Agra. Home of the Taj Mahal. It was built in the 1600's by the emporar Shah Jahan in memory of his wife. Construction took 20 years and 20,000 men, 1000 elephants, and materials from around the entire eastern hemisphere. In today's money it cost a little over 1 Billion US dollars. Even for Bill Gates, that would be a heck of a lot to spend on one building. For more background checkout Wikepedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taj_Mahal
The structure itself is truly magnificent. Its one of those places that looks good in pictures, but when you see it in person, it blows you away. Besides the size and the fact that its all symmetrical, the entire thing is made of white marble and inlaid with precious/semiprecious stones and metals.
Unfortunately, my trip to Agra was more eventful than I wanted it to be....
I got up early and took the early morning train from Delhi, stopping for a quick breakfast of an omelet and a cup of chai at a small cafe across from the train station. The train ride was nice, and upon getting to Agra I checked my bag at the station and found a great guide to show me around for the day. His fee --$10 USD for the all day tour where ever I wanted to go from 8AM until my train left at 1130 PM. He recommended saving the Taj for sunset for best pictures and seeing the other sights as first- an assortment of other historical structures like the mini Taj, the Red Fort, and some parks. As he started driving me around to these sights the day began to get hot and I began to get sick. By 11AM I started throwing up. By Noon I could barely stand up. He took me to the pharmacy for some meds, then found me a nice place to spend the afternoon lying down, hoping I would make it to see the Taj at sunset. It wasn't meant to be though. As the day progressed, I got worse, and decided to stay the night. Sabbu took me to a nice little inn with a garden full of peacocks and parrots, where I spent the next 24 hours trying to enjoy the scenery when I wasn't shooting things out of both ends. Thankfully by the next evening I was (just) strong enough to make it to the Taj, meander around and take a few pictures. (my camera lense broke somewhere on this journey to the Taj and was almost impossible to focus, but I managed a few). I think I would have appreciated the Taj more had I not been incredibly sick, but I'm glad I made it. Definitely worth a stop. The rest of the town of Agra is worth skipping, but the Taj was amazing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taj_Mahal
The structure itself is truly magnificent. Its one of those places that looks good in pictures, but when you see it in person, it blows you away. Besides the size and the fact that its all symmetrical, the entire thing is made of white marble and inlaid with precious/semiprecious stones and metals.
Unfortunately, my trip to Agra was more eventful than I wanted it to be....
I got up early and took the early morning train from Delhi, stopping for a quick breakfast of an omelet and a cup of chai at a small cafe across from the train station. The train ride was nice, and upon getting to Agra I checked my bag at the station and found a great guide to show me around for the day. His fee --$10 USD for the all day tour where ever I wanted to go from 8AM until my train left at 1130 PM. He recommended saving the Taj for sunset for best pictures and seeing the other sights as first- an assortment of other historical structures like the mini Taj, the Red Fort, and some parks. As he started driving me around to these sights the day began to get hot and I began to get sick. By 11AM I started throwing up. By Noon I could barely stand up. He took me to the pharmacy for some meds, then found me a nice place to spend the afternoon lying down, hoping I would make it to see the Taj at sunset. It wasn't meant to be though. As the day progressed, I got worse, and decided to stay the night. Sabbu took me to a nice little inn with a garden full of peacocks and parrots, where I spent the next 24 hours trying to enjoy the scenery when I wasn't shooting things out of both ends. Thankfully by the next evening I was (just) strong enough to make it to the Taj, meander around and take a few pictures. (my camera lense broke somewhere on this journey to the Taj and was almost impossible to focus, but I managed a few). I think I would have appreciated the Taj more had I not been incredibly sick, but I'm glad I made it. Definitely worth a stop. The rest of the town of Agra is worth skipping, but the Taj was amazing.
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