India and Maldives Vacation Index:

1. Introduction
2. Overview and Statistics
3. Zurich, Switzerland
4. Dehli and Agra
5. Jaipur
6. Hyderabad
7. Aurangabad/Mumbai
8. Making Peace with the Poverty
9. Quotes
10. Top 10 Favorite Things About India
11. Maldives & 11.5 Maldives with the Meyers
12. Top 10 Favorite Things About the Maldives
13. Paris
14. What We Would Have Done Differently & What We Did Right
15. Meanwhile, Back At Home…..

Arriving in Delhi

We were pretty thrilled to finally be landing in India!  It was midnight but the airport was still full of busyness.  Unfortunately, Delhi was not our final destination; we had arranged for a driver to take us from Delhi to Agra, a 5 hour drive.  So the traveling would continue through the night.  No worries, though, we were just all so excited – probably me most of all.

It was so exciting to walk through the doors and be greeted by this:

Switzerland was not starkly different in culture and lifestyle from my norm.  However, I could tell immediately by the people, smells, automobiles, stares, and clothing that we had landed in India!

Three of Ben’s missionary friends live in Delhi and they were kind enough to meet us at the airport at midnight so we could visit for a few minutes.  They were so friendly and cheerful!  It was such a warm greeting.  Vipin and Gordon were pretty boisterous guys.  It was fun to see Ben’s interactions with them and hear their stories about him.  I wish we could have had more time to visit with them and meet their families.

Benson Massey (the one in the grey in the picture below)  works for a travel company, Abish Travels, and made all the arrangements for us in Agra and Jaipur.  His driver and guide selections were perfect!  He was so helpful in knowing what to do, when to do it, what to pay, how much to tip, where to eat, and where to shop.  He called our driver every few hours to check in on us and ask if we had any questions.  I can’t say enough good about his services!

Benson introduced us to our driver, Tara Chand.  Tara was our driver for almost three days.  We fell in love with him!  He was a little reserved the first day but we asked him question after question he realized we wanted to hear his thoughts and opinions. So, after the first day his humor really started to come out and he had us laughing all the time.

Driving to Agra

We began the 5 hour drive from Delhi to Agra.  It was dark and we were all tired but we couldn’t sleep because there were too many interesting things to see – animals in the middle of the road, crazy lack of traffic rules, constant honking, various forms of transportation, trash, colors, people sleeping in streets, people awake in the middle of the night, little homes all along the side of the road, food Tara gave to us, conversations with Tara, etc.

I had prepared myself well for the cultural differences and I was so excited to finally be in the middle of it all instead of looking at it in pictures.  I know I already said this, but India is not for everyone.  For me, I loved it all!  I’m not sure why I loved it so much.  But I really did.  There were things I saw where I thought, “Hmmm….that should disturb me more than it does.” For instance, we had a short walk from the airport exit to the parking garage and there was a large, empty parking lot where many men were sleeping on the hard concrete.  I just thought, “Well, that’s just how they do things here.”  Ben and Sarah kept expecting culture shock to set in for me but I don’t think I ever experienced it except for maybe on the last day in Mumbai. I loved India from our first crazy moments together to the final farewell.  I experienced more culture shock coming back to the States than I did going to India.  I’m really not sure why that was?  There was an energy, excitement, and novelty about everything; and a friendliness and humility from the people.  My curiosity had endless amounts of material to work through.  It was exciting, for me.

 After two hours of complete awe and wonder I dozed off to sleep.  Michael slept a little, too.  I think Ben and Sarah stayed awake for the whole 5 hour drive.

 

Arriving in Agra

We arrived at our hotel, Radisson Blu around 5:30AM on Thursday, October 17th.  We had planned to rough it while in India but the guys accidentally picked out pretty impressive properties.  The Radisson Blu wasn’t the nicest of the places we stayed but I was pleasantly surprised.  In retrospect, I think that it was really helpful to get back to a normal, clean bubble at the end of each day where we could process everything.  If the chaos and poverty had been continuous it would have been more stressful for me.

Taj Mahal

The Taj is the main attraction in Agra and it’s best seen at sunrise.  So, we quickly showered and met Tara in the lobby.  Ramesh was there waiting for us, too.  He was our fantastic tour guide in Agra.  If ever you go to Agra – get Ramesh.  He’s given tours to many famous people and it’s no wonder – he was impressive!

You can’t ride in a car close to the Taj because they are worried about air pollution.  Instead we took an electric auto rickshaw.  The sun was starting to come up and it was fun to see India in the daylight.

We had a 20 minute line to wait in but Ramesh kept checking on us and brought us water.  There was a line for natives, gents, and ladies.  The ladies line was by far the longest.  When you finally come through security you view the Main Gate entrance.

So you walk through the Main Gate and you see this:

To be honest, I was expecting the Taj to be a little bit of a disappointment.  There was so much hype about it and I’d already seen many pictures that I didn’t expect to be as jaw-droppingly impressed as I was.  It was beautiful!  There is a tranquility, balance, and beauty in that place that just cannot be described.  It felt almost like a sacred place.  I had actually suggested we just skip seeing the Taj because it was quite a bit of extra travel and I’d seen pictures of it and knew the history.  I’m so happy my opinion got vetoed!

