Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India (By Mel)

Hello from the home of the Taj Mahal,
We are at our last stop in India. We are in Agra in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Agra is famous for being the home of one of the modern seven wonders of the world, the Taj Mahal. It has always been a dream of mine to see it and now I did!
Sunday the 20th of April, was Easter Sunday. The kids were wondering if the Easter Bunny will find them in India and it did! The Easter Bunny is well organised and got them lollies hidden in the hotel room. The kids were so happy to find them!
After that, it was time to take a train once again. The kids were a bit worried after our last experience at the Jaipur train station (when we arrived it was a bit scary as the platform was incredibly packed), but we had no issue at all this time and everything went well. We jumped on the train and it left almost on time! Which is rare in India. We even arrived a few minutes early in Agra; what a surprise!
We tuktuked to our guesthouse and settled in our room as usual. We were hungry so went in look of some food. After filling our belly, we went looking for a shop to refill our sanitary bag. It is not that easy. There is a lot of tiny shops here (think of counter open on the street, where you don’t get in, you just ask what you need), but as we needed a few different items, we were looking for something bigger where we could look for ourselves. We asked a tukutk to take us to big shop. “Yes no problem”. He took us to a bigger shop, well, slightly bigger shop. I guess in this one we could walk in: there were 2 tiny aisles, where to be honest, we found almost everything we were looking for. So not bad!
We didn’t do much else that day.
During the night, an electric transformer blew up and the whole street end up with no power, which means no fans!!!! And it is hot here!!! Power outages are pretty common in India and we have had a lot, but not as long as this one! It lasted from around midnight until sometime in the morning when they could fix it. Our room without fan got really hot. We end up on the terrace reading book at 2am. But after a while as we opened all doors and windows, the room got a bit cooler and we went back in and surprisingly manage to get back to sleep for a little bit.
When we woke up again, we went to the Agra Fort which looks massive from the outside. The fort covers a surface of 380 000m2, but a big part of it is still in used by the India army, so you can only visit one small part of it. Nobody is sure when the initial fort was constructed but from the 15th century, the ruler of the area started adding buildings to the preexisting fort. The fort was hold by different groups/rulers through the centuries as local wars were going on. It is now owned by the Indian government. There are several buildings inside the fort, some made of red sandstones, and some made of white marble depending on which ruler built it. Both are beautiful. There are carvings, inlay decorations with several type of semi-precious stones, domes beautifully decorated, fountains which were unfortunately off, but looked amazing. We were done faster than we thought as we didn’t know we will only be able to visit just a portion of it.
After that, we decided to walk in the bazaar. Boy it was an experience! It was busy, noisy, colours everywhere, people everywhere, you can find anything you want, you just need to know where to go! There are a lot of stands selling fabrics, clothes, food, bangles, locks and anything in between. I love walking in this kind of ambiance. It is crazy, yes, but it is so full of life! But the kids were a bit worried as they are smaller and there are bikes, tuktuks, cows, dogs and people everywhere. We walked a bit in it but not too long. We went to look for a café type of place, but it is not common here in India. You can buy a chai at a small stand and drink in standing up, but not many places, outside of touristic area have sitting down places. So after looking with no success, we got a tuktuk to take us back to our guesthouse to get out of the sun and rest for a bit.
Our room is near the Taj Mahal. One thing I forgot to mention about Agra, is that obviously, there are a lot of tourists here, and there are a lot of tuktuk, and street sellers, restaurants which cater to tourists. But as there are a lot of them, the competition is fierce and when they saw white people (who have usually more money than Indian tourists) they want them badly. It sometimes can be very annoying and overwhelming. They will follow us for 5 minutes to try to get us in the tuktuk, or put stuff right in front of our faces (personal space means nothing in India) to try to get us to buy. They don’t seem to understand no. And I get it, it is their livelihood, but when you have that 50 times (or more) in a day, it gets a lot. Agra (as Jaipur) seems to be extreme in that aspect. It can sometimes make our experience less enjoyable as it is hard to have to say no every few meters. We had tuktuk pulling in front of us while we were walking to block our path… It is not fun.
