The Taj Mahal and begging.

After 3 days of travel, 2 nights slept in airports (Christmas Eve included), and a cold that had the girls I was traveling with watching me in my sleep waiting for me to "cough up blood," we had Christmas Dinner in Agra, and this was our view.

Photo Thanks to Laura.

That's the Taj Mahal of course. There were no real Christmas trees, no huge roast piece of meat, and no family in this hemisphere, but I still couldn't have been happier munching down on curry, nan, and drinking King Fisher as the sun set over the rooftops of Agra.

Sunrise at the Taj Gates.

The next day we woke up to actually go to the grounds of the Taj Mahal. We were the second group in line, with only a British couple in front of us. It was still dark at 5:30 when we got there, but we were able to get a great spot for the sunrise when the gates opened at 6. We had our cameras set to long exposure as we watched the ghost of the Taj Mahal fade into view through the foggy sunrise. It's hard to explain just how beautiful the Taj is, but I hope the pictures that we took give some impression. Frankly though, they can't do it justice. It's truly epic, and waking up early, having the sun rising in the east, and the moon still setting in the west was a little too poetic.

Few things get me up that early...

The rest of the day we played connect four with a restaurant owner (he let me win the first one... hustler.) and then wandered around a market buying Sari's and overpriced "95%" silver jewelry. The Sari's were gorgeous and colorful. Cristina went through the whole process of buying one and there are more photos of that up on the album.

That's a lot of colors.

The street with all the markets was interesting , particularly our first experience with begging children in India. It was sad, because A) They don't leave you alone. B) You know their parents sent them to do this because they're adorable, and C) This is a JOB in India. For the children it is something they are born into, but often, given the option of another profession, or real help they return to begging.

One story jumps to mind that we were told at the Yoga Institute in Mumbai (Bombay). An Instructor was lecturing on life, and explained that her friend had seen a beggar with no pants. She went home and got the beggar a sari to wear. The beggar graciously accepted it, and the friend walked away. After a few paces she turned around, and found that the beggar had already taken off the sari and continued begging naked. It's a real departure from what I was used to seeing back home, and very jarring to see so many children doing it. In Mumbai, the children even went so far as to pinch us and tug my arm hair to try to get money out of us.

Taj and the Moon.

So that's the info on the Taj and my rant on begging in India. On the plus side, some of the little kids selling Taj snow globes outside the gates were really entertaining. A dialogue with Laura:

Kid: "A very good gift! You want a snowglobe?"
Laura: "No Thanks."
Kid: "Very good price. 100 Rupees and a kiss!"
Laura: "What?! I think I'm a little old for you."
Kid pauses for a moment then says: "My brother then!"
Laura: "I'm too old for your brother too. I'm 56."
Kid stops to think, then: "My father then! My father!"

Cute.

Bought this shirt off of one of the kids selling things outside the Taj.
He said it was a medium...

Click here for my photos from India