Jenny From The Bangalore Block

Sunday, 24 June 2012

Pinch Me!!! I'm at the Taj Mahal!!!

Okay. Never. I mean, seriously. Never, did I think I'd visit the Taj Mahal. Also. Seriously. Never. I mean never did I think I'd be living in India! So, ya know! Anything is possible, right?! Haha!
We woke up bright and early. So early, we saw the Butt Crack of Dawn! (Now that's early!) ;0) I don't understand it...I mean, why you would go any other time of day to see the Taj Mahal. By waking up at the Crack of Dawn - We avoided two key elements. Heat & Lotsa Folks. Totally worth rolling out of bed with Mr. Golden Sun if you ask me!

Entrance Gate to the Taj Mahal!

Each one of those little ivory shaped domes stands for
"one year" of building....so how long did it
take to make the Taj Mahal!?...
22 years!

Getting ready to go in!

It far exceeded my expectations!

SHUT UP! I'm at the Taj Mahal!!!

I was anticipating being "unimpressed"...I was ignorant.

Pretty Much in Shock at this Point!

You know Royalty Sat Here, Right?!
Yep, me and Princess Diana both had our happy little hineys sittin' smack dab on the SAME BENCH! Ain't a word of it a lie!

A little to the left & I would have been spot on :/

Check out that wing span! (I'm pretty sure I'm the only human genetically capable of flying!?) An eagle has nothin' on my chicken wings ;0)
Okay. The next picture you are about to see is absolutely the most ridiculous thing EVER!! It is of my ballerina friend, Cara. For all you parents out there that keep sending your children to dance lessons and every time you drop them off you wonder if it's really worth it....WELL! Maybe, just MAYBE! Your child will do something like Cara one day! ;0) Talk about a once in a lifetime opportunity. A once in a lifetime location. Perfect timing and some serious dance skills and VIOLA!

I know!! Seriously, right?! I told you it was the most RIDICULOUS thing ever!!

II wonder if I tried to practice this everyday for the rest of my life if I could look like Cara!? Yeah, right. Who am I kidding, I could never look this cool! ;0) Nice Job, Cara! I'm sure your parents don't regret those dance lessons now, do they (they probably never did!)

All together now!! JUMP!!

I was seriously sweatin' a plantar wart...

Luckily, we all got to keep our shoes on & just slipped these stylish little bad boys on OVER our shoes! Phew!

Guess how many stairs!?....Yep! 22!
Nothing was left to "chance" in the building of the Taj. Everything was made with exact precision
and carefully calculated.

The magnitude of the Taj was absolutely shocking!

People from all over the world coming
to see the Great Taj Mahal

So grateful that these beautiful ladies let me take their picture.
I absolutely LOVE this picture.

Tired at the Taj!?

Taking a siesta in the shadows of the grandeur of the Taj Mahal

Hmmm...to enter or not to enter!?

Inside the Mosque

Had to actually remove my "hair net" shoe covers to enter the mosque....Trying not to think about warts & how hot I am as I pose for this picture ;0)

I was hot but not hot enough to drink the "pure & safe" water :0)

Good-Bye Taj Mahal
(This guy literally curled up the ends of his moustache for this picture! Haha!)

After our trip to the Taj we went back to the hotel and loaded up on lunch and a few more rays in the pool & then we were off to The Agra Fort. Also referred to as the Red Fort.

Appropriately called the "Red Fort" due to its red sandstone walls

Literally, people from all over the world coming to see the beauty of India and the Red Fort.

The Agra Fort

Yikes. Grumpy. Grumpy. GRUMMMMPY!!!

"Nobody puts Baby in the corner"...I mean Cara! ;0)

Jack & Cara were actually in corners on the opposite side of the fort. The acoustics are such that you can whisper and the person in the other corner can hear what you are saying.

Amazing Architecture

Amazing!

Peek-A-Boo.....I see the Taj!!

Katie should have charged for pictures (like the locals do!) She would have been Rich, RICH, R-I-C-H!!!

Beautiful Inlayed Jewels, Gems & Stones

At this point in the tour, we were all getting really, REALLY hot & tired. It was becoming increasingly harder to focus and pay attention to what our guide was saying. I was basically counting the minutes until we were back in the air conditioned car but ALL of our ears perked up when our guide told us that next we would be going to see the "mating place". Oh wow! Mating place. This should be interesting!?

"The Mating Place"

The first thing that crossed my mind was, "Hmmm. Not a lot of privacy." This wasn't what I was expecting at all. That's when our guide started to laugh at us as he realized we had all lost it "in translation". He had said, "Meeting Place" and us goofy Americans got all excited b/c we thought we were going to see an ancient "Mating Place".....Oh boy! LOL!

The Indian Dr. Doolittle?!

