Taj Mahal, Agra

Getting used to train rides again and from Khajuraho it was only an eight hour trip, nothing compared to 22 hours like the last one or some of the legs I did in Russia. Arriving late in the evening, nipped up to the guesthouse's restaurant to grab a bite to eat and see the Taj Mahal in the last light of the day. At first glance it seemed a little small compared to what I had in mind, perhaps I was thinking it would be on the same scale as all the sights in Beijing for some reason.

Now there are other sights in Agra ranging from Agra Fort, Akbar's tomb, Mehtab Bagh; botanical gardens with a view of the Taj and the small town of Fatehpur Sikri some 40 kms away, not too mention all the other smaller temples the city has to offer. However, there's really only one attraction you come here for when you're pressed for time, especially as the city itself boasts little and less to hold a visitor's attention once the sights have been exhausted.

According to the guidebook, the Taj Mahal is the world's most beauitful building and especially picturesque at sunrise; a bold shout and one that had to be investigated. Getting up well before the crack of dawn and making it over to the west gate in plenty of time, it became apparent that the guards and other employees were never going to be ready in time to have the giant wooden gates open in time for a sunrise shot, let alone the 6am opening time they insisted upon. By the time the gates were finally opened to the public, it was bright with a bare minimum of pink in the sky, that sunrise shot lost forever. You're better than that lads, get it together.

Once through security it was basically a case of running like a child intent on the back seat of a rollercoaster in order to get some pictures of the Taj without having other people in it. My first burst of pace in this fiscal quarter brought me to the gate ahead of the Indians who had sneaked in without having to be security checked. Success.

After about 30 minutes of taking photos and trying to get that perfect shot, the place was overrun with tourists coming in and it was time to put the camera down for a second and actually take stock of the reason I had come in the first place.

With its perfect symmetry, starting with the dome in the middle to the four minarets at each corner of the marble plinth which raises the Taj to its elevated position, the Taj Mahal dominated the skyline, with nothing in the background to suggest the position of where you were, just blue skies. Pools with fountains making up their spine flanked by well tended gardens and trimmed trees and bushes lead up to the shining white marble structure, with many spots along the way where anyone can stop to appreciate the workmanship that went into it from vantage points and benches.

As you get closer, you have to climb some stairs and either remove your shoes or put pre-dispensed covers on your feet, your choice. Once at the Taj's level you can go inside to inspect the false tombs, the real ones are below and off limits to the public, walk around the perimeter and check out views of the Yamuna river, Agra Fort some kilometres further up the river, not to mention, check out the Taj itself from all angles.

However, as beautiful as it was, I couldn't help but feel a little disappointed by it all. From what everyone has ever said and written about the Taj, I was expecting to be blown away and experience similar feelings to those experienced in Beijing where everywhere I went exceeded expectations and then some. It just felt like something was missing here.

The design of the exterior is exquisite, no question, with passges from the Qur'an written in calligraphy upon the facade, the white marble inlaid with semi-precious stones and carvings so intricate I can't begin to imagine how long they took. However, I just couldn't feel a connection to any of it, I guess I'm just heartless when it comes to Mughal architecture. 

Once inside the mausoleum and within looking distance of the sarcophagi, I got my torch out to check out the interior designs but was instantly ordered to turn my lights off by some official lurking in the shadows who continued to watch like a hawk until I put it back in my bag, rendering many patterns within useless as I couldn't make them out in the darkness.

Minor gripes aside, the symmetry of the place is astounding. The Taj's aficionado and then ruler of the Mughal empire, Shah Jahan, went to such extremes to maintain this, that an exact replica of Masjid mosque on the west of the complex was erected on the east side. It served no purpose from what I could see, just there to continue the extravagant visual aesthetics of the Taj complex.

The mosque itself is actually still in use, rendering visits to the Taj on a Friday a waste of your time as you will not be granted access unless you are coming for prayers, something I might have had difficulty trying to blag I feel. Any other day is fair game though.

Although I was disappointed to have missed the sunrise, getting there before the masses is a good idea unless you want thousands of people in your photos or touts offering you everything Taj related from postcards to snow domes.

Having arrived so early, I was amazed to find that I was done by 9am, something I hadn't quite envisaged as I thought it would take much longer to walk the Taj itself and see what the grounds had to offer, mostly they just offered various angles from which to observe the Taj as shown below.

First pic of the day

Taj close up

Grand Entrance Building to the Taj Mahal complex

Mosque...or is it?

Calligraphy on the Taj's exterior

Shot from the southeast

Shot from the southwest

As mentioned before, it is beautiful. However, as for being the most beautiful building in the world,  I'm going to have to disagee I'm afraid, not that I have any other suggestions at this time. Apart from it's stunning symmetry and the tombs, there really isn't much to see once you have inspected the marble carvings and taken more photos than you thought possible of the same thing.

