We made it to Delhi and braved the traffic to get to our hotel. On Monday we piled into a taxi (hired mini van) for our trip down to the Taj Mahal in Agra, India. I’ve mentioned the traffic in previous posts, but Delhi being the nation’s capital also takes the prize for worst traffic. I will never look at a crawl along the blue route in the same way again.
When we got out of the city proper we got onto a very nice and new three lane highway (Yamuna Expressway) for the 100 mile or so journey. Along the way we passed Jaypee Sports City. It was a massive construction project to build housing and a number of sports complexes in the same area. The website tells it all, i just couldn’t believe how many miles we drove and kept passing it. They are basically building a new sports focused city in the middle of the wheat fields.
After we got past the sports city, we drove past miles and miles of wheat fields. I stopped counting miles, but they basically lined the entire journey.
We reached Agra in the early afternoon and navigated the traffic to make it over to the Taj Mahal Area. It was amazing to see this structure in person. I didn’t really research the Taj Mahal before this trip. Primarily because we weren’t going to make it there, plans changed and we got the opportunity. It truly is one of the seven wonders of the world. The building and surroundings is actually a Muslim tomb for the wife of the emperor Shah Jahan. Completed in 1653 after 22 years of construction employing 20,000 people. The wikipedia link will provide you with a detailed history rather than me repeating it.
A view with some of the gardens in the foreground.
View from the south gate.
View from the south with the fountain in the foregroun.
Howard, Arun, and Justin at the Taj Mahal.
A view of the East gate from the south side. We were standing on the large marble elevated area surrounding the building.
Shot of the east gate. There are gates at the east, west, and south. The north is closed in by a river.
After our visit to the Taj Mahal we went to pick up Gabrielle (Arun’s father) from the train station. We had to wait for the train to come in in the parking area. While we were sitting there a man with elephantiasis rode on a tricycle like bike to talk with some other people in the parking lot. Reminded me of the reasons we came and stood in stark contrast to the building I had just toured.
We got Gabrielle and headed back to Delhi. He and Howard catching up along the way.
MPC India Journey 