Delhi, Agra, and the Taj Mahal! Days 11, 12, & 13

This weekend was unbelievable. We journey to Delhi and Agra and saw the Taj Mahal! Northern India is very different than Southern. They speak Hindi (instead of Tamil), the landscape is less jungley, and the customs are becoming more Westernized to name a few. It was very cool to have traveled to both parts, but it was a lot of traveling (we drove to chennai, 2 hrs, flew to Delhi, 4 hrs, drove to Agra/Taj Mahal, 7 hrs).

While in Delhi we drove through "New Delhi" where the capital is. It was beautiful and clean and the lawns were landscaped, the first time I have seen this in acity in India. This is a picture of the India Gate, the National Monument of India.

We went on a rickshaw ride through (old) Delhi. It was terrifying and amazing at the same time. I am planning on never driving a vehicle of any sort in India, ever.

The rickshaws took us through tiny streets full of shops that sold everything from extravagant saris to silver to fruit and finally we stopped at the spice market. I got some yummy Indian spices! I can't wait to cook when I get home :)

Old Delhi is a very old city that looks like buildings were built on top of other buildings with out any rhyme or reason.

This is the building/gate outside the Taj Mahal. It was decorated with inlaid stones to create beautiful flowers and Arabic script (the black and white border) and had 22 domes, one of each year it took to build the Taj Mahal.

This is where the workers lived. It took thousands of workers 22 years to build the Taj Mahal. The workers were not Indian, mostly Persian (including the architect which is why it has a great Persian influence in its design).

Monkey (for you dad).

Giant dragonfly!

My roommates. Love them!

The inside is designed after a jewel box. The white marble is inlaid with semi-precious stones in tiny, delicate flowers.

It is hard to believe that I was here, at the Taj Mahal. I feel like my pictures could be fake, it is so breathtaking (I promise they aren't). It was so incredibly beautiful and detailed and white and huge, I can't even describe. I hope you got a feel of its grandeur from my pictures.

At Agra Fort. It was used as a palace and was the capital for a while. It was so beautiful. I loved the architecture and the details. I can't believe that these buildings were made by hand!

(The Taj Mahal in the distance).

If you can't tell by all the pictures, I am in love with the arches!

While we were touring the Taj Mahal and Agra Fort our group was almost as popular as the buildings themselves. One, we were white (95% of the tourists were Indian). Two, we were American. Soooo many people would come up to us and ask if they could take pictures with us. Sometimes they didn't even ask, but we could tell, haha. One woman wanted her daughter to take a picture with Alyssa and I but the girl was too shy so she did instead. Afterwards I told her that she was beautiful and she denied it saying, "No, you are more beautiful than me". It was interesting because she truly was beautiful and looked much better than our sweaty selves, but she wanted our lighter skin. The whiter you are in India the more beautiful you are. The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.

The giant wall! When the fort was in use it had a moat filled with crocodiles and around that a forest filled with tigers and lions. I don't imagine that many people successfully broke their way in.

This flowering bush was everywhere in Agra and Delhi, I love it. (For you mom).

There are shops in Agra that still make marble pieces using the same methods during the construction of the Taj Mahal. When a light is placed under the marble the red/orange stones glow. So beautiful.

Our hotel, the Jaypee Palace. We had real live showers and toilets and beds and air conditioning. It was so nice! We went swimming and slept and went dancing with a bunch of random Indian people in the club, haha. It was way fun. I was very sad to leave because it was a wonderful, restful weekend. But I was starting to miss the kids at Rising Star.

I found an advertisement with Shahrukh Khan (a major Bollywood star) in the chennai airport and of course had to take a picture! (This one is for you Katherine M. and chloe).

It was about midnight (aka the beginning of July 4th) as we were entering the village just outside of Rising Star and we saw fireworks! We all pretended that they were for us to celebrate the Fourth :) Actually there was a Hindu temple celebration going on but it was fun to pretend. The whole street was lit up and there was a float type thing made of flowers and another one of lights. It was very pretty. But the best was singing the National Anthem while watching the fireworks. :)