He offered for us to hold and feed his little furry friends but I quickly declined as rabies vaccinations were not part of our trip itinerary. Already did that in Thailand with Matt & David. No need to repeat.

One quick stop to the Ladies Room

Then we hopped in the car and said good-bye to Agra as we continued on our journey to Jaipur. So much to see while looking out the windows: cars, auto rickshaws, bicycle rickshaws, cows, camels, pigs, people, trash! "Too much of chaos" as Salome would say!

Roadside trash

Busy Indian Roads

FULL Load!!

Our last stop of the day was to Fatehpur Sikri, an abandoned capital of the Mughals. Again, amazing architecture and by far the most emotional day for Katie and I. We had encountered several hawkers throughout our trip. They are very good sales people and will stick by you with hopes of selling you something. You continue to either bargain with them until you get the price that you are willing to pay or you continue to tell them, "No" until they leave you alone.

At Fatehpur Sikri we ran into our first "children" hawkers. It was absolutely heart breaking telling these children "No". The younger ones weren't quite so interested in actually selling you anything but they just liked walking and talking with you. At one point, I had an adorable little girl walking by my side & it didn't take long before a boy several years older than her came up beside us and aggravatedly yelled something at her as he smacked her upside the head & nearly knocked her to the ground. I quickly whirled around and snapped at him, "Don't you dare touch her!" I could feel the lump form in my throat & the tears moistening the sides of my dry and dirty eye sockets. How DARE he smack her?! I don't know if he understood what I said, but he definitely understood my tone and he quickly went away and left the little girl alone. We then proceeded to walk together up to the gate of Fatehpur Sikri. (If nothing else I think he sensed I was a "no sale" after he mistreated that little girl).

At first I couldn't understand what she was asking me. She just kept repeating the word. Finally it clicked...CHOCOLATE! I did not have any chocolate to give her but I had bubble gum and within a moment of pulling the gum out of my bag - I had probably no less than 15 children clamouring around me. Literally, crying and begging for gum and even after I had given them all a piece I had a couple little heartbreakers that with big wet eyes looked up and insisted, "Ma'am. You forgot me. You gave me nothing." Oh Geesh! How do you decline that?! So they got TWO! ;0) I finally had to tell them I didn't have anymore and I rushed to catch up to Cara, Jack & Katie.

When I caught up, Katie was having a moment of her own. The poverty. The sweet & simple ways of these children. It was overwhelming and Katie was struggling to fight back her tears. When the tears finally began to fall the children said to her, "What happened? Did someone hurt you? We are nice people. We won't hurt you. What happened?!" Which of course just made her cry even more. Ack. Wow. That was such a sad situation.

Some of the Hawker Cuties

Fatehpur Sikri

Very Common Symbol in India

All I ever knew of the swastika was Hitler. Perhaps the most controversial symbol in history, right? It is an ancient symbol and it is a religious symbol in Indian culture & is especially popular amongst Hindus. It basically means something like well-being, luck, good fortune. You see it used in Hindu temples & buildings like Fatehpur Sikri as well as doorways, clothing & jewelry in India.

If you want to enter the mosque - These fashion forward brown pieces of fabric are required. Borrowed & then Returned.

Inside the mosque

Watch where you step.

Barber Shop at Night

Utilitizing the ole ZOOM lense!
Still so much to see in India. Even at night. It's like a country that NEVER sleeps! :0)

LONG day of travel & sight-seeing!

After a long day of sight seeing we finally made it to our final destination for the night, Jaipur!

We were hot, sticky & TIRED! Time to order up some room service so we can venture out again tomorrow!

The shirt says it all!

What can I say?! I loved our first big day of travel so much I decided to sweat in the shape of a heart! HAHAHA!! It definitely was a hot & sweaty day but totally worth it & so thankful I got the opportunity to experience it all. The good, the bad, AND the ugly! :0)

Friday, 22 June 2012

The Trek to the Taj Mahal!

Since Katie is going to be with us for three weeks we decided to take a little trip...or should I say a BIG trip!?!? THE TAJ MAHAL! Some people may not realize that the Taj Mahal in and of itself is a journey. It isn't close to anything so the trip to get there is quite the adventure! I had never been before but people have all sorts of stories about getting "Delhi Belly" and the horrid heat, the long drive etc. Well, I can with great happiness report that none of us got a case of Delhi Belly, we did however have to endure the excruciating temps & the long car drive but it is what it is. Do you want to see the Taj or don't ya?! ;0)

We had two other people join us on our trip. Jack & his cousin, Cara. Jack just graduated high school, has lived in India for two years & has already been to the Taj Mahal...TWICE! We was like having along a walking wikipedia and I'm sooo glad he was with us. Cara, like Katie, is in India visiting.

