It's a Wonder...

After a full week of work, trying to establish a schedule and being in a new surrounding it was time to do some tourist sight seeing.

After working an 11 hour day on Friday, Upama (aka Emma) and I leave on a day trip to the Taj Mahal. Emma and I have been working on the same project since September or October now and she came to the US in December for a month, so I was her guide around Chicago for a few weekends.

The car came to get us around 6am and we were off. We figured we could sleep in the car during the 4-5 hour drive but for me, there was too much to see. For Emma, too much to explain. We
started the trip by driving through the thickest fog I've ever seen. As a result, we drove by about 45 little accidents. Some looked more serious than others, and out of all of the cars, there wasn't a single cab involved. Our driver said that he was just fine driving but wondered who would be behind him. We pulled over for about a half hour at a hotel along the road to let the fog lift.

Sights seen while driving to Agra, city of the Taj Mahal, were beyond words- it's something you really have to see. Villages, mustard and rice fields, homes of different classes, colleges, slums. Dhabas - little resteraunts on the side of the road. We didn't stop there tho because you never know how fresh or sanitary these places are- but they're all over. Fruit stands, out door barber shops the masses of people. Camels, Ox, Boar and elephants carrying or pulling loads, sheep hearders in fields, all kinds of manual labor. Beggers and the homeless. While we drove through Agra, there were a million piles of blankets on the sidewalks - and under them, people. People washing their clothes or bathing them selves out of bins. Men peeing on the side of the road in public and way too many farmer blows to even think about.

Before we went to the Taj Mahal, we sent to Akbar's Tomb.
Akbar's Tomb: http://archnet.org/library/sites/one-site.jsp?site_id=2257
Taj Mahal: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/07/photogalleries/seven-wonders/photo7.html

Again, I have pictures.
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=ahmukup.6unm2nn5&x=0&y=6c98kz
>After I snapped some pictures of the monkeys, the man wanted money- and he was agressive so it was a bit scary. We were in the car with the doors locked and after we ignored him long enough he went away. The snake guy didn't bother us at all.
>I'm a minority. I knew that coming in but I get stared at all the time! And fair skin is a turn on. I got some nasty gestures from the men and long looks from women and children. One time while at work someone did a double take as she entered into the bathroom and saw someone who looked different.


After a really long day I was glad to be back at the hotel.

Until later, Namaste.

PS- I have videos to show, but every time I try to load them to You Tube they fail. Do I need to save them as a certain file type??