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I was excited about the visit to the Taj Mahal but I was unprepared for how absolutely magical it is. It's extraordinary. I was so happy to be there. The sun was just rising (we had gotten there at 6am, highly recommended to avoid the crowds) and you could hear a man's voice in the air, musically calling the faithful to prayer. It was a perfect snapshot of India, and I will forever hold it close to my heart.
There's a lovely garden surrounding it.
The Taj is enormous. It's built on top of a marble base, and you're required to either remove your shoes before stepping on to it or cover your shoes with the covers they provide you with your ticket.
You can see the marble base here. Everything is marble. Everything.
The Taj is flanked on both sides by mausoleums.
Just a quick sample of the magical area around the Taj.
Inside the Taj is a room that holds the ceremonial tombs of Mumtaz Mahal and Shah Jahan. We weren't allowed to take flash photography and it was really dark, so here's a picture from the internet:
This the view from the back of the Taj looking left.
View from the back looking right.
The minarets are built so that in case of earthquake or other destruction they will fall away from the main tomb. A guy there offered to show me all the best places to take photographs so I let him show me around and sure enough I got some kickass shots.
Perfect timing. I'm so grateful I have this picture.
Another shot taken a little later in the morning.
Safe drinking water is a prized commodity in India. In two of the hotels we stayed in, which are considered very nice, we had to use bottled water to brush our teeth. After seeing the Taj, we loaded up into horse drawn carts.
We had papparazzi! Lol, these guys followed us, taking photos so they could sell them to us afterwards.
Watch out for cows!
We decided to forgo the paparazzi photos and take our own. Looks pretty good. Oh wai--
That night after dinner we went to a famous embroider house, Kohinoor. They're famous for developing 3-D embroidery. I don't think I've ooh'ed and ahh'ed so much in such a short period.
This took one artist 6570 days to complete.
This was created in 4170 days and contains semi-precious stones.
Look at the stones!
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