Day 2 in Delhi

Today was day 2 in Delhi, and wow what an experience. I saw things I will never forget.

I am going to write things as I saw them, I hope no one takes offence.

Last night we enjoyed dinner/snacks and some drinks with a few American's that work for Chase. They travel here often, so we got some great tips (don't drink the water, or even brush your teeth with it. No taxi's or rickshaws. No raw fruits or veggies, etc.). That was really helpful.

This morning we arranged a tour to the Taj Mahal. Our driver arrived very early (we were told to be ready at 8am, he was here at 6:30am). Alex and Sandra arrived at the hotel about 7:30am, so shortly after we loaded up and headed out of Delhi. It took approximately 5 hours to drive from Delhi to Agra (where the Taj Mahal is). Here are the many interesting things we saw:

The lines on the road to clearly mark lanes are merely a suggestion, no ones actually uses them. This is true for the ENTIRE drive. And the horn is used frequently and for completely different reasons then what we use it for. In fact our driver Anan was surprised that Matt does not use the horn every day. They pretty much honk the horn when they come up on any type of vehicle. This is likely pretty helpful as there were several auto rickshaws that carried at least 10-15 people. They are made for 3-4 people! You can't even tell who is the driver.

What should be a 2 hour drive is close to 5 hours because of traffic and things in the road.

First, the animal life. We saw at least 100 beef cattle. They don't look very healthy, are very thin, and are roaming everywhere. All traffic stops for the cows. Stray dogs, the most unhealthy, thin, sick looking dogs, and they are everywhere. Monkeys (some type) in certain areas are all over. One roof line we saw had at least 12 or more. They are far more plentiful in Agra then Delhi. Water buffalo! They roam, and they are used to pull carts and other modes of transportation. Donkeys, sheep, goats....everywhere. We also saw a few camels, either to ride at a roadside place, or pulling large carts.

The side of the road is commenly used as the toilet. This applies to men only. And we saw no less then 100 men urinating on the side of the road.

3 people threw up in front of us.

Trash is everywhere.

We got to a road way passage where we had to pay "tax" to enter into the next state. This was quite an experience. Anan told us to stay in the car, do not open the window or talk to anyone. GREAT. As he goes to pay the tax we have sever people come to the window. First, people with monkey's on leashes. People have captured the monkeys and train them to do tricks for people waiting at the tax road. If you take a picture you bet you need to pay. One monkey jumped right up onto Matt's window.

Also at the tax stop were Indian tranvestites. We saw probably 4 men dressed in drag (NOT good drag, this was NOT Asia SF quality drag). They didn't approach our car as much as walk by. We didn't understand why they were there or what they were trying to do. Anan said that they are both man and woman (he claimed they were hermaphrodites but they all clearly appeared to be men). He said people just give them money just because. We really didn't understand a whole lot about the situation.

Then there are begger children, one without a leg, many just poor and hungry looking. Selling bangles, peacock feathers, etc. They would speak a few words of english and knock on the windows. We encountered this almost everywhere once we got out of the car as well. There were several adults and younger adults with severe physical deformaties that were begging. It was terribly sad.

Shortly after the tax stop we stopped at a safe/nice place to use the restroom and have tea. There were 2 boys with a cobra snake. Only Alex went closer to investigate, the rest of us stayed clear. He was playing a flute and we did see one family with their child take a picture with the snake.

At the stop we used the restroom, which was an interesting experience. A woman stands by the door and when you wash your hands they turn the water on for you, then they hand you little thin paper napkins to dry your hands. You are then expected to pay them for this, a few rupee at least. I actually had one girl tell me "no, one more coin".

The shop owners and restaurant owners seem to all try to conserve as much electricity as possible. They leave lights off until we walk in, then they turn lights on for us to look. The minute we walk towards the door, lights off again.

We headed into Agra and picked up a second guide. This guy I am pretty certain now was in on some scam or deal with Anan. He wasn't hired by our company. We went to the Red Fort (not 80% military base), a huge red fort built of red sandstone. From there you have a direct view of the Taj. We went over to the Taj and they only allow vehicles to go to a certain point, they are trying to limit the air pollution close to the building.

We went in the ticket office, it was $15 for non-Indians and $1 for Indians. The non-Indians were given a small bag with a bottle of water and shoe covers. The Indians all take their shoes off to go into the Taj, but they just ask the rest of us to use the shoe covers. We then took a van for a short distance, then walked the rest. At first we had many beggars approach us, very forward. When we got to te gates of the Taj women entered in a seperate line then the men (1 for women 2 for men). We had to be wanded. The also don't allow you to take many things in with you, so we had to leave most of our belongings in the car. We think our driver ate all our almonds and drank the juice while we were gone. :)

The grounds of the Taj Mahal are beautiful. There is one main gate to enter, then 2 side gates. We entered via a side gate, which used to be for cargo, animals, etc. There are quarters on the grounds for the people who would come from far away to visit the tombs. There are guard towars and it's very fort like. Now there is a lot of security, men with automatic weapons all around. We passed through the main arch, which is made from the same red sandstone at the red fort. In fact all the buildings around the Taj are made from that, except the Taj itself.

There is a long pool that goes from the red archway to the Taj (think Washington DC). The veiw was breath taking. The structure is extremely beautiful and is quite impressive in regards to it's symmetry. The Taj Mahal is a grave site. It was built by the Mughal emporer Shah Jahan for his wife, Mumtaz Mahal, who died while giving birth to their 14th child. He promised he when she was dieing that he would build her the most impressive tomb, and he did. So, the only part of the Taj that is not completely symetrical is the graves of Mumtaz and Shah. Mumtaz is buried in the exact center of the building, and Shah is buried just to her side.

The entire structure is made from white marble. There are numerous hand carved ornaments (flowers, scriptures, embedded jewles, etc). We had some time to take pictures and tour the building.

Then, we headed back to our car and were taken to a restaurant for lunch. By this time it was 3 or 4 pm and we were all pretty hungry. The restaurant din't have many people in it. We each ordered an indian dish, and also naan and cokes. In those sort of places we are only brave enough to drink sealed drinks that do not contain ice, so soda it was! The food tasted pretty good, but was much more expensive then I had expected. When the meal was done, we were greated with a mouse on the floor.

To be continuted......