Taj Mahal sunrise, Baby Taj and Jaipur here we come

As I said last night, it was an early start this morning because we wanted to see the sunrise at the Taj Mahal. Friday's the Taj Mahal is closed to all apart from Muslims who can go and pray in the mosque to the left of the Taj. We were going to watch the sun rise from the banks of the river opposite in what is known as the moon garden (Metah Bagh), which gave us arguably a better view of the Taj Mahal than from the traditional entrance. Luckily (I am not sure Sarah would agree, as she has had another early start!) we were also the first tourists there so had prime location on the banks.

Taj Mahal from the Moon Garden - very peaceful!

Taj Mahal with a bit or morning sun on it! Also no people in shot!!

Unfortunately you can't predict the weather, and the sunrise was obscured by cloud, but it didn't detract from the beauty of the scene and we spent a good 40 minutes there just feasting on the wonderful view before us, and I got some lovely shots.

My camera ran out of battery and I discovered the panorama feature on my iPhone!! Arty!

After that, we moved onto a tour of the Baby Taj, which was a tour we were supposed to do yesterday, but had to postpone due to sore feet! The building is actually called the Tomb of Itimad-ud-Daulah but is nicknamed the Baby Taj in order to get more support and tourism money, as it is not on the normal tourist trail as far as I can tell. This is definitely a hidden gem of a place, as the artisanship of the stonework is a sight to behold which makes it more intricate and detailed than the Taj Mahal, but it loses out on impact because of the size in comparison.

The temple was completed before the Taj Mahal and according to Yesh incorporates numerous different influences in the design, taking influences from India, Islam and China. An advantage of it being off of the usual tourist route is that this place was empty apart from me, Sarah , Yesh and a group of howling monkeys and chipmunks. We were in our element (I love a quiet historic site!) as it meant that I had no tourists obscuring my pictures - just how I like things. 

The Baby Taj, intricately detailed and noone in sight = Mouseburger Heaven!

With our touring done for the day (by about 8am!) we retired back to the Hotel and had a lovely Indian breakfast. this was our first experience of a dosa and we were not disappointed - they are scrummy! I think Indian culture loves to feed people, as by the time I had tried all of the breakfast curry options I was fit to burst and if I am not careful, I will return from the holiday looking like a Zeppelin, rather than the barrage balloon I currently am!

The morning finally caught up with us and we went back to the room for a sleep, which we did until 12pm! Thankfully I asked for a late checkout as we were not catching our train from Agra to Jaipur until 5:40pm, so we had a few hours to kill. We filled that up with a walk towards the Taj Mahal, which we thought might have some tourist restaurants we could drink at, but as I mentioned earlier, the whole area closes down, so there was no luck there. This was probably a good thing for us though as today was by far the hottest day of the holiday so far (scorchingly hot!), and even walking for about 10 minutes I was sweating pigs, and so we retreated back to our air conditioned hotel and spent the afternoon drinking in their bar (it is a hard life I know!).

We boarded the train to Jaipur and it was completely different to the Agra express, as the carriage we were in was practically empty. apart from a couple of backpackers. It was a longer journey too, made even longer by teasingly stopping about a mile from Jaipur station for about 30 minutes for no apparent reason. Still, we made it to the station and met our guide (who gave us a welcome card and a bottle of wine!) who has taken us to the hotel.

Jaipur station - eventually!

Another nice bonus was that we have been upgraded again in our room (to a place near the bar - they know their guests!! ;) ), and as an additional welcome to, we have been given another bunch of roses and a pineapple cake.

Let them eat cake! Another lovely welcome gesture from the hotel!

After a couple of cocktails at the bar, the long day has caught up with us and we have decided to retire for the evening, as tomorrow promises to be a busy day painting elephants!