The next day was an exciting day for me. Taj Mahal day! We got up early (5am) to catch the sunrise because apparently it is one of the best time to see the Taj. Almost nobody in the streets, that is nice. We get to the entry, I got our tickets online, so no waiting, and we get to the security. They ask if we have a flag, “Nope”, can I check your bag,” yes of course” (we don’t have a choice). “You can’t have that!”. We travel with a picture of the kids school mascot, so the kids can take pictures with it and send it to their school. It has a logo on it (the school one), so that is not allowed in…. Not sure why. The kids don’t want to lose it, so they promise us to keep it safe and we can have it back on our way out (we did, to the kid’s great relief).
The Taj Mahal is a mausoleum commissioned in 1631 by the fifth Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan to house the tomb of his beloved favourite wife (he had at least 3 others but probably more), Mumtaz Mahal, who died giving birth to her 14th child that year; it also houses the tomb of Shah Jahan himself who died in 1666. The construction of the mausoleum was completed in 1648, but work continued on other phases of the project for another five years. The Taj Mahal represents the finest and most sophisticated example of Indo-Islamic architecture.
Let’s go visit the place! We arrived in the forecourt which is where the main gate is. From that gate you get your first sight of the Taj Mahal. I loved that entrance. There is this dark arch where you see in the distance, this massive white marble monument. Once you pass that arch, you can take the view in completely. There are symmetric massive gardens all around the Taj Mahal. In the middle is the Taj Mahal: it is 55 meters on each side as well as high (well the dome is). The dome is a perfect onion shape (that is the technical term!). There are four 40 meters tall minarets, one on the 4 corners. Each side of the Taj is decorated with 3 arches and many inlay decorations with a lot of precious and semi-precious stones. There is also inscriptions of verses of the Qu’ran around each arch made in inlay of black marble. The place is stunning. Truly.
We came here at sunrise as it says everywhere this is the best time to see the Taj Mahal, and it is because there are less people than during the day and the temperature is nicer. I also read about the marble changing colours throughout the day, and I have to admit that I did not see that. Yes the sun is reflecting its morning colours on the Taj, but it is not a massive change! Also the sun doesn’t raise behind the Taj (as I was imagining) but on the side, so to see it raise somewhat behind the monument, you need to come to the left side of it. It is nevertheless a magnificent monument amazing to see anytime of the day!
The inside is a big octagonal room with the 2 “fake” tombs of the sha and his wife. The real tombs are in a room under. There is beautifully decorated screen around the tombs, with latticed type decorations, so you can see through it. The interesting thing about that room is the sound! It is really noisy because every sound is magnified. Even a whisper will be heard. You can imagine with all the tourists there, how noisy it gets! This was made in purpose: there used to have people reciting the Qu’ran continually to honour Muntaz soul. The 28 seconds reverberation time (time between when a sound is made and when the last echo died) would let the prayers linger in the air.
Around the Taj are more buildings made of red sandstones: a mosque, a guesthouse, a wall on 3 sides, the 4th is open on the river. The whole place is magnificent.
We walked around taking on the view. There is a small museum which open at 9am so we waited for that and visited it when it opened. It has some interesting artefacts.
After that we went in search of breakfast and despite being in the most touristic area, we found a nice place with great service and reasonable prices. We also bought some postcards and one magnet made of marble (that is the only souvenir we buy from places). After that a bit of rest back in the room and then out again. This time to see what is called the Baby Taj. This is a small mausoleum for the grand father of Mumtaz Mahal buried in the Taj Mahal. The real name is Itmad-ud-Daula. It is a lot smaller than the Taj Mahal, but with a lot more decorations. The settings are similar to the Taj with gardens around and the mausoleum in the middle. It was built between 1622 and 1628, so before the Taj Mahal. The entirety of the walls is decorated with inlay. Inside the ceiling are also heavily and beautifully decorated. It is not as impressive as the Taj Mahal but it is still worth a visit.
We then went to the park across the Taj Mahal to watch the sunset. Again it is not anywhere near the Taj, but the colours are supposed to change… Not sure if it is my eyes, but I didn’t see it! I was still happy to be able to take pictures of the Taj Mahal from a different point of view. The park in itself was pretty average and nothing really interesting to mention. Then dinner and bed!
