Taj Mahal at Sunrise & Agra

Saturday, 20 September 2014

We had a brief sunrise visit to the Taj -- cooler, less crowded, and wonderful light.

Looking back at the gate.

The river-side tower on the Jawal (a building built to balance the mosque on the west side of the Taj). The red lights in the doorway are discussed below.

What looked to be a scrolling stock ticker was actually a scrolling real-time pollution report. Because the display scrolls, when you take a photo, the LEDs don't make readable text -- it really is in English.

On the way out of Agra, we passed by, but didn't stop at the tomb of Idmad-Ud-Daula. Along with Humayan's Tomb in Delhi, it provided some of the inspiration for the Taj.

More sights in and around Agra

Life at full volume. Carts like this are used to provide music for parades, weddings, etc.

A bullock cart isn't that unusual, and I've seen horns painted red (most likely with henna) before, but I've never seen the henna spots and lines on livestock. You'll see more of this in the Old Delhi post (coming soon).

Women, especially, carry many things on their heads.