We started our morning with a flight out of Bangalore into Delhi. Not too bad. Just shy of 3 hours. As soon as we stepped foot off of the plane the intense heat grabs ahold of your throat by the juggler & the top of your head starts to feel like it's bacon sizzling in a frying pan! Instantly, I could also tell by the "looks" that we weren't in an expat infested area anymore and that some of these people truly could not look at us long enough. We were a unique lookin' breed of folks. Literally, I've never been on an airplane where you look at all the heads in front of you and all you see is a sea of black hair! Katie & I with our blonde hair definitely made for a lot of head turning.

Just in case I wasn't 100% certain that we "weren't in Kansas" anymore, my suspicion was confirmed when we climbed onto the bus that would transport us from the airplane to the terminal & an elderly woman was holding a small baby in her arms & I had a very unique encounter. We were close. I mean REALLY close. Tummy to tummy. Although she was a solid foot and half shorter than me! I shot a friendly smile at her and it was not returned. She just blankly looked at me. Then, in the extremely tight and crowded bus, I thought that the baby on her hip had hooked her little footsie on the hem of my shirt b/c it was slowly lifting up. I quickly reached for the seam to yank it back down bc SERIOUSLY! Nobody wants to be seein' my belly fall out from under my shirt & that's when I looked down and realized that it wasn't the baby at all....it was the OLD WOMAN! And instead of allowing me to finish adjusting my shirt so that my momma flab wasn't flappin' in the breeze she continued to pull my shirt UP!!!! WHAT IN THE WORLD!? Thank God - I caught Katie's eye (who was already laughing at me) and she had seen the whole thing happen b/c no one would have believed me and I'm not sure I would have been entirely sure what had just happened either! It just continued to get weirder.

So, although I'm not quite sure what happened, as best as I can figure, she was just so curious about what my belly looked like (I mean here you can see most women's tummies b/c they are wearing saris & mine was clearly tucked away nice & modest like). SO! When her curiosity got the best of her, what did she do!? She just pulled up my shirt & had a nice close and personal experience with the tall, white woman!? THEN! About another 30 seconds later, she grabbed ahold of my arm and she never let go. Again, at first I was confused and thought she probably just needed to hold onto something on the busy bus to keep her balance. Nope. I'm pretty sure she just wanted to touch the white woman. Again she never made eye contact, she just pulled up my shirt and latched onto my limb?! It was all SoooOOOoooo odd & goofy!? And with that we exited the bus & I began re-hashing the story with Jack, Katie & Cara. Quite frankly, I'm still stumped by it all but with that.....WELCOME TO DELHI! ;0)

No tint on our car windows-It was like riding around India

in a fish bowl!

First stop on our journey....A public Bathroom...

Definitely a reason they bring tourists here...

You had toilet paper & everything!

Phew! Feeling much better but SWEATIN' my buns off!

LOOK! The Train! Just like in the movie, right?!

Happily took a picture with me but then did not want the rupees I offered her...She wanted US dollars?! Not too sure where she'd be spending them?

Saw these circles EVERYWHERE along the roadside to Agra.
Our driver didn't speak very good English & so it took us a LONG time to figure out what they were....

Looks like they made houses out of them?!...

Maybe even whole villages?!...

And such pretty designs too...

Soooo! We finally got to the bottom of this mystery. Made of poo! Oh, yes, they are! Isn't that the prettiest little poo-hut you've ever seen!? The circles are "patties" that are being dried in the sun. Once they are dried they are placed into the poo-hut for storage. People do not live there. Patties do. The flap-jacks are used for fertilizer, and fuel. They burn them for baking/cooking & also for heat. Now, is that resourceful or what?! You've got A LOT of cows in India....might as well use all that dookie for something worthwhile!

To say that the heat is "oppressive" is the understatement of the year. 114 degree heat! Here's a local form of "sunscreen"

SPF...30?! Hmm...maybe more like 15 because
his face is not covered!?

Unfortunately, there are trash troubles all over India. Agra was especially bad.

SPF or Bandit?!

Recycling

Wheat

When we asked our driver about this his answer was simply, "Progress." We told him, "Progress is good!" and he was very happy with our response!

"Use Dipper At Night"...interpretation....Flash your lights so I know you are back there!

"Horn Please"...interpretation....Honk all you want I will not get upset with you! That's what we do in India!

When traffic came to a grinding hault - We literally backed up on the highway and drove on the WRONG side of the rode!

Once we got close enough we were able to see that the source of the traffic jam was that this truck had lost its load! All of the steel rebar had fallen off his truck! We would have sat on the freeway for HOURS in the Boston waiting for them to clean up the mess. In India, we just joined the people on the other side of the road and made a two lane highway into one lane going North and the other going South. Voila! Problem-o solved!