The Taj Mahal Marathon

November 13th, 2010

Mike, a former co-worker from Schneider Electric, was also out on the business trip with Tony. He had arranged for us to have a driver pick us up at 10am for a day trip to the Taj Mahal, located around 200 kilometres from Delhi. Mike and Tony only arrived from the airport at 3am the night before so we were all functioning on little sleep.

The air was thick with smoke today although it had rained overnight (a rarity at this time of the year) and a few drops fell in the first hour of our drive. All three of us tried to absorb the myriad of unusual spectacles that we passed. We were out of the suburb of Gurgaon fairly quickly and cruised slowly along a bumpy road with lots of rubble and some small trees sprouting up amidst the haze. Occasionally we would see someone collecting firewood or sorting through a trash heap in search for anything of little value. Varying acrid smells filled our nostrils and although I was tempted to close my window, the temperature was already close to 30 degrees and with no air conditioning; I figured the smells were still going to make their way into the vehicle regardless.

Starting the road trip:

There are some colourful trucks that's for sure:

We skirted around Delhi but entered a city called Faridabad. The streets were lined with people, most of them seeming quite busy although there were a few lazing about. There were barbers giving haircuts and shaves, blacksmiths pounding on red hot iron rods, vendors selling everything from snacks to jeans to batteries, half naked kids playing around in dirt, women in colourful saris walking arm in arm and men repairing motorcycles. Interspersed amongst all this activity, cows, sacred in this country, could be found anywhere and everywhere, lying down, eating garbage or just milling about. The odd pig and goat could be found in the mix too. We passed one shop that seemed to be the graveyard for dead wheelbarrows; the pile must have been 10 feet high!

Not sure what fruit this is but it didn't quite make it to the market:

All kinds of street vendors:

We stopped by one busy roundabout for Tony to purchase some batteries for his camera and I think we raised a few eyebrows as the three of us exited the vehicle as we were so obviously foreigners being the only Caucasians around. We continued on our journey, finally getting out of the hustle and bustle of Faridabad, on to the open road where we occasionally cruised up to our top speed of 80 km/hr. About an hour and a half into the supposed three hour drive to the Taj Mahal, our driver pulled into a “tourist” restaurant area.

---

Sorry, just had a short break from blogging but I must mention where I am now typing away...Goa, India. Long sandy beaches near the south of India on the west coast. I’m sitting here at a candlelit wooden table in a comfortable chair having just finished admiring a lovely sunset with a local beer in my hand...how sweet. But that’s a later entry...now back to the regularly scheduled program.....

---

The lunch meal was decent but I made the error of just ordering a chicken sandwich while Tony and Mike were smart and went for an Indian dish. Hoping back in the car we figured we had another couple of hours drive to get to the Taj...well we were wrong, it was more like 3½ to 4 hour stint. Thanks to some traffic, which included a bottleneck where the culprit was a burned out hulk of a tractor trailer occupying one lane. It looked like it had been there for weeks. Somebody should tow it out of there! We have passed a number of cranes that could have done the trick by now...

Happy Tony with his Thunderbolt beer:

Some random temple:

Traffic...On your marks, get set...

The burnt out truck:

Finally getting close...

Slowly entering the main parking lot (due to all of the traffic...be it cars, humans, tuk tuks (the little one wheel mini-car which is more like a motorbike), our driver was guided into a spot. I was surprised we found a spot as it was pretty busy. It was 5 o’clock already...shouldn’t it be getting a bit quieter at this time of day?

Exiting the car we were immediately asked by one older, semi-toothless man if we wanted a camel ride to the gates, another offered a tuk tuk ride. We gathered that the Taj was still about a kilometre away but no cars are allowed any closer. A young Indian man came forward to me and produced a beaten up laminated ID card that stated he was with the tourist board. We were all a bit suspicious but I figured he was probably legit. Wasim is 22 years old and claims to have been doing this job for the past five years. I thought he was just going to help get us to the gate but it turned out to be a fully guided tour. His price: whatever we wanted to give him...sounds good. We opted, well really I was the loudest voice, for the camel pulled wagon...why not? The camel idled down the street and on reaching the gate, I was offered to actually sit on the camel if I wanted for a photo, and the cost of 40 rupees (1 Canadian dollar). Why not too? It’s not like this offer has been a regular occurrence in my life thus far.

