I see your Taj Mahal and raise you an Akshardham

Most of us have have seen images of the Taj in film, print and more over the years.  I'm going to force a photo overdose on you in this post.  You know why?  This site is a true marvel.  I've seen most of the wonders of the world and this caused one of the biggest gawks from me. It was not the day to discover you have dust on the inside of your fisheye lens but I still managed to get some decent snaps.  

In this post:

+ Taj - Stunning but still run the Indian way ie. WTF is going on lads??
+ and why the Taj experience is a bit like a walk out in Ireland
+ Indian Trains - Such a tease
+ 5 hour journeys on local buses in the Indian summer - erm.....hot
+ Disney meets Religion
+ Indian manners.  Or lack of any.

So before I talk about the Taj.  Here's a quick picture of another Indian site:

Not bad eh?  This is Akshardham. The reason you most likely have never seen this before is because it's a private temple and the Indian government do not promote it as a tourist site.  Shame, as it's pretty amazing.  More on this later...

The journey to Agra started so well.  Me and my Irish friend Barbara (I say that as she re-introduced me to alcohol last week :) ), got the early day train from New Delhi with no hassle, no waitlist, no queues.  We even got a bargain taxi from Agra train station to the hotel.  Then, the driver mentioned that the Taj Mahal is closed every Friday.  I don't use guide books.  I have one for emergency maps but had used online guides and apps for my trip to the Taj none of which mentioned what The Lonely Planet mentions in the first paragraph. Note: The Taj Mahal is closed every Friday.  We had just one full day there, a Friday. Feck.  

We resided that 1/2 a day would have to do and that we'd miss sunrise.  Our hotel was right next to the Taj, one of only two hotels with a terrace from which you could sit with the majestic monument up close.  Our hotel cost c.$10/nightUS (goo.gl/z9ATu) , the other hotel cost +$100US.  Happy Days.

The setup outside the Taj is pretty impressive.  For 1 mile around the Taj there is a perimeter gate beyond which normal vehicles are not allowed.  And so no honking, no pollution.  Instead a surreal peace from which to take in this beauty.  A rare treat in India.  That is where the smart tourism stopped.  The visitor centre, was simply laid out with a shuttle bus (electric buggy) down to the entrance.  After paying the usual foreigner fee ($15US - bearing in mind it's $0.50US for the locals which is fair!) we decided to get some food.  Agra, unlike alot of other tourist sites is not full of restaurants so we were glad to find one in the visitor centre.  A centre for one of the most famous sites in the world.   Now, bear in mind, I have been in India nearly 8 months and I eat almost anything so long as it's vegetarian.  I eat street food, food on the train but I would never consider giving the foot served in this restaurant to anyone.  I can only imagine what tourists who have just stepped off the plane and are on their first day in India must think. My next post will be on food in India.  Food here is a real treat.  That meal was not.

At the Taj you are allowed to take in booze but not wine, fruit but not veggies - you have been warned!  There was not, however, anywhere to buy refreshments once in the complex.  It was 48 degrees last Thursday with winds to match.  I was wearing sunglasses not only to take the glare off the sun but also to stop the heat from melting my eyeballs.  Just as you do on a day out in Ireland, we had umbrellas and with the wind being so strong they were left in tatters. In Ireland, if your brolly breaks you imagine a pint of Guinness sat by a fire and the world is right.  At the Taj in 48 degrees if your umbrella breaks you reach into your bag to pull out water and realise it too is 48 degrees. The locals drink from the taps used to water the local gardens but I didn't think that was a good idea.  Seems the reason behind there being no drinks for sale was that there would be too much rubbish.  That makes sense, Indians love throwing rubbish, infact the bigger the item and the further they can throw it the better.  A few decades ago all products here were made from clay and similar materials that would decompose so it made perfect sense to throw it but now you commonly will come across people of all ages and class throwing litter.  It's a real shame as this takes away from the Taj experience, and I would have thought a small shop where you have to dump your rubbish inside would suffice just to keep us poor foreigners hydrated.  This is India though, so I guess that would be too much to ask.

