Quite an interesting day (no business involved, maybe that's why, lol).
Went to the Taj Mahal (with a guide, it's a must, otherwise you miss the whole story).
The Taj Mahal is a monument erected by Shah Jahan (5th generation mogul) for his 3rd wife (the first 2 not being able to bear him children) after she deceased at 39 yrs of age. It took 20 thousand people (imported from Persia) 22 years to build it !!!
All the decorations are in (semi)-precious stones, it is a*m*a*z*i*n*g, not by accident one of the 7 world wonders.
I'll see if and when I can post pics of it (I'll delete some other ones).
The monument is in white marble, hauled in from 400kms far away (building took place between 1631 and 1653).
The white marble has the special feature that it is translucent, i.e. if you light a torch behind it, you see it glowing at the other side (I have a pic of that, amazing!).
Everything was carved manually. Even now it takes the craftsmen e.g. two years to prepare a dining table (costing you 7000€, 8500$), but it is a unique piece !!!
After the Taj, I went to visit Agra Fortress, where the mogul Shah Jahan (who ordered to build the Taj) was held prisoner by his son, mainly because he intended to build a second Taj, in black marble, the other side of the river, for himself, lol, the youngest son did not agree with that, killed all his brothers, who were before him in line of succession, and put his father on house arrest in the Agra fort, nice kid huh?
Though I think he was right some way, coz' it must have cost an awful lot of money, and the population was extremely poor. Even today, the Indian government prohibites any industry in a radius of 50km around the Taj - prevent damage by pollution - and sponsors the local craftsman by paying for the shipping costs of their products. So you can buy anythign in marble, as well as jewelry or carpets and have it shipped to your home at no extra cost.
This was probably the last interesting blog of my trip to India, as the rest will be travelling from one business issue to another, lol
Thanks for your patience reading this, lol, will be back later with the rest of my travels (as long as someone is reading this, rofl)
