The Trip to the North/Taj.

Alexa, Courtney and I left the ship at 4 am to meet a taxi driver with whom we had a pre-arranged pick up. We piled into the car sleepily, but kept our eyes wide open along our drive to the airport. The city of Chennai had silenced, the noise had died down for the first time since we’d arrived. The streets were empty – but the sidewalks were full. There were people sleeping everywhere. On their rickshaws or in them, on the cement, on blankets. Children, dogs, goats were among them. There were so many of them it was as if they were sardined there. That was very hard to see.
        We arrived at 5 and managed our way into the airport. People are not taught to wait in line or wait their turn in schools the way we are in America, and the whole idea of getting into a line doesn’t exist in parts of the world (Morocco had a similar attitude). It got frustrating, but we made it through security and waited. A shuttle took us to our plane, and I fell asleep quickly upon boarding. The flight attendant woke me up halfway into the 3 hour flight to give me food I had ordered, but I tucked the boxed lunch under my arm and fell back asleep.
        The Delhi airport was much nicer… spacious with shops and a tourist center. The one in Chennai had a snack stand with candy bars and water, but that was it. Both airports were EXTREMELY cold. Brr. Courtney figured out a pre-paid taxi and found a hotel to stay in. After about 30 minutes of driving, we arrived at Megha Palace. The city seemed much more planned structured and functional… though there were still Indian characteristics about it such as bunched, tangled telephone wires wrapped around the tops of telepehone poles. We asked to see a room and it looked ok from the door, so we agreed to pay $10 each for the night. We set our stuff down in the entrance, grabbed our wallets and cameras and closed the door to the room. Our hotel manager sat at a small desk in the front and decided he would arrange a taxi for us to Agra, the city where the Taj Mahal is. We agreed to paying $120 USD ($5,500).
        Our taxi pulled up and we piled in around noon, ready for the 4-hour each way drive. Road tripping in India is way less fun. The traffic was absurd. It took us 5+ hours to arrive. Our driver was named Jai, and though he was very nice… he could not communicate. Every sentence he spoke or answer he provided began with “Actually, Ma’am…” and then a lot of stuff we could not understand so we smiled and nodded. First we pulled over to switch into a different cab. Then we pulled over so I could use the ATM, even though we told him we’d wait until Agra for that. Then we pulled over because his boss, the hotel manager, insisted we pay the full amount only an hour into the drive. I still don’t know why they demanded that.. Jai could easily have ditched us in the middle of Agra and left us behind with all of our $. It was getting late though, and we were anxious about making it before sunset, when the Taj Mahal closes. After a screaming fight with the manager, we paid and continued.
We stopped one more time for a coffee break, and there was a little boy playing an instrument dressed up in traditional Indian clothing. His sister (probably) was standing with him dressed similarly, singing and dancing. They were probably between 8 and 13, though he was the elder. Suddenly a monkey jumped onto Alexa’s window! It crawled over to Courtney’s and I took a picture. A man came running at the car demanding money and we were happy to have locked the door. I deleted the pictures and tried to show him but he was confused and pissed and kept yelling. We were happy Jai had locked the doors.
Finally, we arrived in Agra. We passed the main entrance, and realized Jai was taking us to a place where the other girls could exchange $. Then he pulled over again and made Alexa get in the back seat, and a man jumped in the car with us. They told us he would be our guide. We got upset; it was 5:00 and we still weren’t there. We hadn’t asked for a guide and didn’t have the $ to pay for one. We demanded that he get out and take us to the Taj. We arrived at the east entrance and paid for our tickets quickly. Sunset was to be at 5:42. There was a shuttle that drove us the 1 km to the east entrance, and we realized Jai had taken us here to avoid the crowd! What a guy.
The Taj is.. monumental to say the least. There are big reddish structures that are orientally designed as you enter. Once you pass through the big red brick gate, the Taj appears fully, in all of it’s clory. It was built by Shah Jahn for his wife as a gift and memorial, and now is a mausoleum. We took pictures alone, together, with strangers, in funny poses – everything. It is required to remove your shoes, so we did. The four pillars around the Taj are actually minarets for the mosques on either side of the structure, but were placed there to accentuate the building. The Taj Mahal is meant to be a connection between the Gods in heaven and the earth, and is supposed to give a sense that it is floating somewhere in between.
