14 Jun Taking train from Jaipur to Agra to visit the agriculture of love “Taj Mahal”
We landed in Jaipur at 2:45 am. After we slept in and got up late the owner of our hotel was taking pictures of us in the garden. I felt there was something moving behind me. I turned around and saw a group of monkeys chasing around. The owner said, “what you can see in the zoo at home, you can see here in the city. India is a country full of life!” Just minutes later his word was proven right. After we left to stroll down the street we saw a random camel in a backyard, a donkey pulling a cart, an elephant, a horse and some goats. Not to forget there were cows, cows everywhere.
I really love the shared tuk-tuks in India because they are electrical and you can share them to save money. Better for you, better for the environment. We got off at the beautiful “Hawa Mahal” or translated “Windy Palace” which was inspired by the crown of Lord Krishna. Inside you find a lot of colorful glasses decorating the many, many small windows. It was built by the king for ladies-in-waiting to admire his beautiful city.
While walking around we got curious about a nearby temple. There was a ceremony going on and a kind local invited us to have a little snack. He explained that evening there will be a parade to celebrate Lord Krishna’s birthday. Lucky us! We decided to see one more thing before the parade and went to the “Albert Hall Museum”, where a mummy named “Tutu” is kept. It’s more than 2,300 years old! That was my first time seeing the real mummy. I’ve been pretty excited.
The next day we traveled to Agra by train. Two Indian women sitting opposite of us started preparing food – on the train! Peeled cucumbers, tomatoes and onions. Flavored with lemon and salt to prepare meals for their husbands and children. After the vegetable, they prepared roti with a chili sauce. Very kind as they were, they shared their food with us too. Lucky us again! We were so full while we were originally worried to be hungry on the long train ride at the beginning.
I wanted to give something in return, but I had nothing except a Thai cooling candy in my pocket. I shared it with the families to try. They liked it, especially the kids and they started to talk to us. I show the kids a hand-trick where you join your hands while hiding one finger and then let them guess which finger is missing. We all were having fun with this game and laughed together whenever someone guessed it wrong. We played this game all the way until arrived at our destination Agra. It was time to say goodbye. We thanked the families and especially the woman for their kindness to share their food and time with us.
The Taj Mahal, one of the seven wonders of the world and the symbol of love, is situated here. Coming slowly closer, you will see the loftily, beautiful white marble mausoleum getting bigger and bigger. The colorful flowers on the walls of the building aren’t painted. Each flower is crafted piece by piece from stones in various colors. The red stone making up the flowers light up beautifully when shined on with a flashlight. Sadly, over 20,000 workers died during the 20 years of construction. At the end the king had all remaining workers kill to ensure they won’t build any similar buildings.
The construction costs were extremely high and the king’s son took the throne and arrested his own father. The king was arrested in Agra Fort and left only a little window to see his symbol of love. The story tells that he died with a mirror in his hand to have a last glimpse on the Taj Mahal. Seeing the Taj Mahal in real was a childhood dream of myself coming true.
Writer: Treesukondh Chiramakara (Tree)
A Thai freelancer who is working on multi tasks; content writing, English <=> Thai translation, virtual assistant and AR accountant
Seeking chances to be free from office life and live like a digital nomad that can travel and work at the same time
travel more when she can and learn more from experience along the way
Travel details:
Hawa Mahal
- Address: Hawa Mahal Rd, Badi Choupad, J.D.A. Market, Pink City, Jaipur, Rajasthan 302002, India
- Opening hours: Everyday 9 AM – 5 PM
Albert Hall Museum
- Address: Museum Road, Ram Niwas Garden, Kailash Puri, Adarsh Nagar, Jaipur, Rajasthan 302004, India
- Opening hours: Everyday except Tuesday 9 AM – 5.30 PM
Trip treasure: If you want to visit many places in Jaipur, I recommend you to buy “composite ticket”. You will pay just one time 1,000 rupees and can use it to visit many places in Jaipur including Amber Fort, Central Museum, Jantar Mantar, Hawa Mahal, Isarlat and Narhargarh and the other separate composite ticket is 500 rupees including City Palace, Royal Gaitor, Cenotaphs of the Maharanis and Jaigarh (valid for visiting for 2 days). It is cheaper and worth it!
Taj Mahal
- Address: Dharmapuri, Forest Colony, Tajganj, Agra, Uttar Pradesh 282001, India
- Ticket fee: 1,100 Rs.
Trip treasure: I would like you to think twice if you want to have a guide for touring at the Taj Mahal. I had an experience hiring a guide there but did not impress much. He was more like a photographer and wanted us to take many photos in every corner that we did not even ask for. The information was not a lot to be told from him too. I got more information from Lonely Planet Application about Taj Mahal and I recommend you guys to download it. The other option is checking Wikivoyage. There is everything you want to know there.
About train in india!
I do recommend you guys to take trains in India. It was not that bad that you may see from Youtube videos. We took mostly second class trains that you will get seat numbers that mean it was not that crowded. Most of them are sleeping trains that the seats can turn to be bed. So, it is pretty comfy actually. We took the train all the way from the west to the east from Jaipur to Kolkata passed Agra, Varanasi and also Gaya a place where Budha got enlightened. I hope you can make it to Mahabodhi temple in Gaya. It was such a peaceful place. It is my favorite place in India from that trip.
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