Our host arranged two SUVs to take us to the Taj Mahal, a four hour drive from Delhi in the town of Agra. Other than the trip from the airport into Delhi, this was our first time to really see the country.
I have to say, the whole cows in the road, milling amongst the population never got old. I started counting cows on the trip and got to 217 before I figured out we had only been driving for ninety minutes. Other animals seen on this same trip:
- 17 camels
- countless goats, sheep
- 4 elephants
- 1 bear (who looked pretty pissed off to be on a leash and in India)
- 1 monkey
After our late afternoon Taj tour, we were treated to a special full moon nighttime viewing from across the river in a private garden.
The light on the right is a guard aiming his flashlight at the building. This photo took a bunch of tries to get right — it was quite dark out.
We learned that the minarets are at 6 degree angles pointing away from the Taj. The thinking was that should something happen to one of them, they would fall away and not onto the Taj itself. That’s some really great planning for 1630.