Agra Cadabra - Part 2

After a hectic morning at the Taj Mahal and the general hecticness of the journey so far we decided to spend the rest of the day chilling out. We had a spa appointment at four so could spend a good few hours relaxing. We lay around the pool, sipping drinks and munching on rather excellent club sandwiches. The pool was great, set at the bottom of a "valley" , steps leading up either side to little pavilions. One end was overhung with the balcony above and under it the water lapped right up to the pool edge, which featured gold paintings of Ganesh and Chaise Lounges to chill on. We played around in the water for ages (maybe a little too long, I got rather pink) and put up with the racket from a bunch of South Africans who seemed to feel everyone was interested in their loud chatter and bad manners. The British, French and Germans did not look amused. All over the surface of the pool were massive bright dragonflies. Pink, blue, green, all picking off tiny insects from the surface of the pool. Fantastic.

At 4pm we headed up to the spa. The treatment room was on the 4th floor overlooking the Taj Mahal and was set up for two people. There was a massage bed for each of us and a large clawfoot bath in front of the window. We started by completing an application which assessed our Ayurvedic balance - this would determine the oils used on us. Next came a foot bath and a very fetching little pair of paper pants! Lying down on our beds we were smeared with a honey mixture and then massaged with a muslin bag filled with fine wheat. With my eyes closed it felt very odd. The wheat bag felt like a big, rough tongue licking you - kind of like a cow - but it was very nice. Water the mixture was smelt sweet and creamy and was very warm, once wrapped in a towel I quickly drifted off to a lovely sleep. After a while we were peeled out of our towels and sent for a shower (there was a large walk in shower room in the treatment room), a good rinse and then out to get our hair oiled. The came part two - the oil massage. Lying on our fronts we were given a very long, smooth massage with oils selected for our Veda's. Starting with your back and then working on long strokes from foot to hand via your back and then down again. Very gentle and relaxing, hardly any pressure. We were then flipped over and the same lovely experience was repeated and then we got a facial massage as well, before they finished off our head massage - I was nearly unconscious with relaxation, lol. Next we were dumped in to the steam room for ten minutes to sweat out the oil and then we were each given a bowl of green goo and we used this to scrub ourselves down with. Finally, as if it hadn't been enough already, we got to step into our milk and rose petal bath. Warm milk covered in fresh rose petals, we relaxed whilst sipping our herbal tea and gazing at the Taj Mahal - wow!

Agra cadabra - Part 1

The first place we stop in Agra is Fatepur Sikri. It is a ghost town on top of a hill which was the capital of the Moghul Empire until 1585. The Emperor Akbar built this stunning city, unfortunately in an area with a water shortage and shortly after he died it was abandoned. There is a large palace compound and a Jama Masjid (Mosque complex) inside which is white marble tomb. You tie a red string into the marble lattice work and walk around the tomb in a clockwise motion - then your wishes will come true - so they say. Inside the main palace complex is a Diwan-i-Khas, house of private audience (see left), it has a spectacularly carved central column (see right) which supports four stone bridges going to each corner of the room. Akbar stood in the middle and the scholars of different religions stood at each corner and debated religion with him. There is also a Palace of the Winds, behind the lattice work of which the ladies watched court life without being seen. I am not sure if Maryam, Akbars' Christian wife got up to the same tricks in the Palace of the Christian wife, a truly gilded palace. A huge stable housed 200 elephants, horses and camels - there is a tomb in the grounds for his favorite elephant. Akbar was a very wise ruler and believed in Peace for All, however he was also a bit of a lad. He appeared to have a hide and seek house, where he played with the ladies of the harem. There was also a Parchisi courtyard, set out like a giant game board but the cheeky chap used to use slave girls for game pieces. There was also a very large Hammam (Bath house) and I have a feeling he didn't just get in there with his rubber duckie...

