Day 83 - Tuesday March 21 Mumbai, India (trip to Agra to see Taj Mahal)

Taj Mahal photos

position at 7:30am: N18 55.47 latitude E72 50.39 longitude
temperature: 83F, 73% humidity, cloudy
distance since FLL: 26,855 miles

Clay walked only 2 miles this morning and it was hot and very windy on the top deck. Clay watched us sail in and dock. Debbie was the first to sight the Gateway to India and the Taj Mahal Hotel. She tried to take pictures, but it was very hazy this morning. We were docking by 7:30am and we went down to Compass Rose for breakfast at 8am. Debbie had a bonus chocolate croissant this morning! Two days in a row! This one was made by a completely different baker than the ones yesterday, maybe they will have them every day now. But, then Debbie would have a serious dilemma. 83 days and clothes are getting tighter!

We are docked on the starboard side. You have never seen such a fuss about putting up a gangway. How many Indians does it take to move a gangway?!? More than you might imagine and all acting like they had never done such a thing before. The mystery is that we carry a perfectly good one with us and have been allowed to use it in a lot of other ports. It must be another Indian powerful union thing. This gangway was a trip. It was wobbly and almost impossible to walk on. Very tricky. All guests are required to present their passports and a landing card to immigration officials in person in the Constellation Theater this morning before the ship can clear. But, we saw people with suitcases waiting to get in the theater and they said they were going to the Taj Mahal. How is this possible? While we were eating breakfast, we saw lots of people with luggage on the dock and Jamie had not yet started calling us by decks to clear immigration. Huh? Debbie postulated that maybe only we were leaving after 11am for Agra. We went and took the 1 minute required to clear immigration immediately after breakfast. By then Jamie had announced that once your yellow card was stamped that you could go on ashore if you wanted. So, we did. Debbie was empty-handed but Clay assured her he had his wallet. We got roses and forehead dots as we came ashore. We walked into the terminal building hoping to find shops. We did! Hurray! Debbie found a stool similar to the one she had admired in Cochin. And they had the Indian women's trouser outfits. It is a salwar kameez. They did not have the blouses with the elephants printed on them that she had admired but she could get a formal outfit. Clay found lots of other wood carving that he liked. We spent way more money than we had thought to spend. But, these people all were hard bargainers and we were the "first customers" of the morning. Something about if you are first, you have to pay more or it is bad luck for them for the rest of the day. Hello, it was after 9am and people had been exiting the ship for an hour. Debbie looked at her watch and asked one guy on our return visit to his booth, What were you sleeping in this morning? How could we still be 'first?'. So, we got the "morning price." Anyway, this was probably our only hour to browse and shop and they had most of what we were looking for, plus some. We are satisfied.

Back to the ship and the cabin before going down to CT at 11am. While we were there we heard Jamie making final announcements for the 9:30am Taj Mahal group. So, apparently there are multiple groups going at different times. Not sure how we drew the late departure, but we got to shop and we have no idea what those people who left early will be doing with their time either. So, no way to tell if early departure would really have been better. Debbie is still looking forward to airport gift shops. Clay needs a T-shirt. Well, we will probably head on down to the Constellation Theater now, better early than on time! We will have to catch up with this tomorrow evening and hope to have lots of wonderful tales to relate.

We were not the first to arrive in CT and we were 20 minutes early. Asta was ready and checked us off her list as we walked in and gave us our airline boarding passes and luggage tags. (The airport security here and the airline requires that every single carryon item from purse to camera have a separate tag on it and it is xrayed and the tag stamped. The stamped tag would be checked at least twice more before we boarded the jet.) Of course, the last person to arrive in CT was 20 minutes late. There were 71 people in our late departure group that were staying at the Oberoi Amarvilas.

There were 3 buses to take us to the airport. Ours was not very nice. We drove for over an hour to go the 12km or so that the guide said the airport was away. We drove through unimaginable squalor and poverty. You know about it and you read about, but it is incomprehensible. There are no words to actually describe it. Pictures cannot make it real for you. Mumbai has 15 million people, and a sizable number of them live in roadside shanty villages. (On the way back from the airport, we took a different route and missed most of the roadside squatters. Instead, we went through neighborhoods where the guide said that modest-sized 1-bedroom apartments sold for a minimum $USD500 per square foot.)

