Last post from Delhi!

Good evening from New Delhi!

This morning was an early one... woke up around 5:30 for a fantastic shower, and then ate breakfast before leaving at 6:30 for Agra! Jet Lag hasn't been too much of a problem for me... I've been using the "just stay up until local time to go to bed" method :), which may mean little to no sleep one or two nights, but then it's a quick turn-around!

But in any case, the 3 1/2 to 4 hour car ride wasn't half bad! Our driver was a pretty nice guy, and he does a lot of work for the hotel doing this same route to the Taj Mahal so he stopped a few different places along the way for us to take pictures. Matt slept a lot of the way, but I just sat and took in my surroundings... I really did miss India, although there are parts of it that are still just as hard to swallow as they were before...

The Taj Mahal was fantastic! Take my word for it, the textbook and postcard pictures do it no justice... it is a magnificent structure! Every bit of it, down to the gates, courtyard, gardens, and even inlays/carvings in the marble are in perfect symmetry... the king even had a building built opposite the Mosque on the left to keep the symmetry! The only thing out of balance is the King's tomb... as he was meant to be buried in a second mosoleum across the river (black marble, smaller, in the shadow of his wife's), but he is now buried at her left side, out of symmetry.... kills my OCD...

We then ate lunch at a sister hotel to the Ajanta, a little more expensive than we were hoping but very good all in the same! And Matt got his milkshake! After lunch and before heading back our driver took us to a small factory where they use traditional handcrafting methods to make marble everything... and I mean everything! It was amazing to watch them carve, cut, and inlay... it's a beautiful process in it's simplest form... hard to believe that that much work was put into the Taj! Also, these workers are direct descendents to workers from the Taj... pretty sweet.

The ride home was a little longer, our driver picked up his brother from work on the way... and judging by how he dropped him off a block away from the hotel, don't think he was supposed too :) But yeah, as for the driving, it was a lot crazier than the airport ride yesterday, more like what I was expecting, but we didn't hit anyone or get hit by anyone! We did have a lot of close calls though... what would India driving be without a couple of those anyways? Never have gotten in even a fender-bender though, or seen one happen... I guess for the mom's I should probably shut-up now huh? :) We're safe, I promise!

Getting back to the hotel, we were pooped, so we chilled in the air-conditioned room for awhile before heading down to supper... I am going to miss indian food, that's one thing for sure... 3 meals a day is spoiling me! Now it's internet time, then packing time, and then bed! Wish we had some more time in Delhi, actually, more time in India as a whole would be great... but we've been saying that about everywhere we've gone! I guess that's good to want more, we're not over-staying at least... maybe next time I should take 6 months instead of 2... or maybe a year! :P

Hmm... a Thumbs Up sounds great right now... still haven't had one yet, the hotels don't carry them... maybe I'll peek around the corner of the street here for a bit and try my luck!

Take care all, we're alive and well, having a blast!

Blesings,
John