Grand Adventure 2017 Day 25: Can I Take a Picture?
It's been a long road to get here, but today is the second to last day of our Grand Adventure, and one that we've been looking forward to since we booked our flights nearly nine months ago. This morning we woke up at 5 AM and were downstairs at The Lodhi a few minutes after 6 AM to meet up with our driver Sanjay who was going to take us on the 220KM journey from Delhi to Agra to visit the Taj Mahal.
We jumped in the back of a nice Toyota SUV with waters, soda, snacks, and pretty much anything else we could need for the long journey. Luckily we left early so we missed any traffic in Delhi and were on the expressway to take us to Agra just as the sun was coming up. We made a pit stop about half way in to use the restroom and just so happened to stop at a rest area that had a Starbucks. Sadly after we went in we found out that today was there opening day and that they didn't open until 1 PM. No India mug yet.
The drive from Delhi to Agra took about four hours. When we finally arrived in the city of Agra we arrived at scenes that I thought only existed in movies. Agra is a far less developed area then Delhi, although it looks to be getting more developed with the swarms of tourists. Right outside the entrance to the Taj Mahal we met up with our tour guide in Agra, Rahul who walked us into the security line to get into one of Jenn's bucket list items, The Taj Mahal.
Security to get into The Taj Mahal, like many in India, require men and women to separate and get patted down by security. We met up after security and were off to see one of the most stunning buildings we've ever seen. After walking through security we were offered a photographer with a DSLR to take our pictures. We declined the offer and made our way through the gate and to the main courtyard of the Taj Mahal. There we snapped a ton of photos, our guide told us a little about the history, and we took a ton more photos.
We walked around the entrance area for about ten or fifteen minutes. One of the photographers who had initially asked us to take photos came back and this time we said fine. For the next ten minutes, we snapped photos pushing other tourists out of the way to get the "perfect shot". When we were done we haggled for a bit and we got a "decent" price for 80 digital photos. Sadly as of this writing, I have no idea if we actually got anything for our money since they gave us the pictures on a DVD and we don't have a computer here with us that has a DVD drive. So we will have to wait until we get home to see how they turned out.
After a quick photo shoot, we parted ways with the photographer and spent the next hour and a half exploring the Taj Mahal. We've all seen photos of the Taj Mahal and I'll say that its both everything you expect it to be and yet it still completely took my breath away. The unexpected, or maybe the unknowing of the Taj Mahal is the feel of being there. I'll never forget in 2008 when we were in Egypt and that feeling that I was looking at the pyramids, but it didn't feel real. That's exactly how it felt again today. We were at the Taj Mahal but it almost felt like a green screen. It wasn't until we stopped, took a seat, put the phone away and breathed it in that we could truly appreciate being in this place and seeing one of the wonders of the world. There's a sound of life in India, especially in Agra that I've never experienced anywhere else.
Over the hour and a half we were at The Taj Mahal we walked around the grounds, went inside The Taj Mahal briefly, and tried to soak it in as much as we could. Our tour guide who had been doing this tour for way too long was not all that interested in us or giving the tour, so we did our own thing and enjoyed the experience on our own.
When we had soaked up as much of the Taj Mahal as we could we met back up with our tour guide who took us i a Tuk Tuk to take us to our next stop, The Agra Fort. The insanity of driving in Agra can only be experienced. We got into a Tuk Tuk grabbed hold of whatever we could and ten minutes later were at the entrance of the Agra Fort and happy to be there in one piece.
Coming off of the Taj Mahal it's hard to figure out how anything left on the tour would compete. The Agra Fort although not as glamorous as the Taj Mahal was still quite the spectacle. It was built in the early 1500's and was quite the facility. The entire fort is huge, it was 380,000-square-meters or 94-acres. The portion available for us to see was only about 15% of the entire fort and even that was massive. I can't imagine how intimidating this fort would have looked in its full capacity during that time. We walked around the fort, took a ton of photos, and even got some really neat views of the Taj Mahal from a few kilometers away. The grounds were beautiful and we enjoyed our hour walking through the fort.
One thing I haven't mentioned on this trip is how many people have asked to take photos with us. When I say us, I'm 90% of the time talking about Jenn, 5% talking about myself, and 5% talking about a photo with both of us. Although this has happened everywhere on the trip, its happened the most in India. Today alone I think Jenn took probably 30-40 photos with random strangers. She took some in line at the Taj Mahal, she took a ton around the Taj Mahal and a bunch more at the Agra Fort. Sometimes its women, sometimes men, sometimes kids, and once a couple asked her to take a picture with their newborn. It's sort of a weird experience and one that I don't think either of us has really gotten used to.
We left the Agra Fort and went to an Indian BBQ restaurant a couple of minutes away. There along with our tour guide, Rahul had a slew of barbecue meats and vegetables followed by a buffet lunch. It was sort of a weird cuisine but we enjoyed a decent lunch after a long morning of driving and touring. We kept our food choices as safe as possible given our long drive back to Delhi and enjoyed some time to rest before going out again.
Our last stop on the tour was the obligatory tourist trap. We went to a stone factory where they make marble stones with ornate jewels placed inside. At first, it was nice (they always start this way) we got a cool demonstration and overview of their craft. And then we were taken to "the room" where we were asked if we'd like to purchase any of their "once in a lifetime" products. When we said no immediately the once friendly salesperson stopped talking to us and showed us out.
We left the trap, dropped off our tour guide, paid for the tour, and began the drive back to Delhi. Although the drive back was almost four hours long we had a ton of fun with our driver Sanjay. He's literally one of the nicest people we've ever met. We learned about his upbringing, his family, and his life which started work at 15 in a textile factory. He was telling us that he could go months without a day off. Just yesterday he finished up an 8-day golden triangle tour and picked someone up at the airport late at night, before doing 8-hours of driving with us today. We had Sanjay play us some of his favorite music, and we talked about life, religion, politics, India, WWE and everything in between. When we parted ways with Sanjay at 6 PM and we wished him well and were sad to see him go.
We went straight to dinner and unfortunately found out that our hotel is being used for a big convention and the wait for dinner was going to be quite a while. We instead went up to our room to have room service instead. Jenn got a spicy tomato pasta and I had a trio of sliders (chicken tikka masala, turkey, and pastrami). The food was good and was the light meal we needed after a long day.
After such a long day we fell asleep early tonight with the hopes of sleeping in tomorrow and having a very relaxing last day in New Delhi tomorrow. As I sit and reflect on our day today I'm still in complete shock that we are in India and that we were able to go to the Taj Mahal. It's something that we've talked about for years but physically being there and to experience one of the most beautiful sites in the world is something that we'll never forget.
