The Red Fort

The Red Fort was constructed by the same Emperor who commissioned the Taj Mahal. It served as the residence for the royal family. It is surrounded by two moats, which were filled with crocodiles when it was used.

The center of the fort contains the family's home and garden

The walls of the fort

Some of the ornate carving in the ceiling

The walls and ceilings were painted but when the British came to power, the soldiers destroyed most of the art. Here you can see what is left of the gold trimmed ceiling.

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The Magnificent Taj Mahal

The tour guide told us that the Taj Mahal touches people of all backgrounds and faith because it is a symbol of love. The Taj Mahal was built by a Mughal emperor for his wife. The monument is truly amazing but due to the winter fog of the area, the photo doesn't do it justice. (Not that I think any photo could do it justice). It took 22 years to complete the construction of this monument.

Me and my coworker, Nick, in front of one of the three gates

Each doorway area represents the entry to a one family home

These columns were designed to hide the joints. It's actually only made from 4 sides. The in laying of marble gives the effect that there are 8 sides.

The wall here has both carved marble and the inlayed stone design.

Close up of the design, stunning

Looking up at the Taj, it's enormity is breath taking by itself.

All of the color pattern here is different colored stones layed into the white marble.

Obviously had to take the signature Taj picture

Some of the marble and red stone floor design

Here is the royal guest house which sits to the right of the Taj

 

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Agra

Agra is the home of the Taj Mahal and the Red Fort and has some of the most predominant poverty that I have witnessed on my trip.

Laundry on someone's deck

A small convenience store, these stands fill the streets

Red faced monkeys fill the streets along with goats, wild boars, buffalo and cows.

The overall state of the animals here is heartbreaking

Buffalo in the streets

The city is much smaller but the traffic is just as crazy as Delhi

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A new kind of casual Friday

Today I wore my Indian outfit (kurta) to work. I will say, that it was super comfy... Kind of like wearing PJs to work only they look nicer. I got a lot of comments from my team over here, I think they were all secretly laughing at me, haha.

My American coworker said I look more foreign when I wear it (fun fact: no one at the hotels or work thinks we are American because we are both half Asian)

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India Traffic

The traffic in Noida/Delhi is everything that I was warned about and more. Even though the roads here are much better than in Bangalore, the drivers are a bit more gutsy. Our driver even T boned a tin can sized car pulling out of our hotel today.

Here's a view of the road behind us, look at all those scooters!

You can kind of see our driver, Santosh... Yes, he wears a captains hat.

This one is a bus that is so crowded people are literally hanging out of it!

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Tiny Tea and Funny Drinks

Not a whole lot going on but work this week. So here is a very lame post...

Everything here seems to be 1/4 to1/3 of the size of things back home. The portions are smaller, which includes tiny tea cups. Lets just say that Jenny B would go through Starbucks venti Tea withdrawl here.

My co-worker Nick's blog cameo.

Really tiny cups

This is just silly, the drink is called wtf

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And the forecast is smoke!

Sunday evening I barely made it to my Indigo flight from Bangalore to New Delhi. Upon arrival my coworker showed me the weather report of his phone and said, "what do you think smoke means?"

Seeing smoke on a weather forecast is a bit unsettling, especially when you've never seen it before. When we got off the plane it became very apparent that there was something in the air, and it definitely smelled a lot like smoke. It turns out its really thick smog, created from heavy pollution and the dense fog that the winter months bring. I was told that in the December/January timeframe the smog gets so bad that the visibility is about 10 meters. This causes mass cancellations of flights and I assume makes it even harder to drive around here.

Here's the morning "sunshine out of my hotel room this morning:

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The Delicious Dosa

Dosa's are delicious southern Indian breakfast food, though I think you can find them all day long. The crepe like vessel ( or the tepee in the photo below) is made from rice batter and black lentils. Normally, the crepe is served folded over, but they made this one into a cone shape.

Underneath the cone was a delicious mixture of potato, chili leaf, mustard seed, coriander and onion. It's served with a variety of condiments, mine included coconut, tomato and coriander. I don't remember what that soup was, but earlier they gave me a rice cake which could be dipped into it.

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Sky Bar and UB City

King Fisher is a company in India known for their beer, but also owns a airline and is big in the IT space here. They have built an area in Bangalore called UB City, named after the UB Group (United Brewery). This bar was recommended as it has the best view in the city... And that it did.

Enjoying a King Fisher Ultra, their lightest beer :)

Trendy bar decor

Bangalore skyline

The main UB building, off to the left you can see the very impressive Parliament Building

The stunning sunset (which took all of 10 minutes to set)

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Shopping in Bangalore

On Saturday our driver took us to Commercial street for some proper local shopping. I bought a Churidaar Kurta which is a traditional Indian Outfit made up of a tunic and leggings (I'll include a photo when I have one).

Luckily for us tourists, there was a Muslim holiday yesterday which made the streets about 1/3 as crowded as what they are normally supposed to be on a Saturday. Above is a picture of one of the streets at the end of the shopping area (I was so distracted by the saris, pashminas, carved goods and clothing that I didn't take many photos).

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Amazing Hotels & Service

The hotel we checked into this weekend is unbelievable. It's called the ITC Gardenia and it is absolutely stunning. You get a butler with your room who will cater to all requests.

The view from my balcony of UB City

Panoramic Room Photo

The pavilion, notice the "green" roof

Even the metal detectors are fancy

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