YEA!
Betty: a safe & quick (as possible) home!

Doug

So the magic continues. A new rose petal design outside our front door.

Last night we were on the balcony just soaking in the cool breezes and the view while we waited to go and see the BIG suites. They were another WOW. We started talking to a very well dressed Indian man, we assumed he was a guest. He has two daughters in the States, one in Chicago and one in Kentucky. He was actually the Historian who helped the Taj Hotel chain recreate the palace to the original glory as closely as possible to how it used to be. Been here since the purchase for the last 12 years and still working on what else has to be done. The Princess of the family makes the decisions he carries them out. He took us on a behind the scenes tour to rooms not completed yet and all the incredible things yet to be used locked away behind closed doors.

The historian suggested that we wear the same type of original clothing from the Nizam era and have our pictures taken within the palace. We decided to do it. This is offered on request and we are not sure if there is a charge or not but we will do it anyway.

It took the beautiful young girl about 40 minutes to dress me. This is intricate attire and I think all the heavy beading made it even more difficult. I have soft hair, clips and pins always just fall out so keeping the items they wanted in my hair and the scarf over my head was very difficult. In the end I gave up trying, she said to me "lady you have nice hair but it is a problem" Seems like every time I turn around in India "lady you have a problem"

It got pretty hot taking the pictures, my dress weighed a ton all the beading made it very heavy. The bedrooms are all extremely well air conditioned but the palace is not. They remained relatively cool compared to outside but not air conditioned.

Ken is going to post some shortly, we have about an hour before we leave for the airport. Internet is good so hopefully they will be up with this post before we leave.

So sad to leave here what a place. The breakfast again was such a production. I seldom eat bread and never sweet rolls but today I ate three sweet rolls. They were so outstanding, light and not overly sweet. I ordered a bran muffin with fruit and just could NOT eat it. Guess what turned up in my room, my bran muffin and fruit. The other thing I like is they ask you do not tip anyone individually. If you wish to leave a gratuity you do so at the concierge desk and it is shared equally. The service is above and beyond. We have been handing out our pins and they have become a big hit. That elephant with the wording Taj Mahal has everyone excited.

Ngaire

Wow! Now these outfits are keepers...you've inally found your style! Our "first couple" as our guide, Anil, called them....

Jaipur....

It was now time for us to leave the comforts of our ship and say goodbye to some of our friends who had chosen to either return home or to conduct their own private post tours.

It had been an eventful several weeks and we couldn't believe it was nearing its end.  We had been in Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka and 4 Indian cities traveling south to north. We weren't done yet....the Taj Majal was to be the crowning jewel of our trip. This part of the trip we were doing on land with 500 other passengers. Yes, it was another big bus tour! Regent hadn't done such a spectacular job of our daily bus trips, so Doug and I entered into this post trip with a "you get what you pay for mentality." This was an included excursion, part of the new all-inclusive Regent. We were to visit Jaipur, Agra and Delhi.

We disembarked to leave directly for the Mumbai airport to our first city - Jaipur, capital of the Thur Desert region. We had to be out of our rooms by 7:30am and had an interesting Mumbai drive by bus tour, with some parts a bit redundant for us from the prior day's excursion.

The day didn't seem to start out terribly well. As with any air transportation these days, we waited for what seemed like ages for our seat assignments. Indian security is as rigorous - maybe more so - as ours, with slight differences. You can keep your shoes on, but all metal objects, including watches and some jewelry, must be removed. Women have separate security lines from men. It is pretty nerve wracking to take off your Rolex and see it waiting on a conveyor belt while you are apart from it being searched. They searched through my luggage several times, pulling out metal clips, brushes, flat irons, and put them on separate conveyor belts. Because of this confusion, I didn't realize my iPad was left in a bin in a separate conveyor. Thankfully, we were talking about iPads while waiting for the plane,and I looked for mine, realized I didn't have it, and rushed out to look for it. The security folks quickly assured me they had it and before letting me have it made me prove it was mine. I pulled up a picture of myself on the iPad. The guard nodded, gave me my iPad and said: "you look much younger in your picture." I was devastated. It ruined my day even though I had my iPad back.

