The travelers' first update

The Taj! It was so beautiful in the morning light. We were both awestruck.
This is inside the Taj - so many of the windows had marble carvings that created beautiful light designs on the walls.
This is outside the Taj - such a striking contrast of the white marble against the blue sky.
This is at Agra Fort - a temple room inside the huge military fort. All of the walls are made of carved white marble and inlaid precious stones.
This is "Baby Taj" - a smaller tomb in the city of Agra that is built in the same style as the Taj.
A spot where we had breakfast and dinner with the Taj in the distance.
This is Z attempting to drink coconut water out of a coconut. Usually tourists drink with straws. It looks a bit more like a passionate embrace rather than drinking, don't you think?
Our hike outside of Bangalore with our friends, Gautham and Paro. Beautiful hot day!
It was quite steep at the top!
Our celebratory descent!


Well, we've made it to Bangalore (Bengaluru)! Our first "act of India", as Z likes to put it, was up north in Delhi and Agra. What an incredible weekend there! We managed to navigate ourselves from Delhi to Agra, stayed in a quaint spot quite close to the Taj Mahal, evenings were spent dining on rooftops with a great view of the amazing building we were there to see. We made good friends with our hilarious driver, Ram (who we hired in Delhi...a story all in itself). We worked out a system to not get too annoyed by all of the hawkers (SO MANY here!). And we enjoyed 1 full day of sight-seeing, including the Taj Mahal at sunrise, Agra Fort, Baby Taj, Akbar's tomb, Fatephur Sikri. Check out the pics!

Then we got onto a plane and flew down to Bangalore, where we were warmly greeted by our new friends and hosts, Gautham and Paro (Gautham is one of my co-worker's cousins). They are both musicians, Gautham is a recording engineer and Paro sings and does voice-over work. And they are a great duo! They live in a comfortable bungalow in southern Bangalore and have been incredibly generous with their time and attention. Yesterday we hiked with them up to the top of a 4000ft stone mountain outside of the city - it was beautiful! And quite hot! We enjoyed it tremendously. After a 4-hour hike in the hot afternoon sun, drinking coconut water straight from the fruit was a much needed refreshment.

We have one more day here to explore Bangalore with our new friends and tomorrow we depart for "act 3" - our trek up in the Himalayas. We're not sure that we'll have internet there, so our next post might be once we return to the states. Enjoy the pics!

Z&L