Agra to Jaipur

April 17, Wednesday   This morning I found a shop in the hotel arcade that had SD cards for sale. Seventy dollars US for a four gig card!  But with John's approval, I bought it and it works. Whew! We later realized we should have walked out, which would have caused the seller to drop the price.  We aren’t used to bargaining, were still jet-lagged, had all of five minutes to make our purchase, and in general were stupid about this.  Live and learn, but it left a bad taste in our mouths. We really never shop when we travel, and this is a big reason why.

We opted not to rise at 4 am to go back to see the Taj Mahal at dawn.  At that point, I didn't even know if my camera was working, so sleeping in seemed a better choice. Apparently we should have made the effort, however. Those who did said it was lovely, uncrowded, cooler, and with beautiful light. Oh well.

We visited the Agra Fort later this morning, I took lots of pictures, and have already downloaded them to my iPad.  As one of our fellow travelers, a woman with much camera expertise said, redundancy is good. She also assured me that if I take my damaged card to a good camera shop when I get home, they may be able to retrieve my pictures. She also said there are places on the Internet that can do the same. Good news. I really hate thinking I had lost the few pictures I had taken of the Taj Mahal. 

I have learned something new about my camera. When I was charging it this morning I removed the SD card and just plugged in the camera. It gave me a message that the photo it thought I was about to take would be stored in its built in memory. I had completely forgotten about that option. I don't think the memory is very large, but it is certainly good to have if this happens again!

Agra Fort

Agra Fort was interesting. Originally built as a brick fort that was later destroyed in war, it was rebuilt as a larger, studier fort, and later added to as an impregnable but more beautiful summer palace in the same era as the Taj Mahal.  Shah Jahan, the Muslim era ruler who built the Taj as a monument to his beloved second wife, was later imprisoned by his own son in this palace/fort, which he had embellished with several white marble buildings similar to the Taj Mahal’s style. His son killed his brothers and captured his father in order to seize the throne. The father told him he didn't mind being imprisoned as long as he could see the Taj.  He was kept in great style in a tower at the palace from which he did indeed have a view of his wife's and later his own final resting place. His son had 300 concubines (one a night for a year with Fridays and holidays off?) who all occupied this palace, hence it's very large size. It was called a fort by the English during their occupation of India, and they garrisoned their soldiers there. Today, it is an Indian army garrison.  For that reason, only a very small portion is open to the public, but that small area is still quite large with many rooms, gardens, and open areas.

Everything is decorated here!

We saw monkeys both here and at the Taj.

One of Shah Jahan's white marble additions

Inside what became a beautiful prison tower.  The inlays are made in the pietra dura style using inlays of carefully cut polished marble and semi-precious and even precious stones.

This window alcove has been restored to show some of the gold that adorned the entire room in Jahan's day.  The proportions and design of the buildings and rooms appeal to us today, but we can only imagine how they must have looked then, with gold, precious stones, tapestries, and other treasures everywhere.

This is the view of the Taj Mahal that Shah Jahan would have had from his prison room

He wouldn't have been able to zoom in this well, but then he knew the building intimately

After lunch we will be back on the bus for our four hour drive to Jaipur. Meanwhile, we are enjoying our air conditioned hotel room.   

The lobby of our hotel in Agra.  The filigree in the lower half is silver and is behind the reception desk

The courtyard and pools of the hotel

This is the street just outside our hotel

The ride to Jaipur was long but it was also a window into the real India. Neither of us can even begin to imagine driving here. The near misses with vehicles that are terrifyingly close are harrowing and the constant use of the horn is crazy-making. Luckily, we were on a bus with a competent Indian driver. Better him than any of us! 

Along the way we saw more wheat harvesting, dung patty drying, carts pulled by camels, taxis so loaded with people that some were hanging from the sides and others were on the roof, and dirt everywhere. It is surprising that the people seem to be quite clean because their living conditions are incomprehensibly disgusting to us. Yet their clothes are almost never soiled, and in fact, the women's saris are beautiful, even in the most impoverished areas. 

Camel parking

Yes, cows really do freely roam the streets of India

Sometimes, they are even all dressed up for something special!

When just one camel won't do...

Yes, those are dung patties drying in the sun

 About three quarters of the way to Jaipur we entered Rajasthan province. There was a noticeable change in the people, who are taller, very attractive, and seem to love brighter colors on their buildings and especially in the clothing of the women. The saris here are also more adorned with heavy gold embellishments.

Look at all the color!

And more at this street market filled with wonderful produce

  From the outskirts of Jaipur on, the housing was ramshackle to falling down, heaps of refuse in the streets, some of which was being eaten by the many cows that live with the people, and utter chaos on the streets and buildings. Yet we were greeted constantly by smiles, waving, even cheers. Indians are such laid back, happy people that we all marveled at the apparent joy they take in living conditions that we would find unbearable. The country is over eighty percent Hindu.  Their philosophy of living lives of duty and ethical peaceful coexistence with all creatures, based on a belief that all of creation is one family, made us think the world would be a far better place if more of us were Hindu.

Our hotel room in Jaipur.  I forgot to take a picture of the lobby.

Our hotel in Jaipur is the Lalit. It is new and probably the most beautiful of our stay--and that is saying something!  The usual dinner buffet was once again excellent with plenty of options for vegan and omnivore alike. There are always a few people who pick at the food and gripe that they can't eat any of it because it isn’t the bland pap they are used to, but most of us think it has been fabulous. I hope the food on the boat will be as good!