Finally Visited TAJ MAHAL The Wonders of the World EP.28 | Pakistani Visiting India
Looks like you put a lot of effort in it. No. I made everything fresh today. Only the dessert I made last night to cool it. Hotel Taj Mahal? No. I want to go to the Taj Mahal. That's the gate. Oh okay. You'll see the gate.
This is the first look of the monument when you cross the gate. Everybody wants to have a picture with the Taj Mahal. We've got these covers on our shoes because that's compulsory. Assalam Alekum. Good morning. Namaste. Sat Sri Akal to everyone from Jaipur. We had a great time over these past couple of days here. It's not just the city but its people are equally amazing.
I really loved it and I thank everyone for that. Today we are gonna leave this city for our next destination which is simply wonderful. Everyone who loves traveling... And if they are visiting India or want to visit India... They all dream about visiting the Taj Mahal, at least once.
Similarly, I have the same desire. Hopefully, today is gonna be the day. Agra is about 250 km from here. And it may take up to almost 5 hours to get there. It's already 9 am. It would be best if we could get there by 2 pm. Since it closes at 5 pm, we'll get almost 3 hours to visit.
And I'm gonna do it with all of you. We just have to stop for breakfast at a family's house who met me yesterday and invited me. And then we'll get going.
Bismillah... In the name of Allah... *Prayer for the journey* We pray to Allah for a safe and memorable day ahead. I pray the same for all my viewers. We have just left from our hotel.
It's located very close to the fort, by the motorcycle trail to the highest point of the city. Our breakfast destination is almost 15 minutes away from here. 6 km You can see people enjoying desi breakfast early in the day. Don't know what that is. People here honk their horns so much that it can make you go crazy. That's how much they use it.
You can say that Jaipur is a somewhat slow paced city. With a very relaxed environment comparatively. Today we are going to leave Rajasthan and enter a new state, UP. Rajasthan has become one of my favorite states in this tour. Right now we are riding through the center of the historical town. Most of the market is still closed.
Shops here start to open around 10.30 am or even later. I forgot the name of this gate. We are out of the old city now. You can park anywhere. Okay Sat Sri Akal. How are you? Good morning.
This rice pudding is especially for you. This is too much guys. Looks like you have been working on it since yesterday. No. I made everything today. Fresh. Just made this dessert last night to cool it. Thank you so much.
Do you need sugar with yogurt? No. I don't. I'll make tea later. I'll definitely visit again. Thank you so much.
The food was great. Thank you very much. Thank you so much Sir. That's the love of the people. I'm so overwhelmed by this love and gratitude. Thank you so much guys. It was great meeting you. We are now leaving for Agra.
I'm told that there are two ways to get there. The older route is a little more scenic. And it's through the city area. We'll take that one, give you a glimpse of the city and head towards Agra.
We didn't take much footage during breakfast. Didn't want to make them uncomfortable. They expressed so much love and warmth... So I only captured very little. It was really nice being there. Thank you so much. Nice meeting you.
Do visit Pakistan with your family soon. Thank you That was Manmohan who came along to bid us farewell. He guided us to this scenic route. Otherwise, we would have taken a tunnel here to go on. We'll now be showing you some glimpses of the old Jaipur before we leave the city. You can see many old buildings here.
I can also see gardens. You'll see history at every corner in Jaipur. Check out these walls. I'm not sure which historical building is this. But looks like there are many gardens inside. This city is full of history and beauty.
Perhaps that's the reason it's part of the Golden Triangle... Delhi... Agra... Jaipur... And back to Delhi. Most of the tourists who come to India, do follow this route; even if they are just visiting for a week. Any tourist in Agra or Delhi, wants to visit Jaipur and thus touch Rajasthan before they return.
We also tried our best to showcase Rajasthan for you. Personally I just loved it. If I ever get a chance again in my life... I'll try to explore Rajasthan in an even better manner.
Where to? Agra Where are you from? Pakistan Thank you So... Welcome to Uttar Pradesh I think we are there now; just saw a roadside board. We have come here after crossing Baharatpur. You guys can see UP villages on the sides.
Why is that truck coming from this side? Thank God I saw that in time. Didn't realize that anyone came from that side too. Because that side of the road is open. So I've no idea where did that guy come from. This is Fatehpur Sikri. It's a very beautiful and historical place.
There are a few worth visiting places here. This fort looks like one of them. Or is it just a wall? One of those places is called Buland Darwaza.
Then there's Panch Mahal and a couple of other places. Today is Thursday. And Taj Mahal is closed on Fridays. That's why we are trying to visit it today.
Lets see... It's gonna take at least a couple of hours here. And in the meantime, Taj Mahal might get closed.
We have reached Agra. Don't know how far we are from the city center. But according to navigation, we are almost 7 km from Taj Mahal. That means we are in the outskirts right now.
If I'm not mistaken, UP is the most populated Indian state. It has the highest population in India. Looks like there's some procession taking place here. Oh ... that Policeman just hit someone.
Apparently there's some special occasion today. Since I'm not certain, I can't say anything. We can ask someone though.
Hotel? Hotel Taj Mahal? No. I'm going to the Taj Mahal. That's the gate. Oi see. Taj Mahal is half kilometer from here but you'll have to park it before that. There is no space for parking. We have a hotel here with an underground parking. You can park it there safely. I can also get you an online ticket through the VIP gate without any worry.
Since Taj Mahal will be closed tomorrow, the place is more crowded today. That usually happens a day before the off day. This is the general gate. I'll get you in through the VIP gate. How much will you charge us? I'll take 900 INR for all of you.