We left our bag with the guide to be checked. Somehow others did not understand what was happening and they carried in their bags. Our bag was the only one to be checked from our bus. (This worked out very well for us. We did not handle the suitcase from the curb at the ship until we opened it in the hotel room.) Inside we were directed to the security clearance line. There were no shops at this domestic terminal in Mumbai, after security there were a couple of shops and stands selling snacks and beverages but that was it. Also, we did not see an ATM or a money exchange place. So, we could not buy any snacks, though later we did see a couple of women negotiate for cans of Lay's chips in US Dollars. It took quite a long time to get through security and it was a nightmare. Apparently the Indian people do not believe in the concept of a queue. They understand the concept, but reject it as applying to them. Well, it is their country, so we stood in line and let them push us back and forth as 1 of us got through for every 4 or 5 of them. We were together in one line and within 6 feet of the x-ray machine's belt when Clay realized that men were being shunted to the left and women were staying to the right. He moved over and broke that line. (There were never any signs to this effect or any announcements of it in English.) Within minutes Clay was through and watching from the other side. It took Debbie about another 20 minutes from this point. Clay picked up her purse and the backpack on the other side and continued to wait for her to come out. Beyond the confusion about queues, the metal detectors we walked through did not work, so each person had to be hand- frisked and wanded. There were 4-5 booths for this on the men's side with men working in them and Clay got a quick wanding and sent on his way. There was only 1 booth with 1 very thorough woman working it on the women's side. Eventually, we were through and used the restrooms in the small gate area. There were only, maybe, 4 gates there and seating equal to one good-sized jet. So a good number of us just stood around waiting. After a half-hour of waiting, word spread that the chartered Jet Airways jet was delayed by 30 to 45 minutes. Another flight boarded and we grabbed a couple of seats. A couple of the local Micato Safaris guides came around and offered us a small paper cup of water. We accepted it and asked what was happening. They told us the jet was delayed and we should begin boarding in about another 20 minutes. Debbie asked and was told that the jet was coming from Delhi and the delay had occurred there. Clay asked how this would affect our short time to see the Taj Mahal today. He was told it would not affect it. We would go straight to the Taj Mahal from the airport and we would stay there until sundown and arrive at the hotel just in time for dinner. This did not sit well with most of the group because they thought all along that we were going straight to the hotel (though this was never the case as per the written itinerary we received) and that was why they hand carried their suitcases and went through that nightmare at security. It was bad enough for us and we did not have anything excess with us. Finally, our flight was called at the same time as a regular flight to Goa and there was an emptying of the gate area. We got outside and the 2 groups were divided to the right for us and to the left for Goa. We had to board small buses. Our bus took a big circle and ended up across what was a road painted on the tarmac to our jet that was parked less than 50 feet from the door we had walked out. The next groups queued and waiting outside were laughing as we got out on the tarmac and waved back to them before going up the steps to board. Must be another Indian union thing!

Our boarding passes had us assigned to seats 15 A & B. This turned out to be an exit row. They had some very strict rules about sitting in an exit row. You could not keep anything with a strap with you at your seat, not even if is stuck into the pouch of the seat ahead of you. Debbie finally sat on her paperback book and Relief Band case so they would not be taken and put her purse overhead. The rows were 3 on each side and there were 6 empty seats in front of the 2 exit rows. The last people to board were 2 local guides and they each took a side to themselves on that row. It looked like none of the rows had 3 people in them. Jets both ways were 737-700s but the exit rows were configured differently because we were assigned 14 C & D returning (across the aisle from each other) and it was not an exit row. The flight lasted 2 hours and they were constantly coming through to offer candies, cold cloths, drinks, meals, hot cloths, etc. Lunch was served onboard the jet. They came around and asked if you wanted fish or not. Debbie did not get a chance to reply before fish was set in front of her and the stewardess left. Clay got his fish and asked her as she lingered if there was anything other than fish. She stared. Debbie pushed her tray aside and said, I don't eat fish. The stewardess looked around, then leaned over and said, we have a few vegetarian dishes. Debbie said she would have one. Her fish dish was removed and replaced. The food was alright. The fish was good. All the food was strangely spiced, but it was OK for airplane food.