Of course, this being my second trip to India, I couldn't leave without seeing the Taj again, but upon reflection, I was left so underwhelmed that perhaps believing into the built up hype of certain places should be avoided. Something to think about for my future travels perhaps.

One thing for certain though, there's no way cage diving with Great Whites and going on safari in Kruger Park to spot the 'Big 5' will be a let down, so I will bid farewell to India and get ready for the excitement that awaits in South Africa.

Khajuraho

Getting here was another one of those near day long missions but thankfully this time it was on a train and not a rickety old bus. Sleeper trains here are great, once you get comfortable and settled into a book, the time can pass pretty quickly, you just have to hope that the 'chai wallah' is on board so you don't get too parched.

Snacks are a good shout as the ones offered at stations are pretty dodgy looking most of the time and considering I'm still not trusting some of the food around here due to my earlier Delhi belly, loads of water and packaged snacks do just the job. 

Upon arrival late in the night at Khajuraho, there was a throng of touts. The town with the smallest population on my itinerary, but greeted by some thirty strong men all shouting that their rickshaw was the best. I may as well have crowd surfed into the one that we eventually chose.

The main draw of this small town is to visit the Western temple complex and if you have time, the Eastern and Jain temples too. These temples, especially the Western ones are some 1000 years old, well preserved with some intricate carvings depicting images of people in erotic poses and sexual positions. Most of the carvings are of everyday life though, with the naughtier ones quite some distance from the temple deity.

The Western complex boasts some well preserved temples, with only one currently under renovation and missing most of its original work. One can only assume that given the Karma Sutra nature some of these temples suggest, had the complex not been hidden by the growth of the jungle around it, it would have been destroyed for sure. Thankfully it was rediscovered by the British some 150 years ago and was saved from destruction, and has since become a World Heritage site that is well maintained and looked after.

The designs of the temples are similar, with steps leading up to the higher tier, where the temple itself lies housing a shrine. Most of the carvings are mundane but it's fun to look for the numerous tantric poses and other carvings including horses and elephants, orgies, couples and even the odd bit of beastiality. Yes there is a design of a man and a horse, or is it an elephant, but I couldn't find it.

Western Complex

Lakshmana Temple from a distance

Lakshmana up close

Vishnu's ride, maybe Shiva's I'm not sure

Erotic carving

Lots of erotic carvings

Perhaps the most famous one

Can't help themselves

Jain and Eastern Temples

Adinath temple

Adinath

Similar reliefs to the Western temples

A whole wall of a temple covered in carvings

Another famous one

They're everywhere

Phew, after all that I need a break I think. Next stop, Agra for India's most famous attraction, the Taj Mahal.

Rajasthan, India

Jaipur

Coming into Jaipur from Amritsar was another long journey but at least by now the trains were available and came as a welcome relief from buses and jeeps. At least a train can't get a flat.

Jaipur is described as the 'Pink City', for the colour of its city palace among other things. I can only say I am still wondering where all this fabled pink actually is.

For a large city it's pretty easy to navigate and from the budget accommodation the Old City where the sights are is a short enough walk away that a rickshaw isn't necessary, you can just amble along soaking up the noise and chaos of the close set roads.

Within the Old City lies the City Palace, one of the more popular destination in Jaipur. However, having read so much about it and being excited about seeing it, I can honestly say it was the biggest disappointment of the trip so far, in so much as it took the shine off the rest of Jaipur as the sights didn't justify their guidebook descriptions, only Hawa Mahal in the Old City was remotely worth visiting.

The City Palace didn't even have a building you would consider a palace per se, just a colllection of buildings which were run down, poorly maintained and housing a limited selection of old artifacts, howrahs and palanquins are quite literally all it had to offer besides the token swords and guns which are ubiquitous with a place of this nature. Don't get me started on the exorbitant entrance fee for thsi place either.

Just round the corner is the Jantar Mantar complex, an astronomy playground for the city's founder Jai Singh II, again, as impressive as the structures were, they meant nothing to me. One of them was able to tell the time to two seconds by using the sun, but obviously it was out of commission and has been for some time now I would have thought. A guide was available but unless astronomy rocks your boat you'd have a hard time finding any interest in the place.

Still within the Old City was Hawa Mahal which offered some respite from the previous two spots as it had some interesting architecture and was enjoyable to walk around, even if there was nothing to see in any of the rooms adjoining the staircase which wound its way up five floors to the top where there were decent views of the Old City.

