Worthy of being a World Wonder!

The Taj is so much more than you could ever expect it to be! Since the last post, we have been too and from Agra. Now we are back now in Delhi! Let's recap the last 36 hours, shall we?

Since my last post, we left at 8 am on Tuesday to drive to Agra--a city of 1.5 million but most known as the location of the Taj Mahal. After about a 4-5 hour drive in our AC van, we arrived at the Taj View Hotel and checked into our room, fully equipped with a great view of the Taj. In all honesty, I was hoping more from the city of Agra, but it has turned out to be similiar to all other cities that we have visited--dirty, dusty, hot, and congested. Since we only we had the afternoon, we decided to see some of the other sites in Agra. The main site we went to was the Forgotten City, about 40 km outside of Agra. This city was going to be the original capital of India, but due to no water it had to be relocated. This visit was probably the most stressful experiences we had in India because there was no entrance fee aka anyone could come in and bother you...and boy did we get bothered. Every few seconds we were asked to buy a postcard, buy a flower, pay for a guide, and any other thing that you can think of but not need. Again, our complexion and clothes did not help disguise us, rather made us stick out even more! Needless to say, we saw the sites and ran. Oh and I forgot to mention...the showing of knees was forbiddeen at the Forgotten City so I had to be adorned with a pink skirt while inside--as if I didn't stand out enough being white, haha. In the evening we ate dinner at a small restaurant, where we were the only people inside. So far, none of us have come down with bad stomach issues-knock on wood!

Today, we woke up at 5 am to be at the Taj Mahal at 6 am to see the sunrise over this magnificent palace. It was worth the wait and I was so glad this is how we ended our trip. There are no real words to describe the Taj and none of our pictures will do it justice. It was amazing. We spent 2 hours there and headed back to the hotel. The rest of today we saw a few more sites in Agra and then headed back to Delhi.

We arrived here at 6:30 pm and have settled in to the hotel. We met Brandon and Charita at the hotel! It was so great to see them! We also have seen other members of our trip around the hotel, though none of us have been formally introduced. Tomorrow we are meeting in the lobby at 6 am to catch a train and head up to Shimla. In Shimla, we will have our orientation and then on Friday start our clinics.

From June 5-19, we are going to be in the Himalayan Mountains in the Himanchial Pradesh of India (map it). Internet will be sparse or none existent. However, 70F weather sounds fantastic compared to 105-110F. I will try to keep you posted as much as possible, but you may not hear from me until we descend from the mountains.

Thanks for keeping us with us!
On to the Himalayas!