Tuesday, April 3, 2007: Bharatpur & Agra

We woke up at an insane hour to visit Keoladeo National Park near the town of Bharatpur. Migratory birds come to this park every year, but with the weak monsoon this past year, their numbers were down considerably as compared to past years. There were still alot of birds, but apparently during the "high" season it is just unbelievable. For the most part, I have no idea what kinds of birds these are in my pictures. No one could catch the Kingfisher on camera though. it was a beautiful bird and there were a fair number flying around--but that was the problem: they were flying. We needed them to sit still! After the birds, we boarded the train and headed on to Agra to see the famed Taj Mahal.

This bird was TALL--nearly 5 ft. It could look me in the eye.

This little owl posed for the camera. He was small--about the size of a soda can.

This was how we got around the bird park. The men that give you the tours line up every morning with their buggies and it is a lottery to see who gets to work for the day inside the park.

Wildlife inside the park.

I thought this was cool--a jackal just chilling out in the grass.

This is the Agra Fort in Agra. It is on the west bank of the Yamuna River, opposite the Taj Mahal. This fort by far has the most crippled people, beggars and kids selling random junk surrounding the entrance. I assume they are taking advantage of the forts proximity to the Taj Mahal to increase their opportunities with tourists.

Inside the fort looking at the Jahangiri Mahal--the only major palace in the fort that dates back to Akbar's reign.
This is the Diwan-i-Aam, which is a hall that was used for the emperor's public addresses.

This is the Khas Mahal, a marble hall with a painted celing.

Up close inside the fort.

The Taj Mahal. What an absolutely amazing building. It was built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his favorite wife who died in 1631. it is described as a sublime garden-tomb, and it cost nearly 41 million rupees and 500 kilos (1102 lbs) of gold to build. About 20,000 workers labored for 12 years to complete it in 1643.

The view from the mosque.

Another view from the mosque.

A photo taken up on the platform, level with the main tomb.

A view of the gateway taken from the tomb.

Another picture...it may be difficult to understand, but I have over 65 photos of this building. It was just impossible to stop taking pictures, almost like the more you had would make it more believeable that you were actually standing near it.
Me at the Taj. I was standing midway between the gateway and the tomb near the charbagh that holds irrigated water from the Yamuna River.

At the main entrance are calligraphic panels. The size of the Koranic verses increase as the arch gets higher, creating a subtle optic illusion of uniformly flowing script.

A shot of some of the carved relief work that covers the lower portions of the walls. the band above and below the carving is pietra dura, a Florentine technique where minute slivers of precious and semi precious stones are arranged in complex stylized floral patterns set in a marble base. A single flower can often times have more than 35 variations of the same stone to get the color shading as realistic as possible.

A close up of the pietra dura