The city of Jaipur (with a current population of about 2.5 million) was founded in 1727 and in 1956, it became the capital city of desert state Rajasthan, located in the north-western part of India, bordering the Thar Desert and Pakistan.

The flight to Jaipur was only an hour away from Mumbai but they served us a nice meal and soon we were on our way to the hotel. I wasn't impressed at first with Jaipur, especially as we pulled into our non descriptive Marriott. The interior was nice, though...what you'd expect from a large convention like hotel. The room was typical modern Marriott ... The view was not. Jaipur is acclaimed by the tourists as one of the most picturesque cities in the world. It belongs to the world famous golden triangle circuit comprising of Delhi (historical city of monuments) – Agra (the Taj Majal) and Jaipur (distinct city planning and architecture).

As I flung open the blinds to take in Jaipur, I looked down upon rubble, litter and a shanty town of about 30 tents. It certainly made for interesting viewing. The shanty town isn't surprising considering the poverty level in Jaipur is estimated at 36 per cent.

Jaipur is often claimed as one of the first planned cities in the world. The city was founded on strong scientific principles and laid out according to an ancient architectural manual.  It has salmon colored walls encircling the old city on three sides with seven gates opening it up to the outside world.  In 1876, the city was painted pink, traditionally a color associated with hospitality, to welcome the Prince of Wales to the city. The tradition has been maintained and today all residents in the old city are compelled by law to preserve the pink color.

That afternoon, after lunch, we visited a couple of the key attractions within the Pink City. We first visited the City Palace which is a vast palace complex occupying nearly one-seventh of the Pink City. It was originally built by Maharaja Jai Singh II. The complex is divided into a series of courtyards, sprawling gardens and buildings. It is home to several palatial structures, e.g., the home to present Maharajah of Jaipur), a textile museum,  another museum housing the two largest silver vessels in the world.

Another section of the palace was the women's chamber. Built in 1799, its purpose was to allow royal ladies to observe everyday life in the street below without being seen. It is a five storey high red sandstone structure complete with over 950 windows. While the concubines seemed to lead a storybook life behind gilded palace walls, this building is a reminder that it was a man's world and they were only allowed to view it from afar. Life wasn't as rosy as the walls.

One of the more fascinating attractions is the UNESCO world heritage site containing the largest of five astronomical observatories build by Maharaja Jai Singh during the period 1727-1734 in north India. The observatory consists of fourteen major geometric devices for measuring time, predicting eclipses, tracking stars in their orbits, ascertaining the declinations of planets and determining the celestial altitudes.

We only had a half day in Jaipur, barely touching on all it has to offer. As we were whizzed by various forts, shops and bazaars, and even temples, we wanted to scream "stop" but knew we'd have to wait for a visit on our own.

On leaving the palace, we saw one gang of the famous Rebel Monkeys guarding the palace walls. These Rhesus Macaques, especially one gang who live in a nearby place called "monkey temple" live in luxury because worshipers believe they personify the cherished 'Monkey God' who banished evil.

As we waited for the bus, we were again bothered by hawkers. Children again were at the forefront. The 10 million street children of India is 10% of the world's total and despite efforts by the government, the number does not diminish or their plight grow better. In order to survive, a poor child in India will probably be forced to sacrifice education and training; without skills the child will, as an adult, remain at the bottom of the economic heap.  Most Indian street children work and many are girls. In Jaipur, common jobs, in which children as young as 6 years old work, are street vending, begging, prostitution and trash picking.

In Indian Society females face severe discrimination. The problem is worse in conservative Rajasthan than almost anywhere else in India.  For example, because girls carry the liability of dowry and leave the family home after marriage, parents often prefer to have male offspring. Many babies are aborted, abandoned or deliberately neglected and underfed simply because they are girls. The Indian National Government has banned the practice of "dowry", but it is still widely practiced that a wife will bring a dowry into a marriage. For children of impoverished families or homeless girls, the lack of family support makes dowry impossible. This further constrains their choices.

Gender discrimination is particularly evident in education where boys are more likely to attend school and to do so for more years. The traditional place of the woman is in the home and so many parents and children consider education for girls to be a waste of time, especially when the child can instead be working or performing domestic chores. Only 38% of Indian women are literate and, at 64%, the gender parity between literacy rates amongst Indian women and men is one of the most unequal in the world.