We landed in Agra a little after 4pm. As we landed we kept our eyes open to see if we could spot the Taj Mahal as we came in, but could not even though it seemed like we did a couple of 360 degree circuits before landing. The airport is part of a military base so they had special rules for tour operators to follow and we could not take pictures inside the airport. (The same rules were posted in the Mumbai airport about photography being prohibited, but the guides said that Mumbai was one of the few nonmilitary airports in India and that photography is allowed. Maybe there is more than one airport in Mumbai?) As we entered the terminal from the plane, the guides told us to us the restroom facilities as we would be going directly to the Taj Mahal without any other stops. The buses in Agra were better than the buses we had in Mumbai. The air conditioning worked well:) We loaded the big buses, and drove for about 20 minutes. On the way, we passed sights similar to what we had seen in Cochin and Goa. We did not see the overwhelming roadside poverty that we saw on the way to the airport in Mumbai. There definitely was much less traffic and fewer people in Agra than in Mumbai, but Agra had more cows:). It turned out that large buses can no longer go up close to the Taj Mahal. About a mile or so from the compound, there is a road block where the large buses have to park and unload and the passengers get into 16 person electric minibuses (or pony carts or camel carts) to go the last mile or so. The stated reason for this is to avoid the pollution of the big buses, but it may well have to do with the minibus/pony cart/camel cart drivers union. But, since we are staying at the Oberoi Amarvilas which is inside the restricted zone, our large buses were allowed to go up to the hotel, and there we immediately got into minibuses to go up to the Taj Mahal. One thing that can surely be said is that the hawkers that descended upon us as we got out of the minibus and walked 20 yards to the Taj Mahal entry gate were world class. More on this later. Again at the gate, they had two frisking lines, one for men and one for women. But this time, the lines moved more or less at the same pace as there were 2 friskers for women. On our big bus, our guide explained that before entering the Taj compound, we would be thoroughly checked for food and sharp instruments. For this reason, he suggested we carry only minimal stuff with us to speed up the entry process, leaving any bags and purses etc. on the big bus where they would be safe. Needless to say, this did not register with everyone. Some of us were able to quickly be frisked just holding the articles we were carrying in our hands. (That said as the women stood in line, our guide and a helper handed out a case of bottled water to us and told us we could take it inside.) But, others had to empty bags and get rid of cookies, etc. Some of the line slowdowns were caused by other (non-Radisson) tourists and some by people in our group who had been advised. One guy in line (non-Radisson) literally had a fruit salad in his backpack, and well as cigarettes and matches (also forbidden). This guy took about 5 minutes to be checked and cleared after they removed all of his forbidden items.

Anyway, we finally made it through the entry gate into the courtyard. Still could not see the Taj Mahal. It was a walled area about the size of a football field. As we walked into the area, on the right was a red sandstone building that turned out to be the gatehouse for entry into the gardens around the Taj Mahal. Then, we were awed. It was an amazing site to see for the first time. Of course, there were people everywhere (though the next morning, our group was the first people to enter this area and we were able to see it with absolutely no other people visible. It was really a dropped jaw sight.) The ponds had water in them, but the fountains were not working. This made getting the 'reflection photo shots' fairly straight-forward if you did not mind other people in your shots. And we got dozens of them. It was fun. The Taj was maybe 200-300 yards from the gate entry way which gave you an elevated view of the gardens and ponds that occupy the vista up to the Taj Mahal building. The building is surrounded by 4 minarettes as well as two other buildings to either side. To the west of the Taj is a mosque. To the east, is a mirror image of the mosque building. This building is not a mosque, but just built to maintain the symmetry of the vista that you see from the gatehouse.

