Taj stories

plusieurs vue du Taj





les jardiniers du Taj a l'ouvrage.
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M= +++, I= ?, V=+++
en direct de Dehli chez Cathy et Guy.
Dernier petit plaisir en bus (12h de bus) pour rejoindre Agra. Comme a chaque fois, on a eu droit a notre petite dose d'embrouille lors du trajet (ca semble etre un classique du pays). Apres 1h de bus, on nous dit qu'on doit changer de bus, on attend donc en bord de route le prochain bus avec les responsables de l'agence qui essaye de nous dire que tout va bien mais qui n'ont pas l'air super rassure...Vers les 10h du soir, ils commencent a plier bagages en nous disant d'attendre, tranquille, quoi. Finalement le bus arrive avec 3 h de retard et tout se passe bien.
On arrive donc completement eclates mais on se motive quand meme pour visiter le taj avant la foule. quelle belle recompense apres ce periple que de decouvrir au milieu de la ville, cet endroit magique et hors du temps. Quel contraste avec l'agitation de la ville et de ses commerces! Le site se compose de petits jardins menant a une premiere porte en gres rouge. Ce n'est que lorsque l'on franchit la porte qu'on se trouve nez a nez soudainement avec le taj. Tout est si propre et si calme. La pelouse est verte et marbre blanc du taj en impose vraiment. Lorsque la foule arrive, on retourne a l'hotel se reposer, pour ne visiter le fort qu'en fin d'apres midi.

La soiree se passe avec Wheat et sa mere, tous deux rencontres lors du trajet en bus. Ils nous racontent leur epopee indienne et leur rencontre avec l'homme a la plus grande moustache. Le soir, on va a l'epicerie du coin chopper une biere (sacrilege...) qu'on se sirote depuis le rooftop restaurant de l'hotel avec vue sur le taj.
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as with almost every bus trip we have had, there is always a little surprise! this time, it was the "short" two hour wait until 10pm, before catching the bus to agra. what a mission. the best thing was the bus organisers (if one can call them that) who kept on saying that the bus would arrive in 10 minutes. at times it did, but the driver wasn't too content to take us. i have NO clue what the story was there---

arriving in agra at 8am was everything the guidebook had said - manic, seriously harrassed by the rickshaw drivers and hot, of course! our hotel was on the dodgy list - something the book had not mentioned.
the taj mahal is really quite spectacular. once you are standing in front of this monstrosity, you can't really believe that this is the real macoy. we strolled around and took photos from every possible angle - what tourists we are - and once the heat started to get unbearable, we sought refuge in the shade in the surrounding garden. it is said that at peak season, there are at least 15 000 visitors - indian and foreign.
what i battle to understand is the tarif though ; 20 rupees for indians, 750 rupees for foreigners with a free bottle of h2o!! unbelievable!! anyway, what can you do>>> unfortunately for us, our fake 500 didn't make it through. we still have a lot to learn!!

then a little visit to the red fort (where the royal family lived) which really was worth a visit. build 100 years before the taj (indeed, i speak the lingo), in the 16 century. an impressive mix of white marble and red brick with chambers that are connected with spiral stairs and courtyards. infact, the builder of the taj lived here and was ultimately imprisoned by his son, in the fort.

so that was the sight seeing experience of agra! dinner was also 'interesting', as seb almost ate a flying ant (either that or a really, really big ant - which is totally possible too) in his sambal soup. mmm. it was replaced with yet another sambal soup but i don't think that was needed.