In order to see the Taj Mahal at its best, and to avoid the crowds, we were told a sunrise viewing is best, which meant leaving at 5.30am in the dark. It was rather an absurd notion really, because when we arrived, so had all the other thousands of tourists with the same idea. And you don’t actually see the sun rise because there’s so much air pollution. Ah, but it was cooler (if 30 degrees Celsius and 60 percent humidity could be considered cooler).
We arrived at the gates and waited to be frisked as it’s a high security area, with machine-gun toting soldiers protecting the outside perimeter (the soldiers were not in sight of us at the gate though). The men get frisked by men in public, whereas the women are rubbed down behind curtains so as not to arouse the watching men.
After waiting an hour for the procession of women to go through, we started our tour. The quick story is a Persian mogul king’s wife died and he built this monument to remember her by. True love at it’s finest. There is definitely more to the story, and it is a work of art. It took 22 years to build with 20,000 labourers. The marble is locally sourced and the best in the world, as it’s translucent (light shines through it which is why it changes colour with different light spectrums; at dusk and dawn for example) and the most durable (it doesn’t stain or break easily).
All the precious stones were hand-filed and inlaid in the marble. (We went to a marble shop afterwards where they use the exact same technique for marble inlay work. Stunning is all I can say!) The buildings (there’s a few) are all symmetrical and aligned perfectly. Pretty amazing frat considering they didn’t have the instruments we do today for accuracy. The whole place with the Taj and gardens and ponds is surreal. It’s like your watching it all in a movie, yet you’re actually there. If you haven’t seen it for yourself, make the effort to do so. It is so worth it.
After the Taj, we had a quick breakfast, then visited a marble shop, drove for 5hrs to Jaipur and visited a gem shop. The best gems are sourced from Jaipur. Great prices too. Definitely a place to get jewellery for self or loved ones. The next stop was a textile merchant, where I bought a couple of pashminas.
Next was a traditional Ayuvedic-style massage with herbed oil, finishing off with a Shirodhara technique. Having oil trickled onto the forehead is an interesting sensation, yet very relaxing. I was all spaced out and light afterwards.
We had dinner in an open-air restaurant and watched a couple of young girls dance with bowls of fire on their heads. Apparently a traditional dance style around here. I helped with the girl with improvising a few dance moves of my own.