We ended our time in Jaipur after dinner with visits to some recommended stores for retail therapy, but the prices were so high most of us left Jaipur with only the treasures of our memories.

Wow, Ngaire, those outfits are wonderful and that hotel looks just amazing. I especially love the photos of you and Ken in the dining room and library. An Indian fairy tale!

For comparison - legend has it that the founder of the Taj hotels built his first hotel, the one in Mumbai, because he was denied entry to a posh hotel (at the time). During our Mumbai tour our guide pointed out the building:

Love the outfits, too!! Meanwhile, back on the ship we've enjoyed two days in Dubai and today in Doha,Qatar. Our expectations for tea at the Burj in Dubai were a little too high, so we were kind of disappointed. We were expecting the same type of tea and service that we had the last time we went there on our own (not as part of an organized tour). But, apparently, they don't do it as well when you're with a tour group. We were in a ballroom with no windows and were served a few little sandwiches (3-4 varieties) and about 3 kinds of sweets plus scones and jam. No champagne, no beef wellington, no huge variety of sandwiches and cake. Actually, tea on the ship is more elaborate that this was. So, Tom and Mona, if you really want the true high tea at the Burj, you might want to think about booking it yourselves and taking a taxi there rather than doing it through the ship. The tea was good--just not what we expected. And , of course, the Burj itself is spectacular. On the other hand, we were really impressed with Doha today. It's a clean city with tons of building going on -- I think they're trying to compete with Dubai. Tomorrow is Abu Dhabi which will probably impress us too.

Wow Ngaire, what a way to end a cruise! Now I have another item to add to my bucket list.

So glad you all had such a wonderful time. Loved the group picture in front of the Taj!

Ngaire and Ken, what beautiful pictures!

Spectacular! Did you ask for a table for two?

I caught up on Ngaire's postings and Ken's pictures....WOW, what a fabulous experience!! Just can't imagine this. Some pictures from the Palace reminded me of La Residence in SoAfrica. You two looked so Royal.

Andi,as you always do, you did an amazing job telling us of your Mumbai experience as well. I could read the TAJ seamail all day. Alas, this will all be coming to an end but we've sure enjoyed reading every word from everyone.

What wonderful pictures and what a handsome couple!!

That hotel is just stunning and the Ambassadors are good looking too!

I especially like Ken's shoes!

Andi, thanks for the information. Most of us are aware on some level of the plight of little girls in impoverished countries but it often takes some first-hand info to really "get it".
-------------------------
Helen

great pictures Ken and Ngaire. You both look quite at home in that palace.

Yeah - I'm finally home.
And for future reference - if you need to fly from India, try not to connect through Frankfurt. All passengers on those flights treated like potential terrorists at FRA. Everyone gets a body search and all luggage, purses, etc thoroughly search even after the x-ray machine. It took major begging to keep my makeup. Guess I understand why but it caught me totally off guard. Sure waited to be in the lounge instead of the different "holding rooms."
Thanks to everyone that made this one of the best trips ever!

Betty:

Glad you made it home.
The places may be wonderful, but the travel to get there (& back) sure isn't.

Happy you made it home so quickly!

Doug

Yay Betty! Welcome back to Houston.

Ngaire and Ken look great. I'm rather fond of Ken's shoes too. Did he bring home a pair?

Lauri, I didnt see any shoes, but he did buy quite a turban!

On the way to Agra

Ok, I lied. While in Jaipur, the Marriott had this little jewelry store with some nice things. A number of us stuck our heads in, checked out prices, but didn't buy. After visiting the recommended shop, where prices were outrageous, we stoppedby and renegotiated and asked the shopkeeper if he'd open up before we left at 7:30. He agreed.

I slept on whether I wanted two necklaces and Doug obliged coming to help me negotiate. We entered to Gayle and Eugene, Lenore and Phil and Susan and Dennis all trying on goods and negotiating away. Evidently, Pam and Jim had beaten us all to the punch and Pam "taunted" (not really, Pam is a sweetie) the others into action with her great deal. I quickly lunged at my two necklaces, grateful that one of the other super negotiators hadn't already secured them. Doug whipped into action; god, I was happy for his years in banking negotiation, and I walked out with a yellow sapphire necklace and another multi stone necklace, Susan and Gayle walked out with rubies and Lenore with peridot. We were all sparkling as we left Jaipur for Agra.

