October 27 - Last Day in Dubai

We awoke to another warm and sunny day in Dubai.  I’m not sure they have any other kind.  Since our flight home doesn’t leave until 2:20 AM Tuesday, we had a whole day to fritter away.  Despite the fact that the hotel offered us use of the room until the afternoon, we decided to check out earlier, have them store our luggage and go to the Dubai Mall to kill some time.

This mall is absolutely incredible!  It’s the world’s largest in terms of total area with 13 million sq. ft.  It’s only 12th largest when counting leasable space of  only (!) 3.77 million sq. ft.  There are more than 1200 shops, 120 restaurants and cafes, a 22 screen movie theater, 250 room hotel, and 14,000 parking spaces.  Oh, did I mention there’s an ice skating rink too?

Entrance atrium. The shops greeting everyone included Tiffany, Cartier, Van Cleef& Arpels, and Harry Winston for those who wanted to pick up a few baubles.  I looked in the windows and didn't see any takers inside.

A water feature we happened upon somewhere in the mall. You don't get perspective here but the diving figures were larger than life.

 

The skating rink which was being used by a bunch of people

A dino in lights in the middle of the Old Souk section.  We're not sure how that connected to an old Arabian souk but it looked neat.

The mall has 3 levels with stores sort of grouped by type.  There’s an electronics wing, a shoe floor, jewelry section, watch lane, and even a recreation of an old souk.  Our entire mall at home would fit in the Food Court of this place.  To put it mildly, it was overwhelming.  We wandered around for a couple of hours referring to our map often in order to figure out where we were.  We managed to find the food court and had fish & chips which tasted pretty authentic to us.  Prices for everything seemed insanely high. 

After we’d walked several miles we decided we’d had enough and headed back to the hotel where we camped in the comfortable chairs in the lobby.  We still had free wi-fi so we managed to pass a few hours with Al checking e-mails and me updating my blog.  At 6 PM we headed to the airport.  Emirates has really nice lounges and we figured we might just as well while away time there.  When we arrived the place was deserted. An Emirates representative greeted us as the hotel car dropped us off and told us that the check-in counter didn’t open until 10 PM and we couldn’t go to the lounge until we’d checked in.  Another very nice lady said she would see what she could do ( I think she took pity on us with our mountain of luggage) and she checked us in just like that.  We went through all the passport and security in a flash, took the train to our terminal and are currently ensconced in the lounge.  They’ve served us drinks and dinner.  What more can we ask for, except perhaps that boarding time will  get here soon.  We have a fourteen and a half hour flight ahead of us and we’re hoping to be able to snooze a little.  Thankfully we have a car picking us up for the drive home.  Our own little bed is going to look awfully good and we can’t wait to see Emma.

A last view of the Burj Khalifa from the taxi on the way back to the hotel

So, bye, bye from Dubai!

October 26 – Dubai

It was our first full day in Dubai, one of the United Arab Emirates.  There are seven emirates comprising the UAE and Dubai is the most populous one with the largest city.  Until 1971 it was a British protectorate. In that year an act of  union was signed  and the UAE was born.

While oil revenue helped to fuel the growth here, tourism and international commerce fuel the economy now.  The various sheikhs who have ruled seem to be somewhat enlightened and have  created in Dubai one of the cleanest cities we’ve ever seen.  They have developed infrastructure, schools and medical facilities as well as a major port.  What was amazing to us is that this was all created out of desert.  The temperature in Dubai can reach  120° in the summer and even on the days we’ve been here the temperature has been 90+°.

Downtown Dubai has been reclaimed from the sea by dredging millions of tons of sand and depositing it and rocks to build up the land.  40 meter pilings are driven down to create foundations for the buildings, including the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world at not quite 830 meters (2722 ft.).  It has 163 floors and was constructed in just 6 years.  We didn’t even attempt to go to the observation platform at the top because I don’t think my heart could stand it.  Despite the fact that it’s surrounded by many tall and architecturally unique skyscrapers, it dominates the landscape.

View from our hotel balcony

Our balcony was huge!

