Taj Mahal - Agra

(Picture by Richard Huckvale)

Well, it’s finally happened I have managed to tick one of the seven wonders of the world off my bucket list, The fact I will be able to tick more off over the next few years excites me more than anything.

Now let me be brutally honest, I was a little undecided if I actually wanted to enter inside i.e. pay the admission fee as I was under the impression it would be that busy the experience would not be enjoyable and money wasted, I mean i could always return in the future when I am a world famous blogger and ask them to close it down for a day so I could wonder about there by myself ha ha well we can all dream can’t we. We decided however you can’t really claim to have been to one of the seven wonders of the world if you have not actually been inside, I mean anyone can look at it in a book or online. 

So when we got to Agra driver no let me rephrase that our friend, Palle has become just that he started as our driver and quickly become our friend, I will tell you more about him in a later blog, YES I love the man that much he’s getting his own blog ha ha, As I was saying Palle advised the best time to see the Taj was at sunrise so we decided that was when we would see this great wonder.

6am came and we set off on the short journey to actually see the Taj Mahal, to go inside one of the greatest wonders mankind has built, to see breath taking architecture, to touch the same marble that were placed there  between 1632 and 1643. Palle had arranged for a guide completely free of charge to accompany us around the Taj to give us a history lesson while we took in the beauty that is In my opinion the 3rd best wonder out of the seven.

1. Roman Colosseum :- Italy
2. Great Wall Of China :- China
3. Taj Mahal :- India
4. Machu Picchu :- Peru
5. Petra :- Jordan
6. Christ The Redeemer :- Brazil
7. Chicen Itza :- Mexico

Now we did the typical tourist things have pictures taken where Princess Diana had hers taken etc and was taken round the different parts and given a different story about the history of the Taj by our guide now all this took about 1 hour and 30 minutes the place was packed even at 6am it took us 40 minutes to get though security due to the number of people there. If I am honest the guide was great but it was so fast paced because each point on the tour had 2/3 other guides there telling the same story it was hard to take in but enjoyable all the same but for me the realisation of where I was and what I was doing really hit me then me and Lauren took 20 minutes or so to ourselves to really take in that we were walking on a piece of history, we were touching a building that was built almost 400 years ago, we were standing in the shadows of possibly the greatest piece of architecture that's ever been produced by mankind, we were here we were standing on the ivory white marble of the Taj Mahal in the City of Agra we were finally realising a dream, a joint dream we never knew we both had until we met, a dream to see the seven wonders of the world, a dream to travel the world, to throw ourselves into the deep end of life and experience different countries, traditions and cultures. I had a tremendous feeling of happiness it finally hit me that I am actually doing what I have always wanted to do.

Our journey has only just began, we are two weeks or so into a two year minimum trip around the world, we have finally got to the stage where we don’t know what day it is, we have no idea of time, we are not clock watching and wishing the days away. I am travelling with my best friend, I am seeing the wonders of the world with someone that wants to to do the same, I am one very happy man right now and have so much more to look forward too.

Take care

Richard