We had a 4 hour drive. Driving in India isn't for the faint of heart. Indian drivers drive at speeds of "fast, faster, and oh my god." Then, they manage to avoid colliding with herds of camels walking in the middle of highways, cows wandering aimlessly across highways, auto rickshaws, motorcycles, pigs, and other crazy drivers. They do this by constantly leaning on their horns and blaring away. They also abide by the Highway Code of India:

Article I: The assumption of immorality is required of all road users.

Article II: Indian traffic like Indian society is structured on a strict waste system. The following precedence must be accorded at all times. In descending order, give way to cows, elephants, camels, buffaloes, pigs, goats, dogs, heavy trucks, buses, official cars, pedal rickshaws, private cars, motorcycles, scooters, auto rickshaws, handcarts and pedestrians.

Article III:  All wheeled vehicles shall be driven in accordance with the maxim: to slow be to falter, to brake is to fail, to stop is defeat. This is the Indian drivers' mantra.

Article IV: Use of horn (also known as the language of the road): Cars: short blasts(urgent) indicate supremacy, ie., clearing dogs, rickshaws and pedestrians from path.  Long blasts (desperate)  denote supplication, I.e., to oncoming trucks "I am going too fast to  stop, so unless you slow down, we shall both die." note in extreme cases this may be accompanied by flashing of headlights (frantic); single blast(casual) means "I have just seen someone out of India's gadzillion whom I recognize" or " there is a bird in the road  which at this speed could go through my windscreen" or "I have not blown my horn for several minutes."

Article V: all maneuvers, use of horn and evasive action shall be left until the last possible moment.
Article Vi: in the absence of seat belts car occupants shall wear garlands of marigolds. These shall be kept fastened at all times.

Article VII:  Right of way. Traffic entering a road from the left has priority. So has traffic from the right and also traffic in the middle.

Article VIII: Traffic management-it's a jungle out there.  Apparent traffic islands in the middle of crossroads have no traffic management function and should be ignored.

Article XI:  overtaking is mandatory. Every moving vehicle is required to overtake every other moving vehicle, irrespective of whether or not it has just overtaken you.

Article X: Nirvana may be achieved by head on crash.

Much to our collective shock and surprise, we all lsurvived our journey to reach Agra. We only witnessed one angry beating of a car and its inhabitants by throngs of angry folks in the middle of a highway. I wonder what they did? Steal a camel?

The ITC hotel was somewhat the opposite of the Marriott. It had beautiful grounds and common areas, but the rooms were a bit tired. We gobbled down lunch, becoming all too familiar with Indian buffets, and headed out for our options of seeing an art and jewelry display and how they make inlaid marble.

We drove to Kohinoor Jewelers in Agra expecting another overly priced shopping experience like the previous day. It was described as a place where we would see skilled embroidery and jewels.  Doug's eyes were glazing over before we got there. However,  this was less a jewelry showroom and more of a museum.  We pictured some kind of small place where women would be embroidering things. What we got was a large building that was essentially a huge vault. We passed through some heavy-duty security precautions and we entered the temperature and humidity-controlled building and we were introduced to the charming owner,Mr. Mather .

We gazed around the lobby of the building, where extremely elaborate artworks of embroidery were showcased on the walls. This embroidery was three- dimensional, and some of the relief stuck out a good 3 or 5 inches. Mr. Mathur explained that this was not achieved through padding – it was layer upon layer of thread: cotton on the bottom, split silk on the top. This technique was pioneered by Padma Shri Shams, whose works we would see momentarily.

Once everyone was ready, Mr. Mathur took a handheld computer console and opened a vault door to his museum. He explained a bit about the late Shams, and how this room was a private museum and none of the works were for sale at any price. The room looked empty, but Mr. Mathur pressed a button on his control panel and a curtain lifted on one of the walls, revealing a beautifully lit piece of embroidery. It was huge and looked like a Persian rug. It was inset with precious and semi-precious stones (30,000 carats if I heard him correctly). Everyone marveled at the workmanship, and photos were allowed without a flash.