Burj Khalifa up close

We decided to take the recommendation of the concierge in our hotel and take the HOHO bus.  The first part of the ride took us out to the Palm Jumeirah, one of the other fantastic things in Dubai.  The Palm is a manmade archipelago extending out into the Gulf.  It’s in the shape of a palm tree with a large crescent at the end to act as a breakwater.  Along the central trunk are large apartment complexes and on the various fronds are villas ranging from relatively modest ones to fantastic and extremely expensive ones.  A monorail connects the crescent and fronds to the mainland.  At the end of the trunk is the Atlantis Hotel, built like the one in the Bahamas.  It has a huge aquarium and waterpark.  Along the way to Palm Jumeirah we passed the Burj al Arab, the iconic hotel that looks like a sail.  It was one of the earliest of the fantastic buildings built here.

The Burj al Arab

 

Apartment buildings on the Palm Jumeirah

Atlantis at the end of the monorail

Dubai Skyline

As we rode along we saw many mosques.  By law there has to be a mosque at least every 550 meters so that one is readily accessible to the public.  We also passed the Mall of the Emirates  which encompasses nearly 2.5 million sq.ft. and has a ski and snowboard complex where you can ski year round.  Another small mall we passed has an ice bar that also operates year round.  IN the ice bar everything is made of ice including chairs, tables and glasses.  Remember this is in a place that has sweltering temperatures for much of the year.

We changed to a different line at the Wafi Mall and in front of the bus stop was a structure with a pyramid, obelisks and some pharaohs.  We’re back in Egypt!  Our last stop for the day was the Gold Souk in the old part of the city.  This is a covered street lined with shops selling some of the most fantastic gold jewelry, plus plenty of diamonds and other gemstones, that I’ve ever seen.  It made any place like St. Thomas pale by comparison.  We tried to figure out who buys all this stuff.  There were gold necklaces that looked like breastplates for a suit of armor.  We looked at a few things and found that the ones we were interested in were made in either India or Italy.  No thank you!  We might have bought something made in Dubai.

Egypt again?  This place is a little like Las Vegas - if you imagine it, you can build it.

The Gold Souk

 

Just a sampling of some of the more modest pieces

And a little more!

After a full day we took a taxi back to the hotel, had a couple of drinks at a bar on the rooftop and a nice dinner.  Tomorrow it’s time to pack up and head west to home.  We’re not looking forward to the long flight but we’re ready to be home.

October 25 - Some final Impressions of India

India is an absolutely fascinating country.  It is a study in contrasts between the ultra modern cities and very rich and the old villages and very poor.   There is a growing middle class unlike Egypt and that’s a good thing.  The colors of the women in their beautiful saris and the sounds and smells are a feast for the senses.  I think the people are the most gracious and friendly ones we’ve ever encountered.  I’m not sure what I expected, but the beauty and history of much of what we saw was more than I imagined.

I think we may have to go back sometime to see places we didn’t have a chance to visit this time.

October 25 - Sunrise at the Taj and then Goodbye India, Hello Dubai!

We got up at the ungodly hour of 5 AM to be in line for the Taj at sunrise.  When we got to the place the doors were still locked and there were already a few people in line.  On Fridays the Taj is closed, so all the visitors who had arrived yesterday were itching to see the main attraction.  By the time the gates opened about 20 minutes later a long line had formed.  The President of Gabon (I think he’s been following us around – everywhere we went yesterday he showed up) jumped the line with his entourage.  Rank has its privileges. 

We walked quickly through the main gate and there were very few people on the grounds.  I promise these will be the last pictures I post of the Taj.  Can you tell I’m in love with this building?  The thing is, it constantly looks different as the light changes and one notices the designs and inlays differently with the changing light.  In its own way it’s like the Grand Canyon which looks different from moment to moment.  Anyway, here are a few more photos of it as we sat and waited for the sun to rise.

Gupta captured this beautiful photo of the Taj with its reflection in the pool

Likewise this one of the main gate and it's reflection

You know who these two are

 

Sunrise, what we've all been waiting for

The sun adds a golden glow to the Taj.  Last photo I promise

Back at the hotel we said our farewells to Gupta who was a most excellent drive.  If you should read this Gupta, thank you for all the information you shared with us and for the time you spent with us.  It was wonderful.

After breakfast and checkout we met Jagga and were on our way back to Delhi.  Traffic was hectic again going through old Agra.  The expressway was less crowded and  as we passed through the farmland we saw many more people working in the fields.  Everything is done by hand.  We saw people beating sheaves of rice to remove the grains.  Diwali was over and people were back to work.

