"The Ultimate Tribute to Everlasting Love..."

Post by: Beth


A couple of weeks ago, Raja and I got to travel around India quite a bit. He has many family members that are still in India, mostly around the Delhi area, so we combined some family visits with a chance to see some of the sights in India. I didn't take as many pictures as I normally would have, largely due to getting some typical "Indian illness" that I've somehow avoided up until this point. I still have a few pictures to share though, especially from the first parts of our trip (pre-illness). First up, the Taj Mahal! Raja had seen this before, but about 10 years ago, and of course I'd never laid eyes on it.

For quick background, the Taj Mahal (meaning "Crown Palace") was built by Shah Jahan as a mausoleum for his 3rd and favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal. Mumtaz died during childbirth while bearing their 14th child in their 19th year of marriage, and it's said that upon death, she requested that he build a monument of their love and that he never marry again. Shah Jahan promised, and construction on the Taj began that very year. Twenty thousand people were deployed to work on it, and the Taj was completed 22 years later.

What stands today is a symbol of Shah Jahan's love for his favorite wife, the structure that houses both of their tombs. The structure was constructed using materials from all over India and Asia. Over 1,000 elephants were used to transport building materials during the construction. The translucent white marble (which forms the entire structure) was brought from Rajasthan, and jewels and stones were used for in-lay work on the exterior and interior: the jasper from Punjab, jade and crystal from China. The turquoise was from Tibet and the Lapus lazuli from Afghanistan, while the sapphire came from Sri Lanka and the carnelian from Arabia. In all, twenty eight types of precious and semi-precious stones were inlaid into the white marble.
It's sort of cool because as you park, make your way up the pathway to the gates, etc you never get a glimpse of the Taj Mahal. You even walk through the main gate and into ANOTHER area that has architecture and the tombs of Shah Jahan's other wives, as well as the tomb of his favorite servant, and you STILL can't see the famous landmark. You must walk through another gate, and all of a sudden, it's looming in front of you, surrounded by the gardens and the long reflecting pool. It's amazing to see in person, both from a distance and up-close, and we were pretty much awe-struck. None of the pictures can really do it justice, but we were excited to show you anyway. :)

(above) The walk to the Taj Gates from the road is about 3/4 of a mile or so... Not a bad walk, but we took the opportunity to ride in a rickshaw driven by a man on a bike. Lots of fun, and much quicker. :)

(above) Waaaay on the very top of the main dome was an artisan doing some restoration and cleaning work. It was fascinating looking up THAT high on top of something THAT big, and barely being able to see this tiny man working away in the sun.

(above) Here, we're sitting where Princess Diana posed for photographs during her solo visit to the Taj in 1992.

(above) Here's what your feet must look like before going into the Taj Mahal. No shoes are allowed, and they provide little booties for you if you wish to keep your shoes on.

(above) Here's Raja with our guide... He was wonderful and spent about 2 hours with us giving us all the history and background of the Taj. (Unlike what you may have seen on Slumdog Millionaire, he did not refer to the missing lifts or the 'swimming pool' at any points during our tour. ;) ) Just as an example of price point in India, when the guide approached Raja to see if we would use him as a guide, his ASKING price (and usually negotiating ensues to bargain down someone's... anyone's... asking price in India) was Rs. 100. That is TWO U.S. DOLLARS, for a 2 hour tour of one of the 7 Wonders of the World. Raja snatched him up since he spoke perfect English, seemed nice and knowledgable, and would be there to take pictures of Raja and me together anytime we wished. Of course we paid him more because he did a great job and the tour lasted so long, but these kind of prices never cease to amaze us here!)

Visitors are not allowed to take photos inside the Taj Mahal, so I went to Wikipedia to get a couple professional photos so you can see some of the interior shots.:

(above) These are the cenotaphs of the two tombs. Mumtaz Mahal's cenotaph is located in the exact center of the inner chamber, with Shah Jahan's larger cenotaph placed to the west side of his wife's. Muslim tradition forbids elaborate decoration of graves, so the bodies of Mumtaz Mahal and Shah Jahan are laid in a relatively plain chamber beneath the inner chamber of the Taj Mahal, known as the lower tomb chamber.

(above) This octagonal screen surrounds the cenotaphs of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal. It's made of marble and is extremely intricate. All of the work was done by pierce work, and the remaining areas are inlaid with more precious and semi-precious stones.

And finally, some more random shots of us around the gardens and in front of the Taj:

More to come soon from our trip.. We hope you're all doing well! :)

A desert is a place without expectation. -Nadine Gordimer

Post by: Beth

Yes, yes, I know.. it's been almost a month since my last post! Uncharacteristic for me, but in my defense I will say we've been busier this month than we've been our entire stay here in India. I do hope some of you are still reading, after my long absence.

To catch everyone up, I'm adding in some photos I couldn't leave out from our Dubai trip. We got the opportunity to go on a desert safari, which for Dubai, means riding over the dunes and through the desert in a 4X4 vehicle. The experience is a bit like a roller coaster.. just a lot longer and a bit more scary at times. The drivers are trained to do all of these daring stunts in the sand and on the edge of the sand cliffs. There's constant bumping and tossing around, often feeling like you're about to tip over, and much sliding sideways down the sides of the cliffs onto lower desert sands. After the "drive" (read: harrowing experience), which lasts about 45 minutes, you're taken to a large flat area of sand, where there's a BBQ, henna artist, camel riding, belly dancing, etc. I couldn't leave off the photos from this fun experience!

