Delhi and Agra, India

Many apologies for the delayed posting, we have been very busy these past few days. We left off still in Bangkok, where we enjoyed another more relaxing day. We explored a little more of the city and took care of some necessities (t shirts at Khao San Road- the "backpacker's mecca" for Joe, and more passport pages at the US embassy for Anna), and we had another delicious Thai meal and did some people watching at our hotel pool. Then it was off to the airport (escorted by our speed demon taxi driver- we thought we were in the Indy 500) for the next leg of our trip... BKK to DEL! We flew Air Asia, which was nice and had entertaining flight attendants. Unfortunately, we sat next to the world's dirtiest American hippie college kid, which was gross. When we landed in India, they sprayed the interior of the plane with insecticide spray, which was also gross but hopefully helped clean up that kid a little too.

We spent the night in New Delhi, and then the next morning did the 5 hour commute to Agra, which houses the Taj Mahal and some of the other important monuments. We passed through many towns and villages along the way, and got to see what everyday life in India looks like. When we arrived in Agra, we first went to Agra Fort, which was a red sandstone fort built by Akbar, a Mughal emperor in the mid 1500s (we also saw his tomb on the way to Agra). Akbar seems like kind of a cool innovative guy, and he was very liberal in terms of religion. He felt that all religions should be abolished and everyone should live peacefully together, a message that would be nice to live by these days. Because of these beliefs, he had the buildings built with motifs from many major religions- Hinduism, Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. There are crosses, 6-pointed stars, 5-pointed stars, lotus-flowers, and swastikas (a sacred Hindu symbol- interesting that the Nazis chose to borrow a symbol from another religion for their own use), among other symbols. He was also an innovator when it came to architectural planning, with winter rooms with radiant heating and summer rooms situated next to bodies of water for early air conditioning. There is a state of the art drainage system as well. The Fort was well protected against invaders by a moat of crocodiles, a wall manned by guards, and a dry moat-jungle full of lions and tigers etc. Agra Fort was improved upon by Shah Jahan, the grandson of Akbar. He really liked carvings, so his parts of the fort are ornately carved in the red sandstone. Shah Jahan's son, Aurangzeb, ended up imprisoning Shah Jahan in one of the towers of the fort, where Shah Jahan lived out the last years of his life, looking out toward the Taj Mahal- the fabulous palace he built as a mausoleum to his favorite wife Mumtaz. Shah Jahan's son prefered inlay work, so his parts of the fort are white marble with precious gems inlayed. We also saw the various courtyards for use by multiple wives and harem women (Shah Jahan was said to have had over 300 harem women living within the fort). Joe was wearing his Michigan t shirt and we met some new Michigan friends who also went to Pioneer High School!

After Agra Fort, we visited Itimad-ud-Daulah, a small decorated mausoleum also refered to as the "Baby Taj." We then went back to the resort hotel where we were staying and had a delicious feast of Indian food accompanied by live music and a view of the lights over Agra Fort.

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The next day, we went to see the Taj Mahal in the early morning light. It is even more breathtaking in person than in the pictures. It is an enormous symmetrical mausoleum made entirely of white marble and inlayed with colorful gemstones. Like we mentioned, it was built as a tribute after the death of Shah Jahan's favorite wife Mumtaz from childbirth with their 14th child. It was started in 1632 and took 22 years to complete. Shah Jahan never actually set foot inside the building, but instead prefered to sit with the memory of his wife on the grounds of the Taj, this way she could live on for him. He had planned on building a black marble Taj Mahal for himself on the other side of the river, so that they could be buried together and the shadows of the buildings would connect over the river. Unfortunately, he was never able to realize this dream as he was imprisoned by his son for the remainder of his life. He was buried next to Mumtaz in the Taj Mahal. The Taj Mahal is kind of impossible to fully describe, and a picture is worth a thousand words anyways, so here you go:

After visiting the Taj, we drove out of Agra to visit Fatehpur Sikri, another large walled city-fort that was built by Akbar. Akbar built Fatehpur Sikri after visiting Sheikh Salim Chishti, a Muslim holy man, at the site, to ask for help with fertility. The Sheikh predicted that he would soon have a son, which he did. He moved from Agra to Fatehpur Sikri after his son was born. He created the largest area in for the wife who was the mother of his son, and two smaller areas for his two other wives. Fatehpur Sikri was built entirely out of red sandstone, again with ornate carvings etc. The mausoleum of the holy man, Sheikh Salim Chisthi, is also on the campus. We visited this and made the traditional offerings of cloth and flowers, and then tied a red thread onto the carved windows while making 3 wishes. Then, we headed back to Delhi.

Today we toured around Delhi. We saw the president's palace, and parliment buildings. Today is the opening of parliment and the president was set to make an address, so there was quite a bit of security. We also saw the India Gate (built in similar fashion to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris as a memorial to lives lost in WWI), the Red Fort (built by Akbar and similar to Agra Fort but larger), and the bazaars and craziness of life that is Old Delhi. Next was Raj Ghat, the burial site of Mahatma Ghandi, and saw the monument to his life and the enternal flame that now burns at the site. We then went to Humayun's Tomb, which was built for Humayun (second Mughal emperor) by his wife. This Tomb served as a model and inspiration for the future Taj Mahal. After Humayun's Tomb, we saw the Lotus Temple (a Baha'i temple). Finally, we went to see Qutb Minar, a towering victory pillar started in 1202 by the Muslim ruler at the time, marking the start of Muslim dominance in Delhi. It was completed by his successor.

Thoughts and Observations:

- Delhi is crowded!

- Driving here is scary/crazy/awesome- as one guide put it, in order to drive in India you need 3 things: good horn, good brakes, and good luck. We believe it.

- There is a fine art to horn use here- horns are used to alert someone you are passing, to tell someone to get over out of your way, to express annoyance, to say hi, etc etc. If the horn doesn't do it, you can also repeatedly flash your brights like morse code. There are also many interesting horn tunes.

- Naan is delicious

- You really have to watch your back here- we stick out like a sore thumb and everyone is trying to get something from you, including guides who drop you off at high-pressure sales outlets from which they undoubtedly receive commission from sales, drivers who discourage your far trips to pocket the gas/toll money, touts on the streets, "shoe-watchers" at the monuments that you have to remove your shoes prior to entering, bathroom attendants wanting tips for turning on the faucet, and the list goes on and on. We have needed to be a bit on-edge the entire time and so haven't allowed ourselves to be scammed etc, but many of the other tourists we have seen along the way have not been so lucky. It will be nice to move on to a place where we can hopefully relax a bit more :)