A couple kilometres walk out of town along a hidden winding route up to the top lies Nagargarh, Tiger Fort, built up on a ridge to the north of the city. Once at the top it became apparent that once again there would be nothing to do apart from appreciate the city views as sunset approached. The old fort building itself was under some reconstruction but I was still staggered by the fact there wasnt a single thing in any of the rooms, it was actually empty.

After a day of continuous disappointment, a beer was in order and just to take the cake there was actually an entrance fee to the restaurant with the best city view, speechless.

Although the area boasts more than a few other attractions, Amber Fort some 13 or so kilometres out of town being a big one, the prospect of staying here any longer was totally unappealing. That and the fact the next town, Jodhpur, also has a fort of repute itself which I would rather check out instead rather than as well as.

Hawa Mahal, close up

Hawal Mahal

Inner courtyard of the Hawa Mahal

Jantar Mantar

City Palace

Snake charmer with what looked like a fake snake

Walking up to Tiger Fort

Along the fort walls

Amphitheatre in the background

The bare inner courtyard

Jodhpur

This was more like it. A smaller town than Jaipur for sure but with as much going on, just on a miniature scale. Jodhpur, the 'Blue City' is actually blue, with many of the local residences and buildings all bearing the same faded blue jeans colour. I guess someone did a massive paint job in the city some years ago.

Dominating the skyline and massive in size and scope is the city's main draw, Mehrangarh, the city's massive fort. Built in 1459, the fort was never taken, a beast of a structure with well designed gates and entrance to halter elephant attacks and walls so high scaling them would have been suicide.

Within the grounds, the fort itself has been converted into a museum full of artifacts and effects of the past royal families and many a room with a view. The audio guide which comes as part of the admission fee is very informative and a useful addition to explain the many things on display in the museum.

Outside of the museum, foot ramps lead up to the ramparts where a host of old canons lie, a temple at the far end and great views out across the city as far as Umaid Bhawan Palace and beyond. Outside the grounds it is possible to circumnavigate the fort and marvel at its sheer size as you walk around it.

Wandering around the city there is a more relaxed feel compared to other tourist towns with only minimal hassle, nothing you haven't had to deal with before. The main centre of town revolves around a clock tower which has many a market stall around it, with many locals plying their trade and scratching a living within eye shot of it.

There are many roof top restaurants offering fine views of the city and there is a peaceful ambience wherever you choose with soothing music, candles, cold beer and views of the fort in the moonlight, very peaceful. One place in particular was Hill View guesthouse, a family run place where eveyone went out of their way to make your stay in Jodhpur a chilled out and enjoyable experience.

View from the guesthouse

Fort's outer walls

Within the fort walls

View from the ramparts

Looking up at the fort

Still within the grounds

Water source by the fort

City clock tower

Udaipur

Arriving late and tired from an exhausting bus ride of never ending stop-starting, the guesthouse roof top offered well lit views of the city palace, something I was very much looking forward to seeing. Among other sights here is Lake Pichola which houses the Lake Palace situated on Jagniwas Island.
Suffice to say that when I went exploring the following morning and consulted the guidebook I felt a little let down that you can't actually go to the island and walk around the old palace grounds, it is just a top end hotel open only to guests now. Shame, but at least getting pictures from afar isn't hard as there are views of it from just about everywhere from the waters edge.

The palace grounds themselves were nice and again afforded decent views out onto the lake and the surrounding area across on the other bank. However, much to my consternation the vast majority of the palace has been converted into a musem, with very limited access around the ground once through the entrance and opening courtyard.

This came as a shock and a bit of a disappointment as I really didn't fancy walking around another underwhelming museum which housed much the same as every other museum in the state. Needless to say I took a pass and just soaked up the lake views and went for a walk around the perimeter, the town itself really is an attractive mishmash of structures which somehow fit to together nice and snug.

In the evenings, Bagore ki-Haveli, a building of repute within the city down by the Gangaur Ghat, puts on a show every evening based around themes of dance and music. The opening act involved a dance where two women balanced bowls with fire leaping from them, somehow they didn't topple off their heads. I was pretty glad of my seat at the back at this stage.

Other acts included the only one with a man, besides the three men playing the accompanying music for each dance, where he played an instrument I'd never seen before whilst dancing to himself while a woman covered from head to toe sang a warbling old tune.

There was more singing and dancing with groups of women coming out together and twirling around, sitting on the floor and clapping bells and symbals together in time to the music, before the final act where a woman came out to do a dance dedicated to the women of old who had to travel many miles each day to get water for their communities. This culminated with her eventually having ten bowls on her head while she paraded around the courtyard, not even in remote danger of dropping any of them. Amazing to watch and harder to believe.