The Taj is a tomb built by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan to house the remains of his cherished wife who died giving birth to the couple’s 14th child.  The basement contains the actual tomb and there is an exact replica on the main floor but photography is not permitted in that area.  It’s made of hand carved white marble that glistens and glows in the sunlight and appears to change colors throughout the day.  It certainly made shifts even in the two short hours we were there.  Also, there are thousands (millions?) of inlaid precious stones forming intricate designs and scripture.  It took 20,000 workers more than 20 years to build the mausoleum.

The technical construction of it is impressive, but equally so is the mathematical and creative design.  I can’t remember all the nuances, but I remember that the four minuets are actually each tilted 3 degrees outwards but it allows them to look perfectly vertical.  On the minuets the stones appear to be equal in size but they actually are larger at the top.  There is a chevron pattern that from a distance looks 3-dimensional but as you get closer you see that it’s not.  I think they used certain color stones to create that optical illusion.  Ramesh pointed out so many interesting, skillful, artistic, intricate details.  The designers were truly geniuses!

Here is a map of the whole property.  The tomb itself is just a small part of the total construction.

We took all of the traditional pictures and Ramesh had many creative photo suggestions as well.  All of our guides were semi-pro photographers.  Seriously.

At one point Ramesh said, “Do you want a reflection picture?”  We, of course, did.  So he said, “Here give me your camera.”  He took it, walked off, and snapped a few awesome pictures while we sat sipping our waters and staring at the Taj. All we could do was laugh.

So, I guess I need to move on.

But, the takeaway message is – the Taj Mahal is worth visiting once in a lifetime.  It’s everything it claims to be and more.

The Streets of India

As we left the Taj property the city streets were quite a stark contrast.  I snapped a few pictures.  These were all taken in a 5 minute drive from the Taj to the hotel. Pretty crazy.

I’m speechless.

Breakfast and a Nap

We went back to our hotel, ate a yummy breakfast, and took a much needed nap.

Is anyone still reading?

At this point it was only 9:15AM.  I’ve only covered 9 hours of India and believe it or not I’ve tried to be brief.

After our 2 hour power naps we picked up Ramesh who then took us to Agra Fort.

Agra Fort

Shah Jahan who built the Taj was overthrown by his son who locked him up in Agra Fort.  He spent the last 30 years of his life a prisoner there.  It sits just across the river from the Taj and he had a spectacular view of his creation.  We liked the fort but it was hot and crowded so we didn’t stay long.  Also, we had our first run-in with hawkers/hagglers when we were leaving.  They were pretty aggressive and got in between all of us so we weren’t together.  That was a little stressful.

Ramesh took us to a stone in-lay craftsman’s place.  They gave us a brief demonstration which helped us gain a huge appreciation for the complexity of the process.  They tried to sell us some handmade pieces but they were too much for us.  Beautiful though.

So, that was the end of Agra for us.  We said our farewells to Ramesh and started the 4 hour drive to Jaipur with Tara.

Tara stopped at a roadside stand and bought us some snacks.  One was called Petha which was a pumpkin dessert.  It was tasty and interesting.

Two hours later he stopped at a roadside restaurant/store to use a toilet and get his tea.  Sarah and I used the bathrooms.  Always an adventure.  We needed to pay but didn’t have money. They let us in anyways.  We bought a few shirts for the kids at the store so I guess that makes up for letting us use their bathroom for free.  I think they charged 10 rupees which is 1.5 cents.

Abaneri Step Well

Another hour down the road we stopped at Abaneri – a step well.  This was a convenient stop – just somewhere to stretch our legs, but it actually was one of my favorite places.  It’s located in a rural area and there weren’t any other tourists.  The people seemed really curious and interested in us.  We ended up with a bit of a following.  A few girls wanted their pictures taken with us.  It was fun to have interaction with the people instead of just looking at them through a car window.  Oh, the the step well was pretty amazing, too!

Right next to Abaneri was Harshshat Mata Temple.  We walked over there, too.  Much of it was destroyed but it was fascinating, nonetheless.

I wish we could have stayed longer in this little village. The big monuments and cities are fun, but I also greatly enjoyed the time I had in rural areas.  The people were so curious about us, and I was so curious about them.  In the cities I did not get as much personal interaction with the people.

Alas, the sun set and we had to continue to Jaipur.

Arriving in Jaipur

We arrived at our hotel, Four Points Sheraton, around 9PM.  We ate dinner at their buffet, and I almost died of happiness.  If I moaned once about how delicious the food was I must have moaned a dozen times.  It was all so tasty!  Yum, yum, yum!

By this point it was Thursday night around 10PM and we had left Tampa midday Tuesday.  The only sleep we’d had was on planes, the back seat of Tara’s car with horns honking and lights flashing, and our 2 hour nap at the hotel in Agra.  Needless to say – our beds were calling to us.

It was a fabulous first day in India!  I had very happy, crazy, colorful dreams that night.