By the time we left Fatepur (and some of the most persistent touts we had come across on the whole journey) it was getting dark and as we headed the last 40ks to Agra it turned black. The drive into Agra was a huge disappointment. It is a dirty, grotty city. Very built up, not at all the romantic image we were expecting. The hotel however was stunning. The entrance was a set of marble walkways over small ponds (right), in the centre of which, during the day, a Indian flute player sat and added a little magic to the place. Inside you step into a huge golden domed reception area where we escorted to our room from. We were on the 3rd floor and facing straight onto the Taj Mahal (why is it not floodlit?)and down below was a beautiful pool and gardens. The pool was open 24 hours so we went down to take a dip. Partly covered by a pillared gallery the pool is surrounded by steps leading up to pavilions and gardens. As we swam bats swooped down and picked insects of the surface of the water, how cool!

The next morning we were up at 5am to watch the sun rise over the Taj Mahal. It was an awesome view from our balcony - just a shame about the view into the local woods, just beyond the gardens, which was punctuated with little nudy Indian bums pooping! We breakfasted in the room and then headed out to explore the Taj further. Down at the gate they called us up a little golf cart. Now, I had read about these and thought "good grief, how lazy are western tourists" but in actual fact what it did was whiz you past all the hawkers and tatt sellers in the route down. We were dropped at the vehicle boundary and escorted by a security card to the entrance (never found out why we needed him, not exactly a problem) got our tickets and headed into the main Taj compound. The first thing you pass is the little Muslim school rooms which now lay empty. Turn right and you are at the gateway into the main gardens (see left) - looking through you can see the white marble of the Taj Mahal. You walk through and see that famous scene, with the Taj reflected in the water . On each opposing sides of the Taj is a mosque and a fake mosque (it doesn't face Mecca) and everything else follows this symmetry. We walked around the red stone mosque (my god the ground was hot kept having to jump to marble bits) and then around the back of the Taj where you can see the river and the weather station which monitors the air pollution (which is pretty bad there). Back around the front and inside the main tomb which is very busy and horrifically noisy. When do tombs stop being solemn places and start being entertainment zones? When does death become a day out? Back outside we sat in a cool, shady marble corner and watched the crowds. There was all nationalities there Indian, Japanese, German, Americans, Brits and a few other indistinguishable. We headed around the gardens and the chap who had taken some pictures of us on the way in brought over our snaps- very good ones too. We look around an architecture exhibit and then called it a day, it was just too busy. We decided to make a bet on the hawkers, I went for 12 offers of crap, Keith 15 - he won with 18 offers of hats, rickshaws and Taj Mahal key rings. The prize was making it back to the hotel.....

The Office Pooja

A break from the travel stories today - will continue though, don't fret.

We moved to our new office this week in Mital Towers, about another 5 mins walk from the old office - which doesn't sound a lot but come the monsoon could me the difference between soaked and drowned rat! We are up on the 8th floor now and my desk is in an area beside the pantry along with the rest of the servicing and finance teams.

Before we could use the office we had to have a Pooja, this is where the holy man comes in and performs a ritual. We used two deities, Ganesh ( remover of obstacles and keeper of knowledge) and a Laxmi (Goddess of wealth) and various acts were performed. They were washed, rinsed, fed, covered in flowers and then chanted over. Candles were lit to represent the fire and incense wafted around the office. The holy man did a lot of chanting but all I really picked up was "Ohm Ganesh" and "Ohm Laxmi". At the end we took in in turn to waive a candle clockwise over the deities and then bless ourselves with the fire. It lasted about half an hour in all and certainly gave a sense of occasion to our office move!

We have settled in nicely to the new office now - which boasts a fridge, microwave, coffee maker and a panini toaster. Which meant on Friday we all had a feast of cheese, ham and bean toasties. Hurray! Now I know for most of you that is so dull its unbelievable but too a bunch of guys who live on Paratha, Biriani, pav vada and naan this was a true treat. Its amazing the things you miss when you are a long way from home......