We ran into other SAS students there. There was a long line that moved quickly, and security guards everywhere blowing whistles. We were rushed through the building, and could not see any details inside as it was dark out and there is no artificial lighting. This seemed dangerous because there was a raised step in every doorway, and people pushed relentlessly because again – India is not into lines. Once we existed the Taj, I bolted back to the front entrance to take pictures as the sun set. I seated myself on a big marble slab placed in front of the building, and got some great shots. After dark, I scanned the crowd for two blond white girls… found them easily, donned our shoes and we took off. And that was our hour at the Taj.
We met back up with Jai, but not before being hawked at relentlessly by young boys selling their merchandise. Some told us we were sexy and to buy a kama sutra, some wanted us to buy magnets… etc. I wish I’d picked up a thimble but had given Jai all of my $. We jumped in the cab and he took us to an overpriced restaurant. After another try, we ended up somewhere quiet where locals eat. The restaurant was situated on a rooftop and there were stars of David in the metal supportive structures of the building. The restaurant was quaint and we sat around a low table on some floor pillows. We ordered quickly and ate with our hands. There was a puppet show set up, but it was inactive during our meal. There was also a man with a string instrument and a man with a drum, and these were played as we ate. The lighting came from Christmas lights strung in the trees above, giving the patio an ambient glow. It was a really great dining experience.
We got in the taxi for the last time around 8:30, ready for our 4-hour drive back.
Jai drove fast. We stopped at a roadside food stop – set up with sparse, colored florescent lightbulbs and Christmas lights. He grabbed coffee, and we continued. We returned to Megha Palace at 12:20, thanked and hugged Jai for getting us to the Taj before sunset, and went straight to bed. The three of us shared a large bed with a furry blanket picturing wolves. I used the bathroom and realized that the shower was filled with different sized buckets and had no faucet, the tiles and paint was peeling from the walls. There was a bucket full of water under the sink that had supported a leak, but overflowed and covered the entire bathroom floor with a thin film of moisture. When I flushed the toilet, it showered me with water (probably) and I was soaked. We hadn’t really checked out the room.. and for anyone traveling to India, I advise that you do this first upon a hotel stay.
        We woke up at 8:30 and jumped in a rickshaw by 9. The ride to the Lotus temple was about  45 minutes, and we spent about an hour there. It was huge! The Lotus Temple is of the Baha’I faith, which I’d never heard of before. Shoe removal and storage was required here, too. There was a quick, guided run-down of the temple upon entrance. Our guides said “Namaste” and proceeded to share that the Baha’i religion intends to unite everyone under one god. They said the inside of the temple was meant for silent prayer of any religion, and to turn off cameras and cell phones (so I couldn’t take pictures, sorry!). It was a truly spiritual experience. I had a holy moment in this temple – the acoustics were amazing. I sat in the front with my eyes closed and soaked up the sounds of the birds outside, padded footsteps inside and the singing voice of a man who wanted to share something in Hindi (he sounded kind of like Rufus Wainwright! Haha). We ran into Jai when we left too! (weird) and took off in a rickshaw to McDonalds. There was a Subway next door, so we opted for that. We ate and left within 10 minutes and were on our way back to the airport. We passed the Indian gate, which was enormous and beautiful and cool to squeeze into our quick stop in Delhi.
        Back in the airport, we ran into other SASers and shopped around. The flight was delayed about 2 hours, messing up our plans to meet friends in the evening. I journaled for the full 3 hour ride. We pre-paid a taxi when we got back, and our driver pulled over several times here too. Once to pee. Once to buy a cigarette (they are sold individually in India! Strange) and once to ask for directions from a street-dweller, even though we knew where we were going. The man he asked directions from reached into my open window and kind of hit my head.. I’m not sure why. I started screaming. I blew up. I was furious. I almost got out of the car, and I YELLED at our driver scarily enough that he immediately got back in the car and continued to drive. Man, I just don’t understand India. I tried really hard but things like that are just beyond me.
        We arrived back at the ship and showered. So happy to be home, Alexa and I went upstairs to buy dinner at around 10 pm. One more day to go.. I was amazed we’d made it this far. After 41 hours of straight traveling, 4 were spent eating or enjoying the monument. 8 were spent sleeping, and 29 were spent in a moving vehicle.