Our time at the Taj was almost up. It was obvious that TG was ready to move us along, and at some point, we just lost the will to fight him on it. After all, we had seen an amazing building up close and personal, and our guide, whether we had asked for it or not, had been quite helpful while there. We were grateful for his guidance, albeit a little annoyed as well.
From the very beginning, Rex had a way of cheering Tom up. Here, they sit together and pose for one last inside-the-main-Taj-grounds photo. He wasn't completely better, but at least he wasn't crying anymore.
Here is a view of the outer courtyard surrounding the main Taj grounds.
At some point, I let Rex take the camera, and as usual, he did a really great job. I actually love this picture because it seems to capture for me the all-around feelings of the moment. I can't really even describe it all, but when I look at this, I laugh. And roll my eyes. And sigh with relief that the day finally ended at some point. And then laugh again.
DSCN3864 from
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Vimeo.
Upon exiting the Taj, we were immediately surrounded by people trying to sell us things. I had been warned so felt relatively prepared. TG clearly did not want us to buy anything from the pushy vendors, but the reality was that I liked some of what they had to sell. We had wanted to buy Tom a few gifts for the next few years of his young life, and I found the perfect thing: a wooden snake!
It was at about this point that the most bizarre moment of the day, and perhaps our whole trip, happened. As we were arriving back at our vehicle that would then drive us to our cab, a young boy was following us, trying to get us to purchase a souvenir photo book of the Taj Mahal. TG did not like it. At all. The boy followed all the way to the vehicle, with TG shooing him away the whole time. When we arrived, we got up into the vehicle...and so did the boy! He stood in the opening (There was no door.) and begged us to buy, even as we told him no and TG yelled for him to get out of the vehicle. This went on for a minute or so, until finally TG grabbed the book, pushed the boy out, jumped out of the vehicle, ripped the book in half, and threw it in the street, yelling what we can only imagine were curses the whole time.
It was ugly. He was mad, and the whole thing was over the top and wrong. Wrong that that boy should have to be selling books at such a young age. Wrong that he should have been able to follow us into our vehicle. But just as wrong that a grown man felt the freedom to yell at him and destroy his property...and his dignity. It was weird and sad and all sorts of other things. We were ready to be done with the day.
But unfortunately, we weren't really running the show anymore. Once back in the cab, TG and Mr. Singh planned the rest of our day. I was too Dramamined and too emotional to do much about it but hang on for the ride. And Hoffbeast was too busy entertaining his new little shadow.
Our last few of the Taj...in the distance.
A statue of someone.....the Shah who built the Taj?
We had suggested to Mr. Singh that we were interested in visiting the Red Fort, the other main tourist attraction in Agra. He and TG assured us that it wasn't worth the price of admission, and this was all we got to see. Later, we were told by other travelers that it was definitely worth it! Bummer.
It was very, very hot by mid-morning, when we were there. Hot and very smelly. Even some of the locals covered their faces in an effort to deal with the smells.
Between this picture and the next, much happened. First, we were carted to a jewelry shop, where our guides were most disappointed that we weren't going to buy anything. Nothing. We bought nothing there because, well, first off, I don't really dig jewelry that much. I would have bought a silver charm for my charm bracelet had they had one, but no, this was a place with much fancier jewelry than that. The shopkeepers seemed as shocked as TG that we were standing our ground and saying no. There was one good moment, though...at one point, I turned around and saw Rex sitting in the middle of the room, showing his Where's Waldo? book to one of the shop's employees. They were smiling and laughing...wish I had a picture of that, because it was a great moment.
After the jewelry shop, we were ushered upstairs to a tapestry/textile shop. There we were able to buy some scarves and pillow coverings as well as an outfit for Beth. We didn't spend nearly the amount of money as TG would have liked (Clearly, he and Mr. Singh were getting a cut of what their "clients" purchased.), but at least we did get some beautiful things that we had been planning on buying anyway.
After that, Pizza Hut and the reprieve from being carted around here and there. We asked Mr. Singh if he'd like some pizza, but he said no. So we ate by ourselves, just the four of us...and it was wonderful.
Back in the car, we were told that there was just one more stop. And though the circumstances for visiting the one last stop were not good (We were basically forced to go there whether we wanted to or not.), we were so glad that we ended up going. Our guides took us to the shop where the tradition of stone-cutting has been passed from one generation to the next in the family that laid the stones in the Taj. The same method used then to cut the stones is still used today.
It was fascinating to watch the young men so intricately cutting and sanding and turning the stones just the right way to get them just the right size and shape they wanted. True artists at work.
The stones were so tiny individually, each one perfectly formed and matched with others to make beautiful designs.
We really did have a nice overall visit at that shop, largely because TG stayed outside while we went in, met with the shopkeeper, had some tea while hearing his presentation, and made our small purchases. It was a nice way to end a rather stressful day, and we got some lovely little gifts out of the deal.
When we finally arrived back at our hotel, we felt like we had come home. The front desk staff was, as usual, so warm and welcoming, and the cloudiness of the day finally lifted. Scott and Karen were already at their new hotel by this point, so our little family went--where else?--out to the pool again to enjoy a beautiful night's swim. It was the perfect ending to our day and to our stay at the Hilton Garden Inn Sakat.
