Agra/ Taj Mahal
Trip Start
Jan 19, 2006
1
10
19
Trip End
Apr 28, 2006
A day before we arrived in India we got word there was a terrorist attack on Varanasi one of the holiest places in the Hindu religion and a place we were going to 20 people were killed. Well that kinda put everything up in the air cause security was going to be much tighter. So we ported in Chennai the next day and there were no problems. The 1st thing you notice when you arrive in India is the humidity the smell, and the absolute chaos everywhere with millions of Indians everywhere. We ended up getting in a rickshaw to see the city, one of the craziest experiences of my life, there are traffic laws but no on adheres to them. In the rickshaw we almost killed probably 5 people as well as weaving in between large trucks and cars at high speeds. That night going out was a trip it's a battle to get anywhere cause the drivers don't always know where anything is because there isn't all that much order in the city. Then it was on to Delhi and Agra to see the Taj Mahal. I am not the biggest fan of flying but I am defiantly not a big fan of flying in countries like India on the 3 hour flight to Delhi there wasn't any time were we were not bad turbulence and twice we all thought the plane was going to fall out of the sky, but once we made it to t he ground I was alright. From Delhi you have to take a roughly 3-hour train ride to Agra where the Taj Mahal is. If you have ever seen pictures of Indian trains of people hanging off the sides while its leaves the station, well that is true, we got on this train that by American standards would be considered a cattle car with all of these native Indians it was like we were in a Zoo they all stared at us and wanted to talk to us it was so much fun. The train went right through some of the poorest areas I have ever seen in my life. You would have to see it to believe it; I would have never thought humans could survive like that trash and human waste everywhere. Once we arrived in Agra we got to our Hotel to wake up and see the Taj early the next morning. We woke up at 5 and made it to the main gates by 5.30 we were the only ones there for the sunrise. Once they opened the doors the dark image of the Taj stood out it totally blew me away how big it was. We saw other things around Agra but made it back to the Taj for the sun set but this time there was 100,000 + people there it was soo wild.
Comments
Important notice
Haha did you pray you didn't have to touch the Indians when you saw them?? Because if you did you can give your testimony about it at church when you get back!!