Our camel:

Our guide Wasim and Tone:

The Camel Ride:


Proper technique?

We headed to the gate to purchase our tickets. Indians pay 20 rupees to enter the Taj Mahal while tourists like us pay 750. We were all cool with that as it does make it possible for many more Indians to see one of their countries jewels although I thought the range of difference was fairly large. But hey, $18.75 to put a checkmark by one of those “must see before I die list”...totally worth it.

We got a kick out of this line-up technique but were glad that our side didn't do it!

Our concern was that it was starting to become dusk just as we entered the grounds. I told Wasim that I wanted to get to the spot where the quintessential Taj Mahal picture is taken (it was even on our tickets so it was easy to show him what I meant). A large red coloured wall with a huge gate stood between us and the Taj. This gate was an impressive structure and I thought I’d snap a picture with Knuffle Bunny in it (if you don’t know who Knuffle is...look back a few postings). Wasim said “You shouldn’t do that.” He explained that taking pictures of anything but the buildings and people was all that was accepted. I’m not sure if it was a worry about corporate advertising or just general religious blasphemy for taking such a photo at such a shrine. As we passed through the gate, the aweness factor went through the roof! There she is...what a sight! Even in our fading light, the brightness of the white marbled mausoleum with its four corner minarets was amazing to see. We snapped some more pics (I took a few surreptitious shots of Knuffle!) and made our way to the building. Wasim stopped us halfway and mentioned that this was a location for a goofy photo, where one holds one’s hand in a pincer pose facing down so it looks as though you are holding up the Taj by its spire. Well we had to have a go.

At the red gate:

Knuffle and me:

There it is!


Tony with the Taj:

They even had fancy urinals.

So strong Tone...

The quintessential pic:

A quick pic with Knuffle:

It was pretty much dark as we neared the main building (the sun drops quickly here). With our higher priced tourist ticket, we were provided with a bottle of water and some little red shoe covers. At a certain point, you are required to remove your shoes or put on these little booties. We’re so glad that we went for the booty option (insert your own joke here) as after circumnavigating the Taj, it was really dark and we saw many people searching for their shoes in the dark as they have minimal lighting there (lighting up a mausoleum is not generally done in the Muslim world). One thing that struck us as we rounded the building was that behind it there’s a river! I guess from seeing the quintessential picture in the past, I just didn’t picture a river being there.

Mike, Tony and me against the white marble of the main building (note our lovely red booties!):

Wasim insisted that we sit down halfway back to the red gate to just soak in the TaJ Mahal silhouette. Good call although I think the three of us were starting to thing, “#@*%^* we have a five hour drive back to Delhi and it’s already past 6pm!” Leaving the grounds, Wasim then took us into a shop to look at some carved marble. I knew the other guys were antsy to keep moving so after a brief explanation of the manufacturing process by a shop worker, I expressed that we had to get going and were not interested in purchasing anything. Tony then asked, “Do you have any rabbits?” I guess his sister Megan collects them but I later found out that Tony was also employing a strategy with vendors that you express that you are interested, but are looking for a specific thing that they don’t have, a sure out...nice one Tone.

We hopped in a tuk tuk, a first for all of us in India. Getting back to the car, we were slightly accosted by some vendors who were there earlier but we got on our way for the long drive back. We all dozed a bit and then killed some time playing 20 Questions. My object as the red booties from earlier and surprisingly it took a little while for them to get it. One problem was that Tony asked “Is it in this car?” I saw Mike throw his out and I did mine, but I wasn’t sure if Tony had gotten rid of his so I had to bust the 20 Question rule of only answering yes or no with a “maybe.” Tony picked a light bulb while Mike went for a memory card, which proved to be the most difficult of them all.
Tony and Mike in the tuk tuk:

The tuk tuk ride:


Arriving back to the hotel after 11:15pm, we were all exhausted but hadn’t eaten since the tourist restaurant at lunch. We headed to the hotel’s cafe and just made it in time for the buffet. What a long day...about 10 hours in a car and 1 hour at the Taj Mahal...but totally worth it!

Back at the hotel...happy with a Kingfisher: