Agra and Jaislemer

The TaJ Mahal is really beautiful. It’s heart breakingly beautiful. A tear drop on the face of humanity. A marble affirmation of one mans love for his wife. The ultimate one-upmanship for male romance. I thought a bunch of flowers would do but after finding out she bore the Raja 13 children and died pushing out the last one it all seems worth it.

Being one of the most famous buildings in the world I thought I knew what to expect.. I’ve never had a building evoke such a strong emotional response as the Taj. On seeing it in the flesh I wanted to hug it, love it, be part of it. I’ve seen it’s image 100’s of times but you can’t beat the real thing. We got up at sunrise to watch the sun bath the white marble in a pinkish hew and also to beat the rest of the tourists to this wonder. Every part of the building is designed to look beautiful to the eye. From your first glimpse from afar to the jewel encrusted details on closer inspection. It’s all in the details and this place was faultless. Sue and I spent the morning there just watching this building. The place gets packed by about 9:00am but there is plenty for all to see.

From Agra we headed to the deserts of Jaselmere near the Pakistan border for a 3 day desert festival and some buttock testing camel rides. Although a desert it was not that hot. During the day would reach only 25c and the night would be cold. One of the festival days was to be held at some sand dunes out side the town so we decided to take two days travel on the back of a camel to get there.

Some think Michel Jackson to be the dubiously child friendly king of pop but sue and I will always remember him as a horny old camel who would run after any lone female despite Sues protests. Sue’s camel was named as such and mine was called Raja Amistanie, a young racing camel who entered one of the many races the day before, got spooked and never made it to the end. We were a unlikely coupling but part from M.J’s bouts of lust and Rajas habit of stand up before I was seated, we had a good two days. If not a little hard on the arse.

The Jeselmere desert festival was fun. Some of the events were Mr. desert, tug of war, the woman’s race, Mrs. Desert,

best dressed camel and a whole world of camel related things. I was hoping to enter the Mr. Desert competition but my lack of beard, mustache and fancy desert clothes left me out of the running. They know how to through a colorful festival out in the desert and every one from all over the area come to join the fun.