31. The Taj Mahal

It is not easy to put into words the magical Taj Mahal. Even though I’ve just made an attempt J I’ve obviously seen pictures and it never looked real – it had this air about it – that can often be found in a wee big program called photo shop ;) And for this reason I went expecting nothing – you know what they say! Expect nothing, and get everything.

Well – in this case we got everything and beyond. The first group of the day walked in – at sunrise – chatting away.. eager to see what’s behind the great big wall..and then..silence. Not one peep. And then of course came the inevitable whisper,”Wow.” It is impossible to give this place justice with any adjective, mysterious? Mystical?..yes. But so much more than that. magical? Ummm, absolutely but greater than. What’s bigger or better than magic right? Well, the Taj Mahal J

 It looks exactly like the pictures you see of it – the place seems as if it belongs in another world – far far away from any we could possibly fathom – birds fly around the marble walls – parrots to be precise J and some dogs drink her reflections in the lotus pool, women work in the paradise garden and children play in the stars.

It’s a truly special place and the foggy air around it hums with something I’m not even going to try to explain. Go. Just go J Go there – and feel it for yourself. It is truly something. A dream. If I close my eyes now I can go back and my body relaxes, and shifts into a calm space – beyond my quiet room and into the humming silence of the Tag J

We also had a look at the baby Taj – the name speaks for its self – built as a mini version yet she is an individual in her own right – the mosaic floral patterened details inside are magnufique J And of course we had an small Indian boy ask us if we would like to pay him to jump off the side wall into the river - he would probably die – or at the very least break a leg, all but for five rupies..Deciding that we would not like to kill an Indian child on this trip (it is an option for another..haha) we said no and continued onto the Agra fort – which is entirely different – made of red sandstone and the size of a small kingdom along the river front . We had fun – dancing around chatting merrily – in a fort J We are certainly loving IndiaJ As for the accommodation – 

The  flying elephant is a great place to stay – three minutes walk from the Taj, great food – good facilities and all the rest of it. Right near the Tag is a restaurant called “Relax he relax” run by Sunjai.  What a champ! He served delicious food – best I had in Agra, clean toilets, and was a world of information – he even gave us beer on the sly – you can order but it gets covered in paper and poured into a glass, sneaky stylesJ OH! And he offered us some doobie but we declined – I wanted to be alert for our first overnight train ride. I wasn’t sure what to expect from it – and boy am I glad I did say no because.. well.. at one point I said to Sian, ”This is like taking a train in guguletu. If only mum could see us right now she would crap in her pants.” And if she were in India that would certainly not be a problemJ Here in India you will see people spitting, shitting and pissing five meters away from you – cows, people, donkeys, buffalo, horses, goats, dogs.. you name it! Any number – 1 or 2 – it’s welcome J Sian even saw a guy having the second number next to the train track while watching the cricket. Only in India ;)

Anyhoo – it was an experience alright – driving through the city on the tuk tuk’s and rickshaws – we got to see a lot – the crayziness of it all – I honestly felt like I had gone back in time – and who doesn’t like time travelling, right?

Needless to say – the train ride was an experience that left me knowing with all the certainty I have, that this trip is going to help me grow, learn and change for the better in every which way – but I think that goes without saying.