That will include parking as well as ticket and everything. You won't have to pay anything else. The ticket will be taken directly and so will your entry. The parking will be very near and it will be in a safe place in the hotel. And you can pay for everything after you have completed your visit.
Can you show us the parking place? I'm not sure about this. Oops.. Sorry... We are standing in front of the entrance of Taj Mahal. Motorcycle parking is not allowed here. The two guys I met back there... At first I was a little doubtful.
But eventually I trusted them and parked the motorcycle in the basement of their hotel. I'll have to pay them 900 INR. They have arranged online tickets for us. Since I'm a foreigner, my ticket cost 1250 INR. Whereas, that of Karthikeyan is for 250 INR.
It includes the mausoleum and everything else inside. I guess there are two tickets. The ticket for foreigners includes everything.
For locals, the entrance fee is just 50 INR. To visit the mausoleum they have to pay an extra 200 INR. It's quite crowded. Lets go then... And see Taj Mahal.
We are finally in Taj Mahal. We had to place some of our stuff at the gate. But they did allow us to take our bags in. There are 3 gates here, namely, east, south and west.
We have entered through the east gate. The impressive gate that you are seeing right now is called the Great Gate. It is also known as Darwaza. All the monuments, mosque and mausoleum are behind this gate.
So this is the gate that gives you the real first impression. The gate is made from red sandstone. Just like many buildings in Rajasthan. Its main inspiration is Delhi's Jamiya Mosque and Badshahi Mosque of Lahore. They are also built in the same style.
You can see Quranic verses along the sides of the gate. Let's go inside. That's what we are here for. Because the main attraction here is through this gate. This is the first glance at Taj Mahal when you enter through this gate.
Quite a wonderful first look and first impression. Mindblowing. You can see how many people here are eager to take photographs here.
Hardly any room for you to take your photos in peace. Everybody wants to have a picture with the Taj Mahal. Let's keep walking.
Let's see if we can find some suitable spot... not just to take our pictures... but also capture something nice to show you. There are many monuments and buildings here. But the main attraction is this mausoleum which people from all over the world come to see. It was built by the 5th Mughal Emperor Shahjahan.
For his wife Mumtaz Mahal, who died at the birth of their 14th child in 1631. The construction started a year after the tragedy and was completed in 1648. However, the construction of surrounding buildings and gardens kept going on. That took another 5 years.
The whole project cost about 1 billion USD in today's currency. The other buildings here were made from red sandstone. However, the mausoleum is one of those few buildings of the time that were built with white marble. There's a minaret at each corner with the dome at its center.
Its height is almost 70 meters. The adjacent mosque here is still functional. Especially on Fridays, the whole place is closed due to Friday prayers. And only people from Agra can visit it on Fridays. An estimated 20 thousand workers participated in its construction.
Its architecture was the famous Mughal architect, Ahmad Lahori. Let's go and see the inside area. Right in front of the mausoleum and on my right side, you can see the mosque. It's only open on Fridays. So we can't go inside. And even on Fridays, only the locals can visit, as mentioned earlier.
But we can visit the mausoleum for sure. As you can see we have got these covers on our shoes. That's compulsory here. We got the covers from here.
Let's go now. Finally we are in front of the mausoleum. The height of the ceiling is around 40 meters.
It's located exactly in front of the main gate. The ceiling appears to be flat at first look. But that's not the case and it has been made from beautifully cut marble.
There's a beautiful rope like marble construction that runs around the entrance. You can also see the calligraphy of Surah Yasin of Quran. Inside, there are the graves of both Mumtaz Mahal and Shahjahan.
Photography is not allowed inside. So we can't capture it from inside, unfortunately. At least we can go inside and see for ourselves. I think it's only a closer look that truly reveals how impressive these buildings are. I have seen a lot of videos. But what you experience yourself is marvelous.
It's being illuminated by this magnificent light from sunset. This is river Yamuna that runs beside the Taj Mahal. I can see some boats in the river. But the water doesn't look too clean. So we'll not be going there.
I've tried to give you a compact overview of this place. There's a lot of history here and you can explore these things in detail. I think the place is a little too crowded. I guess morning time is a better option to visit. As suggested by the people... But because it's Friday tomorrow, we didn't have the option to delay our visit.
That's the hotel... Royal Regent. We have checked into our room. It's quite a decent, clean and spacious room. Everything is perfect.
We have parked the motorcycle in the hotel's own parking lot. We paid 3500 INR which is a fairly decent price. It doesn't include breakfast though. That would have cost us an extra 500 INR. We plan to do our breakfast at some local place. Similarly, we are now going to go to some local place for dinner. It's our first dinner in UP... So let's go.
We've come for dinner to a restaurant called Dhaba 52 or something... Excuse me. Is this place called Dhaba 59? Yes. They showed us Maharaja Plate that had a lot of items. And this is what we have got. I'm not sure what these items are. I think this is butter cheese... That's some vegetable.
Here's some pulao and some onions. This is lentils I guess. And this is... Some yogurt dip. And some roti. Today's dinner is non-veg.
The restaurant was really close to our hotel, so we thought to give it a try. We paid around 350 INR for this. And it's okay because you get a decent meal for this price here.
Lentil is good. We are gonna have the dinner now. You can Like, Subscribe and Share in the meantime. Remember us in your prayers. See you in the next one. Allah Hafiz
2023-05-13 04:44