As we approached Delhi the haze grew thicker and traffic became like rush hour on I-95.  We stopped briefly at a shop that sells handmade things from Kashmir.  That’s a state in northwest India that India and Pakistan have been fighting over for a long time.  Not so very long ago they had a very devastating flood there as well.  To help the Kashmiri people the Indian government is subsidizing the sale of their handmade products.  We saw the most beautiful scarves I have ever seen, hand woven out of Kashmir wool and so fine that they weigh nothing and are like gossamer.  There were lovely rugs, including beautiful ones to be hung on walls.  The workmanship was exquisite.

We arrived at Delhi’s airport, checked in quickly and settled in the Emirates lounge.  Our flight was slightly delayed due to a “health check” – whatever that is.  We have never seen so many little children on a flight and they all seemed to be screaming or screeching.  Thankfully they settled down after we took off.  I thought it was interesting that several families were obviously traveling with nannies and maids in their entourages.

The flight was great and we arrived in Dubai well after dark.  On the ride from the airport to our hotel, we were astounded at the number and variety of architecture of the skyscrapers around us.  Dominating them all is the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world at the moment.  If you’ve seen Mission Impossible IV (I think that’s it), you’ll know the building I’m talking about.  In the darkness with the lights on it  looks like it’s made of metal.  We were pooped after we checked in.  After a snack we gave up for the day.

October 24 - More sights in Agra

This morning we got up and got ready to meet Gupta and head off to see more of Agra.  I must apologize if I get names mixed up or misspelled or some of my history wrong.  My brain is getting information overload and I don’t have time to confirm what I think I know online.

Anyway, our first stop this morning was Agra Fort.  This is a massive red sandstone fort that encompasses 2.5  sq. kilometers  along the bank of the Yamuna River. It dominates old Agra and is a very masculine looking structure as opposed to the ethereal and almost feminine beauty of the Taj.  It was built in the 16^th century and enlarged by several of the Mughal emperors in succession.  It’s surrounded by a double moat.  The outer had water and had crocodiles and poisonous snakes in it to repel attackers. The inner was dry and had tigers for the same reason.  It was attacked several times but was not taken until the British came in the 19^th century with their gunpowder and cannons.  Today 25 % of the fort is open to the public and the remainder is used by the Indian army.

The fort combines Mughal Indian and Persian/Islamic architecture.  Within the walls are several palaces.  The most beautiful was built by Shah Jehan, the builder of the Taj Mahal, and he used the same white marble that he used in the latter building.  Once again the walls are beautifully inlaid and painted and have lovely marble screens which look like lace or filigree.  One area was the reception area where the Emperor would receive petitioners who came from all over his empire hoping to get his favor for their petitions.  He was the ultimate authority and there was no recourse from his decisions.  This building reminded us a lot of the Alhambra in Granada with its beautiful arched colonnade with Moorish style arches and intricate piedra stone work.  The red sandstone buildings within the walls were also beautifully decorated.  In places the carving looked like wood.

Front view of the Reception Room Colonnade which is very reminiscent of Granada

Side view of the colonnade 

The Emperor's private rooms.  Imagine them draped in colorful silks and with plush carpets on the floors.

The Emperor's many concubines lived around this courtyard, sometimes as many as 400.  Try to imagine them standing on the balconies in their finest clothing trying to catch the Emperor's eye. IN the foreground was a fountain.

Shah Jehan's jail where  he could still see the Taj

One of the rooms we visited was where Shah Jehan spent his last years jailed by his son who had taken the crown.  One of the Shah’s daughters intervened with her brother on her father’s behalf and the rooms he was confined in gave him a view of the Taj Mahal so he could always see his beloved wife’s mausoleum.  Following his death he was buried next to her in the Taj and in fact, his tomb is the only thing in the whole complex which is not perfectly symmetrical.  His wife’s tomb is in the exact center of the building and his is next to her off-center.

Beautiful carving on the sandstone part of the fort

 

It's not wood but a lot sure looks like it!

From the fort we stopped at a place where the descendants of the artisans who did the wonderful inlay work on the Taj continue to do the same inlay using the same tools.  Semi-precious stones are cut using a hand powered emery wheel into various shapes to create flowers and animals.  Once the pieces are precisely cut they are placed into hand chiseled spaces on the same white marble used for the Taj.  From these materials beautiful tables, vases, boxes and other objets d’art are created and sold. The man who explained the workmanship to us told us this a dying art since the next generation doesn’t want to do the painstaking and physically difficult work.  It’s very sad.

