Taj Mahal

Well, we made it to the Taj Mahal, and it was every bit as breathtaking – and more – than you could imagine. Lee’s post about our hassles with the Taj Palace hotel represents just one of the bizarre and unexpected “hurdles” we had to overcome to get there at sunrise, the time we are told it is best to see this amazing place. An aside: Lee is an incredible person as you all know, and I can add to that that she is a smart traveler. But her persistent but respectful way of dealing with the management of the hotel over the frying of our camera charges – and the surprise outcome that came from it was Lee at her finest. Just had to say that.

Anyway, that was one hassle. I mean, imagine finally getting to this sacred, iconic wonder of the world and not being able to take pictures.

The second hassle or hurdle amounted to the mysterious vanishing of my just purchased ticket to enter the Taj Mahal grounds. We bought our tickets from a grumpy agent at one end of the street leading to the Taj entrance (he professed at first not to be able to make change for rupee notes I gave him to cover the 1,500 R. cost for two tickets.) We were about to rush out the door to head back toward the Taj entrance when an employee pointed us to a desk where they would mark your ticket and give you a bag containing a bottle of water and some papery slippers you have to put on over your shoes just before you enter the Taj Mahal temple itself.

Once equipped with these things, we took a rickshaw down to the Taj entrance and got in line. Sunrise was minutes away. Lee extracted her ticket from her bag, but there was no ticket in my bag. I couldn’t believe it. I checked and rechecked. Sunrise was drawing ever closer.  I decided I would have to go back to the ticket office, maybe retrieve the ticket (good chance of that!) but more likely buy another one.  A tourist bus from the ticket center had just emptied out a batch to tourists, so I jumped on that just as it was leaving to return to the ticket center. Lee went on into the Taj Mahal grounds, armed with our still camera and its nearly spent battery.

I got back to the ticket center fast enough, questioned the guys who gave us the bags. They honestly seemed to not know how my ticket disappeared. I bought another one and ran out the door,  saw an auto-rickshaw and got a quick ride back to the entrance. The security check was agonizingly slow, but finally I got through. The sun had to be about to rise. I found Lee waiting for me and then, at last, it was just us and the Taj Mahal (and about 500 other early risers).

The sun started to rise over the horizon and slowly this sublime and magnificent structure was bathed in  a pink hue.  A beautiful morning took form. Someone offered to take our picture.  Our fledgling camera battery hung in there long enough to capture these images.

 What a moment it finally turned out to be. Sam