On Wednesday, we met Brother Boddu at 7am to drive to Agra. We crawled into his small car and off we went (all the cars are small here). The traffic was crazy as usual and Spike would continually push his invisible brake pedal to stop the car. We stopped at Mickey D's for lunch and a break. There was no beef products on the menu and brother Boddu told us that he has never had a beef hamburger. The drive took about 5 hours to drive about 200 km. That is about the same as driving from Lehi to Logan, but taking 5 hours to do it. Crazy eh?!
The Taj Mahal was breathtaking! Of course, we were haggled by ever person in the parking lot trying to make a buck. This time we had our secret weapon: Brother Boddu. The Taj Mahal took 22 years to construct and revolves around a love story. The Queen wanted to build something that would remind the King about her, so she had the Taj Mahal created. She died before it was finished and the King's wicked son who took over threw his own father into prison. The King would mourn and cry as he would look at the Taj Mahal from the Agra Red Fort. When to Taj Mahal was completed, about 500 workers had their hands cut off by the Prince because he didn't want the Taj Mahal to be recreated anywhere else in the world. Replicas of the King and Queen's grave have been placed in the Taj Mahal for worship and praise.
After the Taj Mahal, we visited the Agra Red Fort then ventured to Jaipur. The Taj Mahal cost 750 rupees each to see and the Red Fort cost 250 rupees to see. For Brother Boddu the cost was 20 rupees each to see.
One our way to Jaipur, we stopped for some street food. Brother Boddu found some egg rolls and they were awesome. We loved talking to Brother boddu about Hinduism. His family joined the church when he was about 17, but were Hindu before. We also talked about the church and he was so curious about the church in Utah and things about Utah also. As he would zip in and out of traffic, we would occasionally hear, "I'm the man".
Because we did not have Internet, we didn't have a hotel booked in Jaipur. When we arrived, Brother Boddu called his college friend who is from Jaipur to ask about hotels. His friend insisted that we stayed with his relatives. We ended up meeting a man at 10pm at a restaurant to follow him to his house. We thought we were going to stay with the family and be sleeping on couches, but this guy took us to a completely furnished apartment with two separate bedrooms and bathrooms. He wouldn't let us pay him either. We were previously told that the people outside of Delhi are a lot nicer, but we didn't expect this. This man owns an apartment building, but keeps one always open for family and as a guesthouse. He has never seen us and we had never seen him. The next morning the family had us over for breakfast.
We spent the day visiting the Pink City, Amber Fort, the Air Palace and other sites around Jaipur. Jaipur was a beautiful place! We hope you enjoy the pictures below. In the evening time, we took the family we stayed with to Chowki Dhani. Chowki Dhani is a place where the culture of Rajasthan (pronounced "Ra-Ja-Stan"; the state Jaipur is located in) is exhibited under one roof. You could ride camels, elephants, dance, watch magic shows, and eat good Indian food. We loved spending this time with the family.
Now we are back in Delhi and far away from the first hotel. The Internet still isn't the best, but we are actually around more Western folk.
There is not enough memory on this blog to upload pictures, so I will upload a bunch in a separate post.
The Taj Mahal was breathtaking! Of course, we were haggled by ever person in the parking lot trying to make a buck. This time we had our secret weapon: Brother Boddu. The Taj Mahal took 22 years to construct and revolves around a love story. The Queen wanted to build something that would remind the King about her, so she had the Taj Mahal created. She died before it was finished and the King's wicked son who took over threw his own father into prison. The King would mourn and cry as he would look at the Taj Mahal from the Agra Red Fort. When to Taj Mahal was completed, about 500 workers had their hands cut off by the Prince because he didn't want the Taj Mahal to be recreated anywhere else in the world. Replicas of the King and Queen's grave have been placed in the Taj Mahal for worship and praise.
After the Taj Mahal, we visited the Agra Red Fort then ventured to Jaipur. The Taj Mahal cost 750 rupees each to see and the Red Fort cost 250 rupees to see. For Brother Boddu the cost was 20 rupees each to see.
One our way to Jaipur, we stopped for some street food. Brother Boddu found some egg rolls and they were awesome. We loved talking to Brother boddu about Hinduism. His family joined the church when he was about 17, but were Hindu before. We also talked about the church and he was so curious about the church in Utah and things about Utah also. As he would zip in and out of traffic, we would occasionally hear, "I'm the man".
Because we did not have Internet, we didn't have a hotel booked in Jaipur. When we arrived, Brother Boddu called his college friend who is from Jaipur to ask about hotels. His friend insisted that we stayed with his relatives. We ended up meeting a man at 10pm at a restaurant to follow him to his house. We thought we were going to stay with the family and be sleeping on couches, but this guy took us to a completely furnished apartment with two separate bedrooms and bathrooms. He wouldn't let us pay him either. We were previously told that the people outside of Delhi are a lot nicer, but we didn't expect this. This man owns an apartment building, but keeps one always open for family and as a guesthouse. He has never seen us and we had never seen him. The next morning the family had us over for breakfast.
We spent the day visiting the Pink City, Amber Fort, the Air Palace and other sites around Jaipur. Jaipur was a beautiful place! We hope you enjoy the pictures below. In the evening time, we took the family we stayed with to Chowki Dhani. Chowki Dhani is a place where the culture of Rajasthan (pronounced "Ra-Ja-Stan"; the state Jaipur is located in) is exhibited under one roof. You could ride camels, elephants, dance, watch magic shows, and eat good Indian food. We loved spending this time with the family.
Now we are back in Delhi and far away from the first hotel. The Internet still isn't the best, but we are actually around more Western folk.
There is not enough memory on this blog to upload pictures, so I will upload a bunch in a separate post.
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