So back to the gawking. One great thing about the heat was that the site was not that busy.  We still had the obligatory locals wanting to have their photos taken with a random foreigner but that's all part the fun here. 

When I said it was empty, it was not quite as empty as this photo looks!

Me Peacock'ng ;)

The Taj has a lovely fairytale history of a powerful Mughal leader who built the tomb in memory of his beautiful wife.  That's the story every single tour guide was selling and as I preferred to take in the splendor of the architecture rather than being talked at 'parrot style' I asked some of my Indian friends about the Taj. It turns out that this loving hero Shah Jahan wasn't such a good guy.   Apparently, he massacred hundreds of thousands of Hindus, destroyed temples and had +3000 sex slaves.  His wife Mumtaz died at the birth of her 14th child.  I think building the Taj was the least he could do!

As a sign of respect in the tomb the tourist police blow their whistles loudly and shout at you to move around. It was a quiet day, there was no need, this was a piece of history I wanted to absorb in peace but wasn't allowed to.  

The information centre was very basic but having some stunning new redwood floors fitted (obviously flooring is more important than information here).  Nothing surprises me in this country now, but surely fitting the floors 'one' day later when the site was closed might have been a better idea than having tourists clambering over workmen and carefully stepping over 1/2 laid floors.

The entrance to the tomb 



The grounds and building maintenance of the Taj Mahal main tomb were first class.  

The view at Sunset from the hotel terrace!

Check out the bottle on the chair.  That's 'Magic Moments' Vodka - only the best!

Barbara doing meditation the next morning.  Apparently it was cooler 'under' the yoga mat!



So after an amazing yoga session with Taj as the viewpoint we saw the other sites that Agra has to offer.  Funnily enough, Agra Fort is a more popular tourist destination among Indians as it's is where the Mughal empire governed the country. 

The carvings here are simply breathtaking.  

And as usual the monkies provide great entertainment....

"That's it, just there...."

See no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil....

The mini Taj.  This is a treat.  Said to be on of the inspirations for the Taj Mahal it has the same level of craftsmanship and detail in marble design.  The best part?  It's not really on the tourist list so you'll have it pretty much to yourself!

For sunset we went to Mehtab Bagh, the gardens across the river from the Taj.  Despite this being the day that the Taj itself was closed and so you'd expect alot of tourists elsewhere in Agra, I saw no more than 10 other tourists.  I also did a little video for my upcoming yoga website.  Check me out with the autocue, bless (I didn't have to remember the script but the next ones will be slicker!)  Website live in Q4 2013. 

And this was my last view of The Taj Mahal for this trip.  Simply stunning.

Next stop Varanassi.  Or so we thought.  The only way (unless you have a tour and a posh AC taxi) to get to Varanassi from Agra is by train. I love Indian trains, however, the booking system is painful.  You have to book a long way in advance and based on the huge demand most people book 'possible' trips in advance only to cancel them at the last minute and so one of the most common ways to get a ticket is on the waitlist.  

This is a sign I'm used to. Whenever I'm less than #20 on a waitlist I'm positive I'll get a seat.    I'd booked the ticket to Varanassi two weeks before leaving and was 10th on the waitlist. A sure bet.  Seems last Friday night something went wrong.  It's rare you find Railway staff at an Indian railway station but we did and there were a few other tourists on the same mission.  Seems there was an issue with the waitlist and a number of us weren't allowed on the train.  It was one of those little adventures of running around an India train station, hopping over people asleep on the platform trying to work out whether you have made 'the list'.  The whole time I'm usually thinking 'sure I'll be grand'.   It didn't matter though as we had a funny night involving my first Rickshaw crash (only a little one but hilarious how all vehicles involved despite little dents just carried on going after!).  We also decided that the only option was to head back to Delhi as I had to be back at work on Monday.  

