Saturday 28th January,
2012: (Tour Day 8)
Our final tour day was for sightseeing at the Taj Mahal in Agra. Again, security at this world
famous place was very tight – metal detectors, personal pat downs, no candy or
gum, no sharp objects, no religious items, etc.) and we had to wear special
shoe covers in the main building. Strangely we also had to take a battery bus
for the last 500 metres. It was an anti-pollution measure, but the local
residents were exempt. Really, for such a short distance, it would have been
simpler to walk.
Another minor disaster stuck - my camera's battery was dead, so I
couldn't take any photos of the Taj. At least I'll be able to share ones from
other travel buddies.
The Taj Mahal is truly amazing. It deserves the accolade of one of
the seven wonders of the modern world. It took 22 years to build, having been
completed in 1653 CE on the banks of the Yamuna River. It is finished in
marble, and features inlays of semi-precious stones, rather than paint, to
provide colour. We got a group photo taken to recall the day. I spent as much
time as possible walking around the British-planned gardens, the mosque next to
it, and the main mausoleum (which houses the tombs of Emperor Shah Jahan and
his wife Mumtaz Mahal).
From there, we took the train back to Delhi, arriving around 17:30. There were lots of hugs and kisses as
we parted company and we received our earlier group photo from the tour leader.
Since I hadn't arranged anything specifically and Erin was taking a
complimentary cab to her hotel (which was within 500 metres of mine), I shared
a lift with her. I will miss Erin. She was a great travelling companion.
This time I got a better quality room which faced the side street,
so it was much quieter as well. After dinner in the hotel, I had a short walk
around and dropped into an Internet café to check my email, mainly out of
curiosity. There were 96 items in the inbox and about 11 spam messages, so I
just closed it and left.