On the 23rd, we wrote the postcards we bought the day before and went to find the post office. We got out of the hotel and realised that the main road which leads toward the Taj Mahal is blocked. And yes, we read a few days ago that the vice president of the orange buffoon is coming in Agra. Great this is today! This road is closed and everything in it is closed too. The Taj is closed to tourist until he leaves. Luckily, we went yesterday. We read that they cleaned the road he is taking; the only things we notice is that there is no Indian people on that road: is that what they call cleaning? Gosh I don’t like politicians. Especially those.
Anyway, we’ll take the back streets. Which I prefer anyway. Yes they are dirty and uneven, but they are full of life. On the way, as school are closed (for the same reason the Taj is closed) there are a lot of kids saying “Hello”, “What is your name” and wanted to shake the Andrew and Emma’s hands. We found a little (tiny) post office and I asked for stamps: apparently, I need 2 per postcards and I have 19 postcards. I said I can put them on myself, but the guys insist on doing it. And he is doing it very slowly There are people waiting for other things and I feel bad that I am making them wait longer! 2 women are very interested in me and one speak a little English, so we talk. I love those interactions. One of them look at my tattoos on my arms and it makes her laugh. She looks at my white skin too and I lift the sleeve of my shirt revelling my even whiter skin on my shoulder, which makes her laugh too! I says that I love the colour of her skin: that made her smile, a happy smile I think. We talk about my children; a boy and a girl, this is good! (I’ve heard that a few time in India). The guy is finally finished with the stamps and I say goodbye. I love those little moments when we travel. Those are some of the most interesting parts of traveling.
We are going back to our room as we are not sure what is open today. Schoolwork and blog it is. Toward the end of the afternoon Andrew start to feel crap and he is hot. A few painkillers and a nap should help. Hopefully this is nothing too bad.
He ended up being a bit sick during the night but nothing dramatic. He was kinda better by the next day, just a little bit tired still.
Kev went to find an ATM, while me and the kids stay in the room as Andrew is resting, as we are running out of cash (this is obviously an ongoing thing when you travel!). The problem is that not every ATM take our bank card, but the other issue in India is that often we find ATM which are not even on, or not working or with no cash in it. It makes the hunt for money a lot harder. Kev came back empty handed. He had dinner by himself when he was out. When he come back Emma and I are going and Kev stays with Andrew who is still sleeping and doesn’t want to eat. Poor Andrew. It was nice to have some time one on one with Emma, as we don’t get one on one time very often!
The next day, we went in search of an ATM again!!! This time the four of us. I am not lying when I said we tried at least 15 ATMs before finding one that worked!!! We had to walk a lot, which is good exercise but it is hot. I will say that none of the kids complained. They both soldiered. They are amazing. On the way, we bought some tickets for a show that evening.
As we had enough of walking we got back to our room to do some schoolwork and blogging (we try to write every other day otherwise it takes too long on the last day to write everything and we also forget what we did!!!) On the evening we went to see a show at the Kalakriti cultural centre about the story of the Taj Mahal, the love story between Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal. It was a nice show. There was dancing, music with beautiful songs, drama acting (Indian like drama!). We had a headset on with the English version of the dialogues and it worked well. It was nice to finally have a show in English! To be honest, it was not the best show I have seen, but it was enjoyable nonetheless and I am happy we saw some cultural show in India. The dances were fun to watch and at the end of the show, they have this reproduction of the Taj Mahal on stage which is made of the same marble than the real Taj and is supposed to be one of the biggest reproductions of the Taj. Then dinner and bed.
Friday the 25th, we decided to go visited more monuments as we have the time to do it and there is more to see in Agra than the Taj Mahal. We started with the Red Taj: this is a mausoleum for John Hessing, who was a Dutch military officer who served in the armies of the Maratha Empire (the rulers of the region at the time) in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. When he died, his wife commissioned a smaller replica of the Taj Mahal in red sandstone as a mausoleum. It is located in a Roman Catholic cemetery. We walked around the cemetery, reading the names of people buried here and probably forgotten about as the dates were from a couple of centuries ago. I have always loved cemeteries for some reason: it is peaceful (well in India, you still hear the horn of cars and bikes, but well!) and it reminds you to enjoy our life at the fullest, as we all end up in place like this eventually.