You say Dausa I say Dosa

We relaxed by the pool in the morning before picking up Sham and heading off to Agra. He is a lovely chap and a bloody good driver, always pointing things out and helping me with my Hindi. We were ripping along at a good pace when we were stopped by a level crossing in a little place called Dausa (pronounced Dosa, like the Indian pancake). Stuck in traffic front and back we were forced to just sit and wait. After a while curiosity got the better of me and I got out to take a picture of a camel. That drew a little crowd, not for the camel, for me! All the tourists normally bypass Dausa but we had gone through to get a chemist. We were a total novelty. We took pictures of camels, tuc tuc's and kids - and they begged us to take more. Keith made friends with the owner of the camel and the schoolgirls flocked around me. No one asked for money, food or anything - they just wanted to look. After an age (well an hour) the traffic moved a little, and then stopped again. But we had enough room to do a U turn and back track to the bypass. The rest of the journey was back to barren scrub and agricultural land, the colours not from the land but from the people. The bright pink and yellow saris, the elaborately painted trucks and the camel trains. Tractors groaned under the weight of heavily overloaded wheat sacks, spilling over front, back and sides. Peacocks and peahens filled the fields and monkeys run around wild at the roadsides. No flowers, few trees, just a tonne of cars, motorbikes, bicycles, tractors and camels and a very long, very flat stretch of tarmac - all the way to the busy city of Agra.

Jaipur City

Sham picked us up after breakfast and we headed up to the Amber Fort. You drive up through a mountain pass to get to it and as your round the bend you see it, magnificent in the morning sun. High above the bone dry valley a parade of elephants makes it way up the front of the fort, carrying tourists to the main building. Unfortunately we were to late to get a ride on an eleflump (they finish at 9am) and we had to take the back road up in the car. Inside we found the remains of a once splendid fort - now rather gone to rack and ruin. It was teaming with tourists and apart from the main entry gate and a few pavilions it looked pretty shabby - still an awesome sight though. We looked around the various rooms but many had gone past there best and the pressure of so many bloody white people was getting to us so we beat a retreat and headed to the main town.

Next stop was the City Palace. You enter the main gate, painted beautiful colours and into the centre of the walled city. We buy a ticket come postcard from the main desk and Sham went off to park the car. Through another splendid gate and into the first courtyard. Here a central building houses (the old Welcome Palace) the textile museum - hundreds of brilliant costumes and fabrics, worn by the Maharajahs and Maharanis are displayed in cases. Everything from elaborate wedding outfits to the Maharajah's billiards costume and polo outfits.

In the Maharani's Palace was the weapons museum - an amazing collection of guns (shot, flint lock and camel mounted) knifes (daggers, huge 25kg scimitars and ladies knifes with ivory and jade handles), shields made of rhino and crocodile skin and a very cool night polo ball ( ladies could not been seen during the day so played polo at night, the ball was an iron filigree cage, in which a gyroscopic mount sat with a candle on it, when lit the ladies could bat it around in the dark, play their game and keep their modesty - very clever). A guide took as around, pointing out all the artifacts, metal back scratches for the men, ivory for the more delicate ladies and swords so flexible you could hide them in your belt.

Another magnificent gateway and we moved though to the main palace square, straight in front was an elaborate pillared hall were the Maharajah entertained his guests. Inside sat two huge silver vessels, the biggest ever items made of a single piece of silver and use to carry Ganges water to the UK for the Maharajah who didn't trust our water supply! Look up and you see a yellow building atop the red. This is the reigning Maharajah's palace, the Maharajah, Maharani and Maharajah junior all live in here. We looked through the transport museum, housed in the old stables. Old fashioned cars and elephant carriages filled the old stables. There was also an art gallery, filled with not only pictures but 17th carpets and books written in Sanskrit, Arabic in Hindi.

I had a brief look around the observatory next door but Keith wasn't feeling too well so after a short stop for a shop we headed to the Palace of the Winds, which is more of a photo opp than a visitor attraction. Although the shop keepers took advantage of my being on the pavement and tried to flog me everything from pots to saris. We headed back to the hotel for lunch were we received the most mediocre room service imaginable. I went to the pool and Keith took a nap. He felt no better later so we stayed in the room and watched DVDs and after such a poor lunch stuck to apples for dinner.