Above is a picture from our arrival to the desert, just before the drive. There are usually about 4-5 4X4's containing 6 passengers and 1 driver that start around the same time, and the drivers actually deflate the tires a bit prior to the drive -- This gives the tires less pressure and more surface area, allowing more ground contract and increased traction for better control.

Here's our driver, Abi, deflating our Land Cruiser's tires.

At some points along the way, the drivers stop so riders can get out and see the camels or the sunset, and the views of the deserts.

I'd never been in a desert before, and there's simply no way to capture by photo the expansiveness I experienced when stepping out onto the sand. There's just miles and miles and miles of sand as far as you can see. You feel so tiny standing in there as you look around and see nothing but sand and the sunset.

I'd really been excited after learning we'd get to ride on a camel after the drive! Of course, I had never been on a camel, either... I quickly claimed the spot of sitting on the "hump" of the camel, to be up higher. Raja got the less fortunate seat of the back, where it feels like you may fall off at various points during the ride.

We look all happy here, but I was a bit nervous.. Riding a camel is actually a pretty scary experience once the camel stands up off the ground and begins walking. Until the camel stands up fully, you don't realize just how high up the ground you're going to be (I began to quickly regret my selection of the "hump" seat), and there are 3-4 camels harnessed together in a line. The camel behind ours was rather aggressive and I kept worrying about what would happen when she decided to break away and run into the desert horizon, dragging our sweet camel with her. All was well, though, and it was pretty fun... a bit unnerving compared to the sheer excitement I'd felt earlier, but still a good experience. :)

"I often think that the night is more alive and more richly colored than the day." -Vincent Van Gogh

Post by: Beth

Raja had told me fairly early on before we left for this trip that he'd picked a special restaurant for us to eat at for our anniversary. I usually can't help doing secret research or requesitng hints about "surprises," but being REALLY excited about Dubai, I went along with it and didn't ask any questions or try to figure it out. I knew the date, the time to be ready, and that's it.



So Saturday night we climb into the taxi and Raja tells the driver where to go -- He's specifically picked an area AROUND the restaurant as the destination, rather than giving the actual restaurant name. I'm still oblivious and we happily ride along, about 20 minutes, to our destination. We are let out at a huge hotel called "Madinat Al Qsar" and its gorgeous. The bottom floor of the hotel is made up of high-end Arabian home decor stores, which houses amazing (and amazingly expensive!!) decor products. We wind through the bottom, peeking in stores and looking all around. Finally we get to a door that leads to a path outside, with a stream running along the pathway. A golf cart is waiting for us, and we get in and zoom along the pathway about 5 more minutes, until we're let off at the end of a huge pier. I can't quite make out what's at the end of the pier, but just slightly to the right of whatever building is at the end, "floats" the Burj Al Arab. I've seen plenty of pictures of this 7-star hotel that's designed in the form of a sailboat, but they just can't compare to seeing it in person. I'm REALLY excited by this point, as there's only one way we can go at this point, and that pier is going to be right in line with the Burj Al Arab.


We walk down the pier, and I see the sign of the restaurant: "Pierchic." We're taken to our table, which sits right along the side of the man-made island, and waves roll right up to the under-side of the restaurant, where our table is. I discover from the menu that it's mainly a seafood restaurant, and there are lots of things I can't pronounce, and some of them I'm not even sure what they are. With a little help, I make my decision and we order our salads and dinners. The food is amazing, and the scenery around us is gorgeous. I don't think I've ever been in a "prettier" spot in my life.


The night was wonderful and I didn't want to leave at the end, but I was really happy that I didn't spoil the surprise by asking questions and begging for hints. I think the next time a "surprise" is in the works, I'll remember this and be content to let it play out as the surprise it should be. :)

Below: The pier we were walking down to get to the restaurant. The hotel you see here is the one we walked through to get to the golf cart, then drove through to get to the pier.

Below: We just sat down to dinner. You can't see very well behind us because the setting isn't set properly yet, but the Burj Al Arab is just behind me, in the upper left corner of the photo.
Below: Behind Raja, you can see another shot of the hotel we walked through to get to the pier. Below: water under the restaurant Below: Burj Al Arab... the lighting changes from purple to teal to pink, etc. Actually really pretty in person.

Below: Another view from our table. I just happily turned and snapped photos all thorugh dinner.. It was impossible not to!
I'm aware I have 70 photos of this hotel, but it's just too pretty!
And you guessed it.. more surprise cake! This was a mousse cake -- really light and fluffy! Diet was officially in "off" mode during this trip, in case you hadn't noticed. ;)

Above & Below: We stopped and took some pictures on the way back through the hotel grounds after dinner. You can't really see it in this photo (again), since the setting for night portraits and setting for buildings are different, but the Burj Al Arab is back there behind each of us in these photos.