Taj Mahal, Sept. 7

First pic: a man hand-carving a marble table, 2nd: weaving a wool rug!, 3rd pic: me in front of Agra Fort, 4th: feeding a cow that wandered into the hotel restaurant (a regular occurrence), 5th: mama monkey and baby walking across rail of my hotel, 6th: Taj Mahal, 7th: I am holding the Taj!!, 8th: posing in front of Taj, 9th: AMAZING VIEW of Taj. Wow, was the Taj Mahal absolutely 

magnificent. I mean, it's more magnificent than one can imagine! I had only seen pictures before, and they definitely didn't do justice. As I entered the pearly gates of the Taj with a ticket purchased at the mere price of Rs. 750 (about $15), I was approached by a tour guide. Since this was such a big adventure, I hired him (Ali), and he took photos of me as well as explained the history of the Taj. I spent about an hour and 1/2 there simply in awe of the beauty. The Taj Mahal is made entirely of marble and semi-precious stones. Built by about 22,000 workers, every part of the Taj is symmetrical. It is amazing. Here are some photos of the Taj Mahal, and I hope you all can experience it with your own eyes some day! 

After this experience, I headed back to my hotel, which is a 1 minute walk from the western gate of the Taj. Truly unbelievable! There was a great view of the Taj on the rooftop of my hotel, which I enjoyed very much. When I walked up to the rooftop, I was carrying 2 bananas in a bag. Apparently, the monkeys can smell the bananas because one came up to me! He walked directly towards me and pawed my leg for a banana. Pretty scared, as I am told monkeys often carry diseases and often bite people, I gave him one banana. After this, I was so excited to watch him eat it right in front of me! Literally, a foot away from me. Naturally, he walked up to me again for my other banana. Good thing bananas cost nearly nothing here! This was an experience in itself, and I am proud to say I have survived my monkey encounter with some great pictures and a video of the monkey eating the banana. Today was a good day.