Mumbai & Taj Mahal March 20-21 Part 1

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We arrived in Mumbai early and were greeted by a traditional band playing rousing music.

Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the most populous city in India with 17 million inhabitants.  We only spent a few minutes here before heading off for Agra and the Taj Mahal.  We took a bus to the Mumbai airport and took a two hour flight to the city of Agra.  It was a chartered 737 for our group and was about half full giving plenty of spread out room.  They served a nice meal that was to spicy for either of us to eat.  We landed in Agra and onto another bus.  We saw our first cows wandering about.

We had quite a journey to a local hotel for a stop for refreshment before heading for the Taj.  Here are some pictures of the town.  You may notice that some of the people appear to be painted……they are.  It is the holiday of Holi which welcomes the end of winter and the start of spring.  They paint themselves and each other.  It is vegetable based color and washes off……or so you hope.  It is a joyous time and you aren’t allowed to get mad if you are sprayed with color.  Thus everyone; locals, tourists, cows, and cars are all fair game.  Our bus driver advised us to keep our windows closed lest we end up colored.

 

Our welcome to an exotic foreign city.

Note they have Tuc Tucs in this area.  Not very many but we saw a few.

A six passenger Tuc Tuc

Bikes and Pedal Carts are very popular in Agra

Trash was everywhere we went.

We saw signs everywhere for classes on all kinds of jobs for overseas work.

You’ve seen McDonalds, Starbuck, KFC, and Burger King.  We can’t forget…..

We arrive at the hotel for some refreshment and change of transport.  Noreen liked his shoes.

Noreen got a fresh flower lei and her red dot.  I think the color of the dot is supposed to mean something but we saw a lot of Indian ladies whose dots were colored coordinated with their sarong.

We had to switch to Battery powered vehicles.  No vehicles with emissions are allowed close to the Taj.

Our driver.  Note his holiday color.

Heading for the Taj.

Our first view of the Taj.  We have to walk from here.  The vehicles belong to workers in the area.  Apparently they can drive in.

Approach to the outer courtyard.

The gate leading from the courtyard to the Taj.

The Taj comes into view as we walk through the gate.

And finally there it is.  The four minarets lean out; some say to appear vertical with the main building, others say it is incase they fall it will be away from the main building.  Take your pick.

Two beauties

One walkway to the Taj.

Along the way this woman was part of a larger group.  They were cutting the grass by hand.

Later in the day we saw them with the grass cuttings on their head.

You can’t wear shoes in the Taj.  This is where Indians place their shoes.

Visitors like our group get red covers over their shoes.

Yes, we had red covers also.  Looking back toward the entrance gate.

Another view of the Taj from the walkway.  The building to the left is now an active mosque.

Each side of the Taj is exactly the same.  Only if you can read the inscriptions on the wall can you tell which side you are on.  This is the right side looking at the Taj from the front.

Looking back from the Taj entrance over the reflecting ponds.

Some close-ups of the entrance area.  No pictures are allowed inside.  Anything in color is hand cut inlay

This is the rear of the Taj.  People are taking a break in the shade.  The people lying on the ground at fine.  You can see how similar it is to the entrance and the right side.  Notice no shoes.

The view from the back of the Taj.  It was situated on the river with the intent that nothing could be built behind it to detract from the aesthetics.

If you want to know more about the Taj perhaps you can enlarge and read this.

Outside the Taj are a number of horse carts as normal fuel vehicles can’t get close.  These carry the people from the vehicle stop area to the Taj.  We walked.  Note the color on the road from the Holi celebrations.

We left the Taj, went for lunch and then off to Fort Agra or the Red Fort.  First we had to get past the cows.  Notice no one is paying any attention to them.

We returned to our base hotel for lunch.  Some limits in the parking lot and the guys that support it.

This is a long day so I broke it into parts or I’d never get it sent.  Our day continues in Part 2.