sightseeing
Last year, I took a quick weekend trip to Washington DC. I visited as a child, but it was part of a road trip just passing through on the way to New York. This time, I was determined to see all the tourist sights in one trip. We managed to see most of the monuments and about half of the Smithsonians. All in all, it was a great trip packed with lots of walking and sightseeing.
I left Mumbai and I got to spend a day exploring the tourist spots in New Delhi. One thing I have to say is that everything had a very grandiose and magnificent feeling to it. There was lots of inlaid stone and marble with intricate carvings all wrapped up in large scale structures. It was definitely very impressive to see the scale and magnitude, while also seeing the fine detail.
Qutub Minar
Lotus Temple
Humayun's Tomb
Khan Market
Gurudwara Bangla Sahib
The next morning, I woke up early to make the 2-3 hour drive to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. It was so incredibly foggy I was really worried about how my pictures would come out.
It wasn't the blue sky I was hoping for but there's no turning back now. When I arrived, I was informed I only had 2 hours before they shut the whole thing down to kick everyone out due to a VIP coming. I suspect it was Obama's team to come scope out the logistics of his planned visit to the Taj Mahal.
After leaving the Taj Mahal, I had some extra time so I stopped by the Agra Fort before heading to the airport.
I recently had the opportunity to go to Mumbai for a few work meetings. With this being my first time to India, I had no idea what to expect. I arranged my schedule to arrive a day early so I could check out the local sights in Mumbai.
I grabbed lunch at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, which is right across from the Gateway of India.
Fish and Prawn Curry
Here's a night shot of the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel:
Up at the top of the hotel, there was a great view of the Gateway of India down below.
The Gateway of India is Mumbai's top attraction. There were lots of local photographers offering to take your photo and print it out on their portable printer. It also seemed to be a local gathering spot for friends and family to eat and relax.
From the Gateway of India, there is an hour long ferry ride to go to the Elephanta Island, where the Elephanta Caves are the main attraction. When you arrive at the island, you're faced a long stairwell up to the entrance of the caves. Lining the sides of this stairwell are street vendors selling food and the typical touristy souvenirs.
The caves themselves had lots of rock cut sculptures and pillars.
I caught the last ferry back around sunset, which led to amazing scenery.