Colourful view of the city

City Palace exterior

Lake Palace

Listen to the rhythm

Just chilling

Lakeside view of city

Of course, there is much and more to see in this state of Rajasthan, one of the more popular ones among tourists. There are plenty more towns with their own palaces, forts and various other attractions ranging from camel safaris to national parks. Sadly, tiger reserves across the country are currently closed due to the monsoon season, and coupled with a tight time schedule I have been unable to see everything this state has to offer. Of course, some places will be a let down, it's inevitable, but you take the rough with the smooth and overall it's been a pleasant experience.

Next stop, Khajuraho in Madhya Pradesh to see the temples that inspired Karma Sutra.

Amritsar, India

After some sleep and a hard earned breakfast it was time to explore the first of many cities on the itinerary that have a choice of a temple, a fort or a palace as the main viewing interest. In this case, Amritsar has the Golden Temple, which happens to be the Sikh's most important and revered shrine.

Many people, regardless of religion undertake a pilgrimage to this site where they are afforded bread and board for their troubles.

Getting to the temple is easy, just ask any rickshaw driver to take you there or venture there yourself on foot, most tourist guesthouses are in the vicinity of the temple. Once there, everyone has to take of their shoes and leave them in the storage facility provided before entering the temple grounds via a shallow pool of water so as to cleanse feet upon entry.

Within the grounds the temple takes centre stage, shining in the sunlight and sparkling at night, it looks impressive and beautiful as it stands out from the holy lake that surrounds it. Worshippers come to bathe in the water but if you are just sitting down and soaking up the atmosphere, cross legged is the only way forward so as to show respect.

Inside the temple, there is always a throng of people praying, either alone or as a group, with musicians playing spiritual music accompanied by the chorus of worshippers whose voices echo off the walls of the cramped space within. Incense, offerings and prayer books are all available and people of any religion are welcome to come and pray.

Besides the temple itself, the kitchen and dining hall are a wonder unto themselves. Everyday, hundreds, if not thousands, of volunteers come here to help with the preparations, cooking and distribution of food to those who come to the temple. Some 60,000 people a day come to the temple, or so I was told.

As you enter the dining hall building, plates, bowls and cutlery are handed out to each person, who in turn are ushered into the big dining room where they choose a place of their choice to sit down. Volunteers then come round and fill the plates up with food apprpriate for the time.

In the morning, a simple offering of chai and biscuits is available. For lunch, a delicious thali spread of sweet coconut rice, dal and chick peas with chapatis is on offer. The amazing thing about all of this, is that it is free for anyone who wants it, admission to the grounds is free too, the place really is open to everyone.

Of course, donations are more than welcome and for a place like this they are necessary in order to function. However, with the generosity of the volunteers it's not hard to see why this facility is open all year round for everyone.

Kitchen and dining room

Golden Temple by day

Golden Temple by night

Golden Temple at dusk

Volunteers

India -Pakistan border closing ceremony 

The India -Pakistan daily border closing ceremony at Attari - Wagah is also a highlight of Amritsar. With these two countries always at each others throats, it is refreshing and somewhat surreal to see this complete show that goes on. It's pure theatre.

Around 3pm onwards, crowds staart to gather on both sides of the border to take seats in the custom built grandstands for the event, it's that popular. Come 5pm the place is packed to the rafters and all that could be heard from the Indian end was Hindi music, heckling at the Pakistanis, chanting, the national anthem and general noise from the few thousand people who come to witness this strange yet hilarious event.

Proceedings get underway with flag waving, scores of women queuing to run the length of the short section of road to the gates where the borders meet waving their respective flags in the faces of the other nation and much to the joy of the onlooking crowd.

After this, music just blares out of the speakers around the stands, with the women dancing in the road, the men cheering the women on and fiercly singing pro-Indian songs followed by more chanting.

As the festivities come to a close, the crowd's anticipation reaches new levels as the soldiers come out upon instruction and line up. One at a time, the soldiers then proceed to scream at the top of their lungs, do the most over the top salute, turn and power march to the border to meet their Pakistani opposite. Standing directly in front of each other, they then try to out stomp, out salute and out handshake each other before returning to their station.

It's pure Hollywood and the crowd laps it up. One guy was so beside himself that he was just screaming at the top of his lungs, either that or he was just hamming it up like the soldiers.

To conclude, the flags of each nation are lowered and folded away. The soldiers then face their opposites across the border, scream at each other until the crowd starts to join in too. They then stomp around, slam the border gates in each others' faces as hard as physically possible and march back down to the barracks amidst cheers from the galleries. Brilliant.

Indian grandstand

Pakistani grandstand in the distance

Getting pumped

Wave that flag

Marching to the border gate

Marching back

Game face

You can just make out the other side

Calm down