In New Delhi we loaded our bags onto a bus (on the roof of the bus!) and were taken to our church’s Union Office.  Here we were all staying in one large room on cots.  But we didn’t sleep - it was morning now.  We ate some beans and chapati and got into a bus with a/c to drive to Agra.  It was a bumpy 4-5 hour ride.  I tried to lay down in two seats and ended up falling off onto the filthy floor, because the bumps in the road (the “highway”) were so big.  So much for rest!  The countryside was interesting anyway.  Some of the farmers lived in huts here and the bison manure was made into large “patties” and used to build things - like huts!

At Agra we toured the Taj Mahal!  As a kid I never dreamed I would ever actually see the Taj Mahal.  It is as beautiful as they say.  Our pushy little tour guide told us the history and main features of the large building.  The other buildings on the grounds had just as beautiful of architecture, but they didn’t have the same white marble and colorful inlay.  The grounds were fresh with green grass and eucalyptus trees, and parrots and other pretty birds flew about.  How fun it would have been to have it all to ourselves!  But there were lots of people there, the line into the Taj was an hour long (even in the hot season!)  Though you were not supposed to speak inside, (they say for respect - I think it was actually for practicality... you’d go deaf with the raucous of all those people in such an echoing building!) it was still so loud from all the “whispering” that I could barely hear the tour guide.  We were only allowed in the large main room.  Outside on the “veranda” the marble was so hot you could burn your feet by standing on it.  We all had to wear clothes over our sandals to keep from wearing out the marble floors.  It all seemed like a dream.  But I have pictures to prove it to myself! : )  I couldn’t get over how much effort went into all the stone inlay that covered the humongous building.  It made me wonder what “mansions” in Heaven will look like if humans can make this!

A PICTURE TOUR of the TAJ MAHAL

The entrance to the grounds of the Taj.

A close up of the portico of the entrance.

Can you tell those are people up by the door (on top of the "wall") lined up to go in?

The welcoming committee.  : )  Squawked away at everyone but could barely be heard.

Just to prove I was really there.

The front door of the Taj

Several kinds of parrots nested on the parklike grounds (first time we saw a lawn in India).

Another building on the grounds.  Also fabulous but not famous.

The floor on the "back porch" of the Taj.

Looking back toward the front entrance of the grounds.  (Note the patterns in the lawn)

The writing (arabic) that tells of the husband's love for his wife (sounds like he actually became manic).

You can't believe how ornate every little detail is!

Every pattern on the building is made of inlaid gem stones - some are iridescent and "glow" like in moonlight.

The tour guide took us girl's pictures this way.

Pr. Kelly made a friend on the back porch of the Taj.

Another building you can see across the river from the Taj.

Look like some kind of Ibis.

Another neat kind of bird.  The corner of the building there looks jagged but is actually three sided only.

A portico on the entrance building (led to the bathroom that you had to pay for but didn't want to even enter).

A hawk trying to cool off (its nest was nearby).

They had a marble inlay shop that had so many beautiful things!  It’s a good thing I left all my rupees in the village, or I would have been so tempted to buy something.  The “hawkers” were driving me crazy as we walked back down the long road to the bus.  I had learned not to look at them, but they would literally get in your face to try to persuade you to buy something.  A person has little personal space in India as is, but that was ridiculous.  We saw camels on the road back to the bus (for tourists).  They stunk so bad I could smell them quite a ways away.  But then, they could probably smell me too!  It was so hot!

In the bus with a/c I got so cold that night!  (everything was extreme here!)  Most everyone was paired off in twos and cuddled up as they slept.  I felt so lonely and cold, I cried.  Probably exhaustion had set in.  No one was awake to complain to.

Somewhere in the middle of the night we stopped at a roadside “dahrma” to eat.  I was hungry as we had only eaten once that day and I didn’t have money to buy junk food at the Taj.  Pr. Clark refused to eat as he had a bad experience at a dahrma in the past.  The hole-in-the-floor bathroom was so filthy I almost couldn’t eat after that.  We sat in plastic chairs outside with a few lights strung above, enough to see that the metal cafeteria trays were filthy.  The natives ordered for us and ate fast and well.  We ate what we dared (the worst lentil dahl I had there) and then were given a tour of the kitchen...  the paneer (goat butter) sat on a counter that obviously NEVER got washed off, a swirl of flies had a party on the paneer...  the pot the dahl came out of looked as though they had cooked several batches in it one after the other without ever cleaning out what stuck to the sides (lentils stuck an inch and a half thick on the insides of the pot).  The most sanitary thing there were the chapatis.  They are made... well, on the counter I suppose... but then they are thrown against the sides of the cement sided stove heated by wood coals, when the chapati starts to pull loose from the wall of the stove then you know it is baked through...  at least it gets the germs baked out!  As we loaded back into the bus, Pr. Kelly secretly handed us all charcoal tablets to take, in hopes that no one would get sick.  (I don’t think anyone did)  It was nice of the bus drivers to stop, I was really hungry.  But next time I will follow Pr. Clark’s example!!!

The chapati dough was slapped onto the inside of the wall of this oven until it baked and came loose.