India Part 6 – Tourists

The last part of our trip was spent as a group of tourists. We packed everything up Sunday morning and climbed on the bus for a four hour drive to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. The trip there was full of interesting sights. Monkey’s on the side of the road kept us entertained for a little while, rice fields, dung huts, temples, small towns, and more were witnessed, photographed and puzzled over.

Our translators/guides were Pastor Joseph, my translator from Friday night, and a man named Tango. I don’t know if Tango had a position at the church or not, but he is a business man that is involved at the church and they were both a lot of fun to have with us. This is Chris Clark, our team leader for the trip and Pastor Joseph. The hats belong to my friend Tricia and myself. We were very much the tourists and very much out of the sun.

Twice on the trip we ate at McDonalds. I don’t eat at McDonalds very often in America. You can imagine how much I was looking forward to eating there while in India. We were cautioned to only eat the nuggets…which is what I usually avoid…but the burgers were apparently made of mystery meat.

Regardless, there was a neat conversation had at this little place, but it had so little to do with visiting India that I will save it for another post.

Pastor Joseph had told us Friday night that he would be going with us on Sunday and that he hated going to the Taj. I didn’t know why until I went. It is something you want to see, something you can marvel at, and walk around and wonder at the detail and craftsmanship, but I had a hard time actually enjoying it. I took close to 100 pictures of the area, and I’m glad I had that opportunity. The place is pretty amazing. I left though feeling a little sad about the whole place. The story isn’t inspiring, unless it’s embellished and a lot of disturbing truths are avoided. The building isn’t useful, no one worships there, no one lives there or has ever lived there and even the religion it honors is one I cannot respect. I found it beautiful and disgusting all at once. I would go back again if I could go with a friend and a good camera, but only for the pictures. Then…I would be happy to never return.

Getting pictures but was a bit of a problem. I often want our better camera, but rarely do I yearn for it. That day I was near a state of yearning. I think I would have been officially yearning except that I wouldn’t have had time to use it properly anyway. We hired a Taj Mahal guide to walk around with us and explain the stories and history of the place. He was very helpful but as we moved around you only had so much time to get a picture of this or that. We had to, for safety sake, have a man in front and a man in back at all times and never allowed anyone to be wandering around on their own. I’m glad I survived and wasn’t nabbed by a human trafficking ring and all, but man that was annoying. Truth be told, I was being annoying, trying to get a shot from just the right angle, which required the group to get out of the way and the last guy, usually Tim Reid or Pastor Jeff, had to wait on me. I kept reminding them that “I may never be here again…I need this shot.” They were patient, but Pastor Jeff definitely made sure to jokingly give me a hard time. As I bent to get a picture of some scroll work along the steps, in his mind it looked like nothing more than steps, but I saw something I wanted to try to capture, he said, “Really?”

“Really!” I said.

I was so impressed by the relief work like this. It was all over the building and was so detailed. To think that this was carved by hand out of a hug block of marble…wow. I didn’t notice until I got home and was looking up close at the picture I took that people have been doing a little carving of their own on the marble. I’m glad I don’t know these people because I probably wouldn’t like them much. I closed in on it in the picture below. Stupid, dumb, doo doo heads.

This is a picture of the pretty little slippers they gave us to wear over our shoes. When they gave them to us I was fine with it. I mean…if they are keeping the marble pristine and want us to be respectful I can understand that. Afterward, I thought, that was a waste of thin white fabric and elastic. I mean really? You’re okay with postcards floating in the pool, empty water bottles rolling around the premises and weeds growing through the cracks of the patio, but shoes are a problem. Actually, I think I’ll see if I can get some of these for people to wear in my house.

I wonder why I couldn’t get it centered. I looked at this later and I was like…why? Is my camera off? I think I was just in a hurry. At least it isn’t crooked like so many others are. Well, now that I look again…it is a little crooked. I did better with the off center, through the trees look.

I was really surprised at the way many of the fountains and pools were unkempt. There were very few trash cans and there was litter all over the grounds and even floating in the reflecting pools. I decided that the organization or corporation, whoever is in charge of taking care of the Taj Mahal, needs a Disney consultant to come and talk about presentation and tourism. It’s just a thought.

We went in by way of the East gate which has fewer people in line so you get in faster, but it’s harder to get to. There is a much longer walk from any parking area to the gate so to make up for this we hired carts pulled by camels to get us there. That was cool.

This is my cart. Someone had my camera and I am not paying attention. See me drinking water? At least I’m not picking my nose.

See that hand? That’s mine. I was totally in control of that camel. Yep. I’m thinking of training to be a camel jockey because I have skills with a camel. Mad skills.

We left the Taj Mahal for a late lunch at a very nice hotel restaurant in Agra. It’s a good thing we filled up because we had a long drive ahead of us. The plan was to get to Delhi and check into our hotel and still have time for dinner and enjoy the amenities a bit. There were some traffic issues on the way though and we were on the bus for several extra hours.

Our hotel in Delhi was also very, very nice. It’s been given a 7 star rating, but we were only there to sleep and eat a little. The rooms weren’t fabulous but we slept, and that’s the important thing. The food was good and the lobby was very beautiful. That’s all I can tell you.

We got up Monday morning and headed to a mall to do some shopping. I got the boys some tiger rugs, a wooden map of India puzzle and some wooden toys, I got Kris a little elephant train desk ornament an outfit for myself and a little something for Kris’ mom. I just finally shipped her stuff off Monday so I can’t say what it is yet, in case it hasn’t arrived. I was pretty much done shopping, but no one was going back to the hotel, so I continued on after lunch with the rest of the gang and went shopping on the street. The little shops were full of beautiful items, and our “professional shoppers” that came with us to haggle and advise were wonderful at getting us the best deals. There were about five Indians from the church that had come to help us shop and it was fun to see them work. It was all very no nonsense. The only thing I bought from the street merchants, was something decorative that I may keep or give as a Christmas gift later on…haven’t decided…and I got the boys each a wooden cobra toy. It was hot. I was sweating, I wore my little hat and had on my bag and my sun shirt and I know I stood out like a sore thumb walking around Delhi. I know because a couple people told me I did. Isn’t that what being a tourist is all about?

A little of the detail from the outfit I got for myself.

We got back to our hotel and rested for a very short time before packing up and heading to the airport for our late flight out of India.

I’ve already written about my longest Tuesday ever and I must say the flights home were much more pleasant and easier to navigate than our flights out. I’m glad, because I was very, very tired, and I wanted to see my family very, very much.

No more “to be continued.” That almost sums it all up. I don’t think there’s anyway to totally sum it up. God did many good things for us, through us and in us. It was a mission trip and I didn’t know what to expect. Now I know…there was no way to know.