Our guide walked us about halfway to the Taj building to the east side of another viewing platform in the garden. There he continued telling us the story behind the building of the Taj Mahal that he had started telling on the bus. The building took 20000 workers about 17 years to build. It was built as a tomb for the favorite wife of a Mughal emperor in the 1600's. The emperor, himself, was later buried in the Taj by his daughter. The guide explained that the Shah had not planned burying himself there as his vault destroyed the symmetry that was clearly his goal when he originally had it built. We then walked up to the Taj Mahal building. We had to put on shoe covers when we got to the marble flooring surrounding it. The guide took us through the inside of the building on the upper level where we saw the representational tombs. The actual tombs of the wife and the Shah are on the ground level, but you cannot visit that level. Instead, you visit the upper level where you see the reconstruction. The guide pointed out the translucent marble and the details of the marble inlaid work. We could not use our cameras inside the mauseleum so no pictures, sorry. After the inside portion of the tour, we walked with the guide on a tour around the outside of the Taj Mahal building. We then had about 30 minutes to walk back to the gate house to meet the group again and catch the minibuses back to the hotel. The sunset was best viewed from the back, or river, side of the Taj Mahal. During all our visit there was a very pleasant breeze coming off the river that kept the mosquitos down and us cool. It was full dark by the time we exited the gate house. On the 20 yard walk back to the minibus from the walled off compound, Clay made the mistake of trying to look at a T-shirt from one of the street vendors. By the time the minibus left, Clay had bought 9 T-shirts for 20USD. (Who knew one XL would not fit a 10-year kid, but another would almost fit Clay? Not to mention the toxic smell which we are still trying to air out). These vendors were an absolute nightmare. They were grabbing and pushing and pulling us as they yelled into our ears and faces. They came inside the bus and they opened the windows from outside and grabbed at us and threw stuff into our laps. It was frankly a little terrifying and overwhelming. We were back at the hotel by 7:15pm. The driver on the way back was a wild man. It was like a theme park thrill ride, but with real danger! This guy was a menace. He almost ran over the uniformed doorman outside the hotel. When he greeted Debbie with namaste, she returned the greeting and told him she thought he was a goner there for a second. He laughed and said that some of the drivers are more aggressive than others. No kidding!

The hotel was gorgeous. The staff were wearing the most amazing costumes and all greeted us so warmly and formally. It is a stunning hotel experience. They had our keys waiting for us, and we were in the room within 3 minutes and found our checked bag waiting in the room for us. The room was beautiful as well with a large patio overlooking the pool complex and the live evening entertainment on the rooftop of the swimming pool pavilion. There was a Rajastani dancer there when we first looked out, but later there were just 2 musicians. The evening buffet was inside and had delicious Indian food. It was much better than Latitudes' Taj Mahal dinner according to the 6 people at our table. The naan bread was served at the table warm and was excellent. Clay had 2 Kingfisher beers.

The chefs were on hand at the buffet to answer questions and were very helpful and gracious. Clay almost got some dessert at the end of the line from the last chafing dish. Debbie took the opportunity to check out desserts and asked if they had her favorite, gulab jamun. No. But, the dish that Clay had almost put on his dinner plate was described as something she would like very much if she liked gulab jamum. It was warm semolina pancakes in rosewater syrup with condensed milk topping. It was great and that was the consensus from everyone at the table. Debbie had 2 servings. We were both exhausted and about to pop by the time dinner was over. But, Debbie put on more insect repellent and spent a little while sitting out on the balcony enjoying the entertainment. Debbie used all 3 books of matches from our room trying to keep the candle lit out there. There was a group having a buffet dinner out by the pool with the entertainment and it was Prudential. (They left in the morning at the same time and flew out of the airport at the same time as well. So, we saw a lot of them.)

We arrived after dark, but from the silhouette visible we can only see the tip of the dome of the Taj Mahal from our room. We are on the first floor. The Oberoi Amarvilas advertises that all rooms have a Taj Mahal view and technically one supposes that is true, but we could not see anything but the very tip of it from our first floor room. We arranged for a wakeup call at 4:50am to be outside and ready to go on a sunrise Taj Mahal tour at 5:45am. We slept well when we got to sleep, but the bed was very hard. There was no boxspring to the bed. It was a beautiful piece of furniture, but not terribly comfortable. We had mosquitos in the room. So, it was a short night.

More (and better) Taj pictures tomorrow.

Taj Mahal photos