After that we went to visit the tomb of Akbar, yes, another mausoleum. It is funny how each region seems to have their own thing; here it is mausoleums, Rajasthan was palaces and forts, the south of India was churches…
Akbar was the third Mughal Emperor who reigned from 1556 to 1605. He commissioned is own mausoleum and the construction actually started before his death and finished in 1613. The entrance of this mausoleum is pretty grandiose. It is made of red sandstone (as usual) with a massive arch and 4 minarets. I thought it was the mausoleum but no, it was just the entrance. Inside are gardens and fountains (not on obviously as everywhere else!) and the building were the tomb is. The architecture is a bit different but still impressive. We walked around admiring the tall arches and the quiet. It is funny because Agra is very famous for the Taj Mahal and when you visit it, it is packed with tourist (even now in the off season), but all those other monuments are practically empty of people. There is so much more to Agra that the Taj.
On the way to there, we saw a white temple and our tuktuk driver told us it is a Sikh temple. Sikh is an Indian religion which started in the 15th century. We decided to go visited it on our way back and I am glad we did. We try to see as many place of religion as we can. I didn’t know much about the Sikh religion, so I did a bit of research about it. This religion is not related to Hinduism or Muslim. This is a different religion. In Sikhi, the word for God is Waheguru ( 'wondrous teacher') and the adherents of Sikhi are known as Sikhs, meaning "students" or "disciples".
The temple we visited is all white and relatively big. Before entering, you need to leave your shoes at the cloak room (and it is free and nobody ask you for a tip!!!!), take a piece of fabric to cover your head (everyone does it, man, woman and everything in between) and walk through a little basin with cool water in it (which feel nice with the heat here). We then went to the main temple, which is very bare. There are no pictures, no decorations, very simple. The floor is covered with thick and comfortable carpet. The room had a lot of pillars and a small shrine in the middle where people pray in front of. We were asked to sit down, so we did and we looked for a little bit. I do not believe in God, but I have always been interested in religion. I love watching how different religion pray and their customs.
After a bit, we got back out and were told to go to a person there who gave us a small amount of a sweet type of food. This is Karah Parshad “The offering and receiving of this food is a vital part of hospitality protocols. It has the same amount of whole-wheat flour, clarified butter and sugar, to emphasize the equality of men and women. The Sewadar serves it out of the same bowl to everyone in equal portions.” (thank you Wikipedia). It is a sacred food and not taking it is an insult. It is sweet and delicious (I like sweets!). We were told that we could eat here as well, as for Sikhs, hospitality is very important, so in every Gurdwara (place where Sikhs come to worship) there is a kitchen and an area where everyone can eat, not matter who you are. We didn’t, as we are still feeling like we are intruding, which is probably not true, but well.
After that there was 2 smaller temples in the same complex that we went to have a look at. One of them was a little bit away and we didn’t grab our shoes back, so we were barefoot, and the ground was hot!! The little basin of water before the temple was very welcome!!!!
It was an interesting experience and I’m glad we saw this place.
After that, we had enough of visiting places and we wanted to get some US dollars as that is one of the currencies they use in Zambia and with all the issues we had with ATM, I wanted to make sure that we will be good for the first few days when we arrive in Zambia. But like ATM, money exchanges aren’t that easy to find! And it was Friday, day of rest for the Muslim and Agra being mainly Muslim, lots of things are closed. We end up finding a place to have some cold drinks and played board games (I usually have a couple in my bag). Then back to our hotel room for some rest before going out for dinner.
Saturday we really needed to find some US dollars and we did! Happy us! Then back to the room to finish our blog and do some schoolwork and planning. Our trip to India is almost finished! This is weird to think that. We are leaving Agra tomorrow, taking our last Indian train to Delhi to catch our plane to Zambia in Africa!!!
We are done with India after 2 months and are going to start the next chapter of our trip on another continent!!! Africa here we come!!!
See you all there.
MelRead more