A little bit of this and that...

Some 'situations' from the first five weeks in India....

At the Hard Rock Cafe, New Delhi.
Upcoming Guitar Hero, Anders at the stage.

Cybercity, Gurgaon.
Population of Gurgaon is aprox. 1.8 Mio

One of the 'dangers' of India is 'Electrificution'.
It actually means the danger of being killed by loose hanging power cables. Electrical installation in India are extremely poor and totally out of control. The last month we read about two cases with people being 'electrified' by opening their car door towards an iron fence - unfortunately sending 10.000 volts to the car. So we avoid going under loose hanging cables and touching any electrical installations.
The tree on the picture  has been hanging there for more than a week - taken from the newspaper 'Times of India'

Interesting reading from our hometown....
(The Galleria is a shopping mall near our apartment)

'Times of India' front page article about the government
doing nothing the last 30 years, to prepare for monsoon rain.
One day in July, 123mm rain came within few hours.
The 3rd highest in 10 years 

I think I'll find my old Supertramp album...   (Nice video)

Agra and Taj Mahal

Last weekend we went to see the Taj Mahal.

A 3-4 hour drive from Delhi to the city Agra.

Taj Mahal is a white marblemausoleum located in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India. It was built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his third wife, Mumtaz Mahal. The Taj Mahal is widely recognized as "the jewel of Muslim art in India and one of the universally admired masterpieces of the world's heritage".

Taj Mahal is regarded by many as the finest example of Mughal architecture, a style that combines elements from Persian, Ottoman Turkish and Indian architectural styles.

In 1983, the Taj Mahal became a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

We came to Taj Mahal early morning at 08.00.
Few people and only 32 degrees

Taj Mahal is symmetric.
Looks the same from all sides

Amazing shapes....

It's hard to see on this picture (but easy on the top picture). The four towers are build with a 2 degree slope away from Taj Mahal. This to protect the Taj Mahal against earthquakes.

Should an earthquake occur, the four towers would collapse away from the Taj Mahal, without any damage to the buidling. Smart thinking.

The construction of Taj Mahal began around 1632 and was completed around 1653.

Beautiful stone inlays - all done by hand work.
The black stones are from Belgium
(Noir Belge)
The red stones illuminates when
exposing light to them...

A skilled guide told us all
about Taj Mahal

Taj Mahal has many optical illusions. Look at the middle column....

Picture from Google explaining it...

Seen from the side... the surface is flat, but seems not to be from the distance.

Definetly worth seeing...

Ceramics and shopping

We stopped by a roadside ceramic shop.
The family lived there and were very kind and helpfull


















Local made handicraft is cheap in India.
About 300 rs for a Flower vase (aprox. 30 Dkr).

House of the family

India made food, ceramics, handicrafts, clothes and stuff are usually cheap to buy. 

Imported foods and stuff however is pretty expensive. So don't belive India is cheap country to visit or live in - it is not. Unless you turn into a vegetarian and only eat Indian food. 

650rs for a pack of Lurpak (65 Dkr)
Worth every rupiee...

Tuborg gains market share in India
150rs per bottle (15 DKr)

Great Danish cheese - 580rs (58 DKr)

Still searching for our favourite:  Castello....