Agra, India-at the Taj Mahal -June 15, 2001

Position: Agra, India-at the Taj Mahal -June 15, 2001

We decided to take another land tour to northern India while the crew delivered Seaquell from the Maldives Islands to the Seychelles Islands, a 10-day trip.

Our tour was an American Express trip planned by Mary Simpson of Southerland Travel on St. Croix. She provided us a very complete trip with all travel details including a time schedule for tour agents to greet us at the airports and with a driver at each stop. All stops also had a tour director to spend every hour with us for touring and giving us the highlights of each location.

We started our tour in Old Delhi stopping at The Red Fort, Gandhi's Tomb, and the Largest Palace of India. Next day we saw New Delhi's India Gate, Parliament, several temples including a rickshaw ride thru a very busy local market. There was the tower Qutab Minar that is the largest tower of India which proclaimed the arrival of Islam to India 1193 AD. One of the larger most beautiful and busy temples was the Birla Temple which housed many idols of the Hindu sects and was constructed in 1938. All of India had many ruling Kings for the individual states. Delhi has been rebuilt several times with many old cities and now a New Delhi. The British built New Delhi when it ruled India from 1857 to 1947 as one of its commonwealths. The city is planned by the British complete with roundabouts, a mile long mall from the Palace to the India Gate and the government buildings on each side of the Mall. The plan resembles our government Mall in Washington, DC. We were pleasantly surprised to find New Delhi and the rest of India on our tour schedule to be cleaner, minimum smog, and with courteous people.

Our tour took us to 4 other cities about 150 miles apart each in a different state and with its own history and capital, each state had its own King and palace before British rule. Fortunately we flew between cities since the roads are over crowded with sacred cattle, tractors and camel drawn carts with very slow traffic.

The city of Jaipur is called the pink city as all the buildings are pink. The old city is walled and built around the palace. We stayed in a new hotel, Rajavillas, which was built around the ruins of an old temple. The hotel was built like a castle with villas surrounding a garden area. Our villa was very modern with a tent roof that buffeted during an afternoon thundershower. It was beautifully embroidered with gold threads which sparkled with the lights of night. An unusually interesting attraction in the city was a large sundial, 15' high, on which you could read each minute in the shadow of the sun. There were separate constructions for each of the astrology periods, and a large disc that was positioned to show that the location was 27 degrees north of the equator. All of this covered a city block and was built in 1725 but still kept in excellent condition. We visited a second palace outside of the city that was built on the top of a hill. Being a difficult climb, they had elephants to transport us to the top. Each elephant was colorfully painted, covered with a tapestry quilt and umbrella covered basket that we sat in. It carried its trainer, our tour guide and us to the top. After dismounting we gave a tip for the driver, which the elephant took from my hand in his trunk and handed it up to the driver. This old palace had some special rooms decorated with many small pieces of mirror imbedded in all the walls and the ceiling. Using many candles for light they reflected in the mirrors making a well-illuminated room. Like most rulers he had one section where each of the wives had an apartment.

Our next stop was Jodhpur where we stayed in a newer palace, 1929, that the king's son and family are still living in one large wing. The main part of the palace was made into a hotel with 100 rooms. They really built large palaces in the days of kings! Our suite was huge with sitting area, bedroom section, large bath, dining area and 15' ceilings. The tour company knew which rooms to select for their guests. Morning breakfast was served on an outdoor veranda overlooking a large well-kept garden with lovely flowers and had strolling peacocks. This city is known as the blue city with all the homes painted light blue. We visited an old fort on top of the hill, which was well maintained as a museum with many of the ruler's personal items such as elephant carriages, and other carriages that hand carried the royalty with 6 or 8 servants. There were enclosed carriages for the ladies as they could not be seen. There were ornate cradles for the babies and all were jeweled and painted in gold.

Our guide invited us to a family wedding celebration dinner for the evening at a local hotel. The bride and all the ladies were beautiful in brilliant traditional Indian dresses including veils. Many of the men wore the traditional Jodhpurs that the town was named for. The men and women were seated on opposite sides of the garden with a separate bar and food. June sat with the ladies and watched as each of them entertained with a short dance. They wore bells on their ankles that were passed to the next lady before she danced. I joined the ladies, as it was more interesting than drinking with the men. It was a most enjoyable evening. We were delighted to be invited to this family celebration.

In Udipur we stayed in a palace in the middle of a large lake. This was a summer palace for the King. The present king is still living in part of the older palace. Being in the hill country there was a series of artificial lakes that were
dammed for irrigation and water use. This area was the site of many marble quarries. We were told that the majority of their marble is shipped to Italy. On the roadside there were 100's of marble cutters with large stocks of marble sheets

prepaired for shipping. All of the palaces have been built of marble which weather 100's of years and remain beautiful for visitors today. The three cities we visited all ended in pur, which indicates they were Hindu in origin.

Our next stop was Agra, the home of the Taj Mahal, the catalyst for our trip to India. The hotel was the new Oberoi, built like a palace. Each room had a view of the Taj Mahal, which was also within walking distance. The Taj Mahal was built by the King in 1631 as a memorial to his wife who died during the birth of their 14th child. It took 22 years to build and is preserved as the outstanding memorial in India. The site, on the bank of the river, overlooks a part of the city. Next to the memorial are two temples, red in color that visitors may use for prayer. Everything is perfect
symmetry. There are an average of 10,000 visitors per day however we were fortunate to be there during an off-season day with fewer visitors. The King had 3 sons. The youngest son killed his two brothers and put the King in prison so he could become the King. The prison was located near the Taj Mahal giving the King a view of the memorial while he spent his last years in prison.

Visiting this ancient wonder of the world is the highlight of our traveling experience. We feel fortunate we were able
to see this magnificient structure and amazed how it has been so beautifully maintained. We thank Mary Simpson, who has made many trips to India, for arranging such a complete trip.

Our tour was an American Express tour and very well arranged. We would recommend American Express and their agent for this area Krishna Yadav of TGS travel Thiolia Circle MI Road, Jaipur, India. (Krishna was selected by the Secret Service to arrange President Bill Clinton's trip to India) He will arrange for local all independent guides. The local independent guides he arranged for our use were excellent as follows and we recommend them all.

New Delhi, Ravi Shanker Tiwari, 91 11 6171761 Jaipur: Govind Gopal, 91 141 523678
Jodhpur Pintam (contact through TGS Tours and Travel Udaipur: Rishi Raj Singh, 50 Sardakpura, Udaipur, India

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