Inlay work still being done as it was 400 years ago

Next stop was the “Baby Taj.”  Across the river from Agra Fort sits the mausoleum of  I'timād-ud-Daulah.  He was a Persian Amir who also happened to be the grandfather of MumTaz mahal.  On his death his daughter commissioned the tomb.  The building is much smaller that the Taj but combined many of the same ingredients and materials. It was constructed  between 1622 and 1628 and many people see it as a test run for the Taj.  Something we found interesting about it’s inlaid work is that in addition to using semi-precious gems in the designs petrified wood was also used giving some of the flowers an added interest. The interior has some lovely frescoes , some of them depicting ordinary household items. It’s another quiet and beautiful sight where you can forget the hustle and bustle of old Agra.

Baby Taj

Detail of inlaid flower made with petrified wood. You can see it granular

 

Ordinary items in frescoes in the Bay Taj

This fresco is on the ceiling. Doesn't it look like the central medallion of a carpet?

We two old folks in the tomb room of the Baby Taj

We were on a roll so off we went to a showroom displaying Sham’s embroidery http://shamsembroidery.com/main1.html.  This is a special kind of embroidery using silver and gold threads and silk to create three dimensional designs with no padding..  Shams was an artisan born in 1917 who perfected this work.  In a special gallery there are several pieces of his work which have been exhibited around the world in the Metropolitan Museum in New York, Victoria and Albert Museum in London and others.  They are truly spectacular!  Shams was a Muslim but he did one life size work of Jesus with a flock of lambs and sheep. The realism of his subjects was so incredible that one could imagine the lambs coming out of the picture .  No photos were allowed to preserve the pieces.

On the floor above the embroidery showroom is the Kohinoor Jewelry shop.  Once again this is a family who have been jewelers to the Moghuls for several generations – six I think.  The assortment of handcrafted pieces both old and antique is incredible.  Indians have very elaborate weddings and much jewelry is purchased to be part of the dowry.  Later on families may exchange pieces for something that suits them more.  Somehow they had acquired an exquisite suite of emerald jewelry which had belonged to an empress.  I got to try it all on.  I’ve never had more than 1200 carats hanging around my neck before!

 

A queen's suite of emerald jewelry.  Now all I need is several 100 million dollars and I can wear it to Costco!

Next stop a rug shop to see how Agra rugs are made.  We have several Indian rugs at home and it was interesting to see the method used.  We’d seen them made in Turkey, but Indians use a different technique.  They don’t really use knots but rather more of a figure eight around the warp threads.  The workmanship is beautiful.

Weaving as it has been done for generations

Our last stop for the day was the Mehta Bagh gardens directly across the river from the Taj. While the latter was under construction he would go there often to watch the beautiful monument being built.  Some stories say that it was his intention to build a duplicate tomb for himself on the opposite side of the Yamuna.  That one was to be of black marble and be connected with the white Taj via a silver bridge.  What a sight that would have been!

 

The Taj from the other side of the Yamuna River. It's beautiful from every angle!

So after a very full day we were driven back to our hotel where we sat on the lovely terrace for a while watching the fireworks all around for the second day of Diwali and watching the Indian dancers perform.  We made it a pretty early night because we had to get up at 5 AM next morning to be at the Taj for a sunrise viewing.

The Taj Mahal – Wow!

We met our guide Gupta and walked out to make our way to the Taj.  At the entrance to the hotel there were women in elaborate costumes and guards waiting to greet the President of Gabon who was expected at any moment.  I’ve never stayed in a hotel with a president of any country.  I guess that explains the guards with machine guns we saw patrolling earlier today.  At the gate to the hotel property were four horsemen with lances waiting to greet the entourage.  We rode in a hotel golf cart to the entrance to the Taj grounds. Car traffic is restricted but not water buffalo or cows.  We had to wait while several ambled across the street .  Gupta told us we were very lucky to be visiting today because there was absolutely no line to get through the security to enter. 

Part of the greeting party for the President of Gabon

 

Lancers at the hotel gate

These guys took their time crossing the street

A little about the building.  It was built by 20,000 workers over a period of 22 years from 1633 to 1655.  It was built by the Mughai Emperor Shah Jehan as a mausoleum for his beloved wife Mum Taj Mahal.  She was the love of his life and upon her deathbed she asked him to care for their children and build her a fitting tomb.  Boy, did he keep his promise to her!

