On the way to Taj Mahal

by Vincent

Meeting "papa et maman" in Delhi!

4 on a motorbike, usual stuff in India

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Waiting on the side of the road while the taxi driver is repairing the wheel... Lucky!

The Taj Mahal

Playing with lights...

A Japanese tourist liked so much our photo that he wanted to take the same one. Berit the model, making of!

A guy praying in Taj Mahal

That's us! Taj Mahal: checked!

Market in Agra

Taj Mahal is an unmissable stop when you travel to India. It is one of the seven wonders and is often referred to as the most beautiful building in the world. This monument was built by the Emperor Shâh Jahân in 1644 in adoration for his third wife who died giving birth to their 14th child.

On the morning of the saturday the 18th of february, we met my parents at their hotel in Delhi to travel together to Agra, city of the Taj Mahal. They had arrived during the night from France and were about to start a two-weeks holiday in North India. We had planned to spend that day together before they headed to Varanasi.

Even if there are only 200km between Delhi and Agra, we needed 7 hours to get to our destination instead of the 3 or 4 announced initially by the taxi company. Except in very few places, it seems that cities and villages never stop along the road. It is so busy everywhere! Is it impossible to get away from the chaos of Delhi? Will it be always like that in India? Well, we have to accept it after all. But when on top of that you have an unexpected event happening, that's different...

While we were on the highway (not sure we can really call it a highway though) 100km away from Delhi, we suddenly heard a noise from the left back of the car and the vehicle started to go left on the other lane of the road. The driver couldn't do anything about it. We started to see ourselves falling on the side of the road when the driver miraculously managed to control the car to stop it on the side, with half of the car still on the road. We went immediately out of the car and were so happy that nothing happened to us! The tire had exploded and was completely destroyed. What would have happened if it had been another vehicle on the other lane? The taxi driver took the situation with a constant serenity that only Indians know the secret of. He repaired the wheel and we continued our trip slowly, very slowly...

At 5pm, we arrived in Agra. My parents went to visit the Taj Mahal quickly on the same day because they had a train to Varanasi in the night. On our side, we took our time the day after to enjoy the visit better and see the Taj Mahal at sunrise. Not much to say about Taj Mahal, photos say more than words. Yes, it's beautiful!