was demanding 500 (just over $10) rupees - which was a lot of money for India. She ended up giving him 50 rupees but the guy kept hassling her. They were getting real aggressive wanting her to pay more and I kept trying to role up the window. At this point we just wanted to get out of there. We all started looking around for our driver but he was no where in site. We finally got all our windows up and we were really getting mad our driver disappeared on us! More people came up to the car trying to sell us all kind of things - jewelry, wooden chess sets, etc. They just push them right up to the glass on the window. Then a guy w/ a Cobra snake came up and started trying to make his snake dance for us. It was the most disgusting snake I'd ever seen. It was flat like - not round like most snakes and it had its cobra like head. It looked like it wasn't taken very good care of!! When I saw that I really started to freak out! Finally after another 5 min our driver showed up! We tried asking him where he was but he played like he didn't understand the question - when previously he had been talking w/ Bruce in the front seat - answering all his questions along the way. It was a very strange and a little to convenient!

A second thing that I found very bizarre was when we got to Agra we hit this train crossing. The arms for the crossing gate were down - we happen to be about the second car in line. There are all these mopeds, motorcycles, etc that are always on the road. Well a majority of these people were leaning their bikes down to go under the rail and crossing the tracks (the rail isn't like in the state where you could go around if you wanted - it stretches across the whole road). This was going on for over 5 min - it was crazy - and none of them even hesitated looking for a train coming. I don't know if it was a common thing for them to put the crossing arm down well in advance so everyone is use to it or what but I just kept waiting for the train to come and wipe all these people out. I'd say at least 30 - 40 people crossed under the arms - both ways!


St. Johns College - made of red sandstone - one of Agra's most prestigious colleges and apparently there are a lot of colleges in Agra. Agra is the city where Taj Mahal is located and it has about 1.5 million people in the city.


Entry way into the Taj Mahal. As you can see from the picture there were a ton of people there that day. It was the day before Independence Day so it was probably a high tourist time. I was really surprised at the crowd - I don't know why but I expected more 'white' tourist from the US and Europe but it was probably about 98% - 99% Indian. It was also VERY hot!! Our guide said it was 120 degrees - I don't think it was that hot but definitely somewhere b/w 100 and 110.



Below is a closer view of the North gate into the Taj. The flower design you see on the building is made with precious stones built into the white marble. It was really beautiful. The small domes on the top of the entry way represent the number of years it took to build the Taj - there are 11 that you can see in this picture and another 11 on the back side of the entry way.

Here is the Taj - it was amazing! It was build by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his favorite wife (note the favorite wife bit - which means he had several), Mumtaz Mahal, who died in 1631.

Again, notice all the people!



Below is Myself, Beth Moore, Jamie, and Bruce Williams. All are Hewitt Associates.

This was a famous pose that everyone was doing. They wanted me to lay on the bench - kind of like a model pose but I refused to do that one - it felt silly and the bench was about 150 degrees to sit on.


Here is a closer view of the Taj Mahal. The tomb of Mumtaz Mahal and her husband are inside. We went in there to see it but one there wasn't much to see and two getting inside was one of the most miserable experiences of my life! You walk into the entry way where everyone is waiting to go through this doorway. There was no breeze - and I guess marble doesn't hold coolness like stone b/c it was probably around 95 - 100 degrees in there and people were packed in very closely - I don't think I've EVER sweated so much in my life! We were really debating about going in to the tomb part - I wish we hadn't!! We made our way to the doorway and you literally had to fight your way through the door. People are going both in and out. The men have NO regard for the women and just push themselves through - it was the most bizarre thing I've experienced. Once we go in - like I said there really wasn't much to see. It wasn't as crowded once you got in but it was pretty warm - so we didn't stay long. Getting out was worse. Bruce tried to be nice and hold the crowd back a little so the girls could go through but the Indian men did not like that at ALL. There was some words - none of which we understood and some definite looks - and they weren't nice looks! It was surreal!!





The writing in black on the side actually gets bigger as it goes up so that it looks the same size as the bottom when you are looking up from the ground.


This is a monument to the West of the Taj Mahal - it is all part of the whole thing.





Me sitting on the Taj - this gives you an idea of how big it is!


This is the view as we were leaving. It isn't a really good picture to show you but this is where you give your ticket to get in. There were long lines w/ me standing as close to each other as you could possibly stand. We got lucky and didn't have to wait in this line - b/c we had a guide he told us to go to the very front and just go in. He talked to one of the guys taking tickets and they let us in. I was really surprised that people waiting in the line didn't complain or even say anything. To get into the Taj we couldn't bring food or electronics (except we could bring a camera). By electronics they clarified that they meant a phone or calculator - not sure why they would say calculator but it was said many times!! When you go through the entrance they search your bag and then as you walk by they feel you up to make sure you don't have anything on you - it was again a very strange experience!!

Also I was just talking to a co-worker and she told me that when she went to visit the Taj she went with some Indian people. We had to pay 750 rupees (~$17 US dollars) to get in and the Indians only have to pay 40 rupees (~ 50 cents). It is like that in a lot of places - especially on air fare around India.



This is a picture of the Red Fort - we had kind of had enough w/ the Taj so we decided just to do a drive by!!


This is a view of the Taj Mahal from the Red Fort.


The back of the truck says Blow Horn - you see that or Honk Please on all the trucks. Basically if you are driving down the road and the car in front of you is going to slow you just honk your horn until they move over. I've learned that some drivers are more horn happy than others - sometimes they will just do a little beep - others will lay on it until the car moves over. Another thing about driving here that is funny is the lanes. There are usually about 2 lanes on most roads we go on, but in India they make 2 lanes at least 3 lanes - so basically there are no lines - you just go where you can to get by other cars. Also at some intersections if there is a light and it is red and you feel you can go - cars just go through the red light - kind of like stop signs in the US - sometimes they become rolling stop signs if no cars are near by.


I was use to seeing cows in the road but they said these were Water Buffalo!

As you can see they have the right of way!!


The Water Buffalo where heading to water!


This guy was just walking down the middle of the street w/ his goods! The veggies looked very good but that would probably end badly if I were to try and eat any of it - especially since it looked like it was peeled w/ a knife.


This was a camel in the road as we were heading back to Delhi - this is a major highway! Not something you see often!


Here is some more of the sights on the road back to Delhi from Agra! Notice the huts in the back ground.


These are some women we saw on the trip back. They were carrying water back to their house. She had to cross the highway so her face wasn't covered but as soon as she saw us pull over and try to take a picture she covered her face - not really sure what the custom is here!


This was a house that was next to the picture below. This is Lord Shiva, I believe it is one of the Hindu Gods.



Here is a picture of the Auto Rickshaws. There are a lot of people in this one!!


Interesting sign along the highway - we were stuck in traffic waiting to pay a toll.

From what I've heard the police often take bribes - the guy in all brown is a police officer and he was taking money form these guys so I can only assume it was a bribe.