While we have all seen pictures of the building I can tell you they don’t do it justice.  The building is situated along the banks of the Yamuna River.  It is 240 feet high, made of pure white marble (1.2 million tons of it brought to Agra from 360 km away).  It’s octagonal in shape  with four marble minarets and perfectly symmetrical so regardless of which of the four facades you face it looks the same.  On all sides of the building are inlaid inscriptions of verses from the Koran (the Shah and his wife were Muslim).  There are inlaid floral patterns as well. Those are made of pieces of semi-precious stones.  The marble itself is carved with arches and flowers and scrollwork.  The Taj is flanked by 2 red sandstone buildings, one a mosque and one a guesthouse the Shah would stay in so he could always see his wife’s tomb.  If those two buildings were anywhere else, they would be impressive on their own.  Here they are just a side note.  The inside is as beautifully decorated as the outside. 

First look from inside the entry gate

 

Us at the Taj Mahal!

The building was positioned so that when facing the front  from the entrance gate you are never looking at it with the sun in your eyes which would make it difficult to see the beauty.  The white marble appears to change color as the sun moves from dawn to dusk so a visit at sunrise and one at sunset are a must for visitors.  Today was our sunset visit.  I can’t describe adequately how incredibly beautiful the Taj is.  When you stand in the entry gate and get your first glimpse it takes your breath away. There’s also an odd optical illusion because at first glance it looks two dimensional.

 

As the sun is setting it takes on a golden glow

A look at the beautiful inlay work

After watching the sun go down and enjoying the sight we took our golf cart back to the hotel.  The hotel is decorated for Diwali and little candles were placed on the steps and terraces everywhere on the grounds. By the front entrance flower carpets had been created around the pools.  It was magical.  At the back terrace we were able to watch the nightly show of traditional dances from this part of India while we had a drink. After another lovely but too large Indian meal, we have called it a night.  Tomorrow will be a busy day seeing the other sights of Agra.

Hotel entrance with candles and flower carpet for Diwali

This dancer had a pot of fire on his head

Hard to see but I liked the dancer with the Taj in the background - click on it and you can see more

October 23 - Agra and the Taj Mahal

At breakfast this morning in the hotel I decided to try the Indian selections.  I’m not sure what I had except I know lentils were involved and it was all very tasty.  Our driver Jugga came promptly at 9AM to take us on to Agra.  Despite the fact that it’s the big holiday, traffic was still insane as we drove through Delhi on our way to the highway to Agra.  As we drove out of the city we passed through some growing suburbs with huge complexes of high rise buildings, many of them still under construction.  One section had enough buildings of 30 or more stories that it alone could probably house the population of Newport News.  Jugga told us that these are for people who work in Delhi and commute.  The commute could take them more than an hour.

After passing the last of these small (1.7 million population!) cities we began traveling through farmland.  There were lots of fields of rice and corn.  The fields were being worked with manual labor.  There were no houses among the fields but we did see every now and then a village which is evidently where the farmers live.  We passed through one region that had lots of tall smokestacks.  These were brick makers and around the stack there would be piles and piles of red bricks.  I guess the clay in that region is good for brickmaking.  Once again we saw that there is a haze everywhere and I think it’s a layer of pollution that just hangs over.  I wonder if it ever blows away.

The drive to Agra took about three and a half hours mainly on a toll highway. Along the way we passed lots of very full buses.  One had a fellow sitting on the roof of the bus hanging on as it motored along.  When is the last time you’ve seen that? We had a brief pause at a highway convenience stop, the equivalent of our rest stop but where people were washing their cars and getting tea.   A little past noon we arrived in Agra and made our way to our hotel.  The drive took us through narrow and winding streets with all kinds of shops and stands lining the way.  Everywhere their were vendors selling  strings of bright yellow and orange flowers and special sweets to celebrate Diwali.  Buses and trucks had strands of these flowers  draped to decorate them. On the streets there were all manner of vehicles from tuc-tucs, the little three wheeled open taxis, to buses and horse carts.  Occasionally a cow would wander across and everyone stopped. Bicycles and scooters wove in and out of traffic.  It was unlike any ride we’ve been on including our stops in Bangkok and Guangzhou many years ago. We got our first glimpse of the Taj Mahal as we drove along. 

Washing a car at the rest stop

The fellow we saw riding on the roof was on a bus just like this and clinging to the rail for dear life

Our hotel for the next two nights is the Oberoi Amarvilas. The building combines Indian and modern architecture. Every room has a direct view of the Taj  looking across the 50+ acres of the manicured grounds of the hotel. After lunch we’re off to see the place that has become the symbol of India.

View from our balcony

Some of the beautiful hotel grounds