I wish it had been that simple.  All the trains to Delhi were sold out.  If we were posh tourists we could have gotten an AC taxi for $50US.  Sounds stupid as I'd think nothing of taking a $50US taxi after a night our on the sauce back home but here that's a crazy amount of money.  We went to the bus station and based on the  temperature of +45 degrees wanted an AC bus.  There was one at 1pm, a Volvo with "Good luxury and no bumpy ride" the ticket seller assured us with a smile.  It was 10am and there was a slim possibility that private coach companies had other AC buses going before then.  So rather than sitting around for 3 hours in the heat we took a Rickshaw and went on an AC bus finding mission.  It was a fun little ride and managed to  kill some time but we didn't find a bus

Lucky for us there was one at 1pm.  So,  back we went to the bus station and I asked after the 1pm bus. 

"Yes Sir, Volvo, very good bus, comfy".  

"OK, great, two tickets please"

"Bus full"

"OK when did bus get full?"  (that's Hinglish!)

"Yesterday sir"

Ahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

So we took a non AC bus:

It was +45 outside and +sauna inside.  We, did have a lovely food stop.  Food, always comes to the rescue on a bad day in India!!

I wasn't a big fan of the toilet stop though.  I've seen worse but this was about as close as I could safely take a photo without it being toxic!

This was our neighbour on the bus. First time she'd ever played Angry Birds and she couldn't put it down!

Back in Delhi, we had a day to be tourists.  I'd been to most of the sites but had heard of a temple called Akshardham that wasn't promoted as a tourist site.  If the Taj had me gawking for 5 minutes, this place had me gawking for 30.  Simply amazing.   

Now, before I go any further.  There is a MASSIVE difference.  Akshardham was completed in the last 10 years so there is no history other than the movement (Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Sawminarayan Santha - ok...let's call them BAPS).  You are also not permitted to take cameras in, so none of these photos are my own.  However, this is exactly what the place looks like, it's a phenomenal site. The organisation, for an Indian site is almost Disney-esq.  The construction is just crazy, every detail is perfect and will steal your gaze for longer than the last.

Akshardham is something Indians should be really proud of.  It is a temple, however, it's more like a showpiece and museum of the spiritual history of India and it is truly amazing.  There is a live exhibition with moving models, a boat ride through the history of India (again, this is high quality, with displays and narrative of the history) and an IMAX cinema show.  The food available is amazing and not overpriced.  The let down is the Indians themselves. Their behavior is disgraceful and makes you realise just why items such as cameras and mobile phones are not allowed in.  Indians love shouting into their mobiles.

All the way through the IMAX film the locals were running around the auditorium and talking loudly.  And at the cafe's they were up to their old 'queuing' tricks of everyman for himself (especially if it means pushing a women out of the way).  Queuing here is a mess, my funniest experience so far in India was in a print shop where I was getting photos printed from my memory stick.  Someone actually reached out infront of me, pulled out my memory stick and put his in then shouted at the shop keeper to hurry up.

A recently published Lonely Planet guilde for the Indian traveller overseas advises, among other things, Indian tourists not to jump queues, talk loudly inside museums and to instruct their children not to do so and to say "please" and "thank you".  There is no word in Hindi for "Please"!  On that same note, back to my last post about how women are treated in India, a further extension is basic manners.  I've seen men push women out of the way on the metro in order to get a seat (once even a seat labelled "women only").  

It's a real shame, as Akshardham, to me is the most impressive (albeit not 'historical') site I've seen so far in India and yet the majority of the locals don't respect it with their bad manners and litter dropping habits.

It's my birthday next Wednesday and being the crazy Rock n Roll guy that I am, I fancy a bit of chanting.  I've heard that Akshardham has mantras at it's evening fountain show, so that's where I'm heading!

Namaste.