Our Finale: The Taj Mahal

The last segment of our adventure took us to Agra.  The city is most well-known for its "Wonder of the World", the Taj Mahal.  We took a horse-drawn carriage to and from the gate (our horse's name was Babalu).  When we were at the gate of the Taj Mahal, our hearts were pounding with excitement.  When we all first saw this magnificant, white structure, we were immediately amazed at its size and beauty.  The Taj Mahal was built as a tomb for the king's beloved third wife.  On her deathbed, the queen requested two things: first, that the king build a spectacular monument in honor of her and second, that he not remarry.  The king honored both of these requests.  The four minarets on the corners of the Taj Mahal lean slightly outwards, so that if they should fall, they would not damage the main structure.  The Taj Mahal is made of white marble with intricate hand-carved inlays of semi-precious stones.  The Taj Mahal is also impressive due to its symmetry.  There are also two symmetrical structures on each side of the Taj Mahal, one was built as a mosque and the other was built as a place for the commoners to stay.  Another interesting thing we learned was that there were stripes on four faces of the columns outside of the Taj Mahal, but when you stepped back, it gave the optical illusion that there were eight faces on the columns.

Tiger Filled Ranthambhore

Our journey to Ranthambhore National Park was bumpy!  Despite the bumps Dad and I were feeling better. We drove through several villages and watched the villagers harvest wheat.  Trucks and tractors they called Gypsies had enormous pouches that ballooned out to twice the size of the truck.  All full of wheat!

We arrived at Tiger Den Resort and prepared for our first tiger safari.  We met Jane and Stetson from Miami and had a great time visiting and exploring the wild.  We saw monkies with black faces, giant antelope, herds of spotted and summer deer, crocodiles, colorful birds, eagles, kingfishers, parakeets, and peacocks,  But, no tiger sightings.  We had a safari planned for the next morning and promised Jane and Stetson a picture if we saw a tiger.

On our second safari tour we met a couple from Sri Lanka.  We started the tour with the same wildlife sightings but did not stop for pictures.  Our guide spotted fresh tiger tracks.  He knew they were fresh because they were on top of old tire tracks.  Our jeep drove down a dry river bed and saw another jeep.  Our guide then said, "We got a tiger!".  Garrett and I were so suprised we almost yelled.  The tiger was sitting about 20 feet away lounging in the water.  We took so many pictures our memory card was almost full.  We learned the tiger was a tigress, #39 in the national park.  The guide wanted to get better pictures and was nice enough to drive us over closer to the tiger.  This was unexpected!  This time we got to see her face.  She got bored and did a small leap out of the water.  Then we took more pictures and watched her walk to another spot to nap.  Our guide thought we might be able to catch another glimpse so we took off in our jeep.  He said, "hold on tight" and raced to another spot.  We were all popping up in the air as we flew about 60km/hr down the safari trail.  Garrett thought it was the best ride ever!

Jaipur: Garrett's City

Our next stop was Jaipur, the largest city in the state of Rajasthan.  It is also referred to as the pink city due to the pink color of the buildings in the old section of the city.  But we decided to name it Garrett's City since he was the only one who got to experience it all.  The first day we arrived, we all toured Jai Garh fort, which sat high up on a mountain top and displays the world's largest cannon among other things.  One of our favorite highlights was a puppet show that served as entertainment for the kings and other royalty who used to live there.  That evening, we went to a light and sound show outside of Amber fort (just below Jai Garh fort) which gave us a good idea of Rajasthan's history, music, and culture.

During the night, Grant got sick (we're blaming it on the sugar cane drink in Pushkar, but who really knows for sure), so the next morning, Charlie and Garrett set out for a tour of Amber fort while Kim stayed back with Grant at the hotel.  We took an elephant ride to the top of Amber fort while Garrett donned his "prince turban".  The fort was like a maze and Garrett and I stumbled upon secret passageways, tunnels, gardens, and sleeping bats.  Then, Charlie got sick that afternoon, so Garrett and Kim went out for an authentic Indian dinner and entertainment that evening.  Thus, Garrett got to experience more of Jaipur than any of the rest of us.

Holy Cow! India won the Cricket World Cup!

This country is going crazy with celebration.  It has been 28 years since they won the World Cup and this is only the second World Cup win for the country.  Wow!  It's great to see and experience the enthusiasm!

Pushkar, Tents, Temples and Camels

Our hotel was a modified tent!  It was just like camping but it had a chandelier, a four-poster bed, wood floors, and a giant bathroom.  At dinner our first night, Dad accidently ate a super hot chili pepper. We think we saw smoke and fire coming out his ears! 

We scheduled a tour of Pushkar with a guide. On the tour we saw the only temple in India for the Hindu God Brahma who is said to have created the Universe.  We rang a bell to show respect and watched the local people do small ceremonies.  We then went to Pushkar lake where many people travel to take a dip in the water to wash away their sins.  Our guide included us in a ceremony where we wished for health, happiness and good fortune for all our friends and family.  We also got our first red smudge on our foreheads.  We also enjoyed a refreshing sugar cane drink mixed with rose petals and mint.  It was delicious, but we will come back to that later.  We had some Israeli food for lunch at the Third Eye restaurant. 

That evening we rode on camels!  The camels' names were Raja and Ramu.  We traveled around a village and watched the sun set.  As we rode through the village we were followed by several children who all said "hello", "how are you", "tata" and "good bye".  They were full of smiles, no shoes, and very interested in who we were.  Some even posed for a picture.  Several were interested in Dad's sunglasses.  We  were offered water by a village woman and watched cows, pigs and goats roam through the village.