One piece at a time, the embroidery was illuminated to superb dramatic effect.. There was an unbelievable iconic image of Jesus with a flock of sheep (though Shams wasn't Christian). The sheep were incredibly puffy; the depth had to be at least five inches.

The ultimate piece was a life-like embroidery of a bejeweled vase of flowers which Shams embroidered for his wife’s 40th birthday. Gems adorned the embroidered vase. Mr. Mathur’s family (a long line of jewelers) had provided the gems for Shams’ works, and it was obvious that Mr. Mather was quite proud of being associated with Shams' body of work. When you see the detail and sheer size of the embroidery pieces, it is not entirely surprising to learn that Shams became blind in the final decade of his life. The amount of strain put on his eyes by such precise work on such a grand scale must have been enormous. As we filed out of the museum, we were all speechless, but Mr. Mathur was just getting started.

Mr. Mathur handed us each a brochure. He then locked up the climate controlled museum and we headed upstairs via escalator to the jewelry showroom. Mr. Mathur showed us an issue of National Geographic from April 1985 in which he was interviewed about a certain tumbled emerald Mughal necklace, and then produced the necklace itself. It was unbelievable. The emeralds were not cut; they were tumbled smooth, and they seemed to change in the light, to dance almost like an opal.

Next he pulled out a huge emerald ring surrounded by rows and rows of diamonds. He let Susan try this on, and along with it a dainty gold and emerald bracelet, and, the coup de grace, an enormous emerald pendant surrounded by diamonds. He asked me if I would like to try it on as well, to which I happily agreed. We posed for pictures wearing these priceless gems. Were they afraid to let us try them on? No, all the doors were sealed "for our protection."

I truly wanted to buy something from the showroom, but I had already splurged earlier in the day and walked out empty handed. One day, though, I will return!

Our last stop was a short one for us. We were exhausted. We watched the interesting marble inlay process, used on the Taj Mahal, but left without wandering through the showroom of lovely items.

We had to eat a quick dinner and rest up. The next day was a 5:30am departure for the Taj Mahal.

Andi, you are a fabulous storyteller, so engaging. Thanks

ANDI THANKS FOR POSTING THE ARTICLES OF DRIVING IN INDIA I WAS GOING TO DO IT AS I THINK THESE ARE ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS..

As usual Andi writes incredible descriptions of her experiences I missed something special in that Agra jewelry experience I thought I had done that before.

My final post on the fabulous hotel in Hyderabad.

As we walked down the stairs to leave we showered with rose petals again (they did this on arrival too I forgot to mention that). Then the carriage arrived to take us down to the main gate. This time we stopped and pulled out our camera to take a picture.

The key staff that we had come to know so well were all there to say goodbye. I almost cried as I left the concierge and the girl that had dressed me and photographed us all over the palace. You know I am not the "emotional" type but the warmth of the people really touched me. There was no way to mention any one staff member by name, each and every person we came in contact to so was lovely, warm and gracious.

I will never return to India without coming to this incredible place again.

Shopping - India or the "shopping girls" have changed my habits. I love what I bought in Mangalore so much that today I decided to take a last stab at buying more Indian clothing.

I checked around the Taj Hotel in Mumbai and found a shop with stunningly beautiful clothes. It was one designer label ARDASH GILL. I looked this label up on the internet when I got back to the hotel and she is a pretty famous designer that has also sold in high end retail stores in New York and and Italy. These were really well made of high quality materials. I bought one top on sale and it was still not really that expensive about the same as a nice jacket at Chicos. It had to be let out for me and it was completed in two hours and done perfectly. So now I own a REAL designer garment not a common thing for me to have. I now wish I had bought another after reading all about this label. If Andi, Susan, Meredith and Polly had been there they would have been in Heaven.

Then we went to a local mall and I was going nuts. So many beautiful things so inexpensive I could not decide. I did not have a lot of time but ended up buying three more tops. Interesting was the fact that Ken picked out every single top I purchased today including the Adarsh Gill top. He may be in trouble I will be dragging him along with me in the future. This makes a total of SEVEN new items of clothing in this one trip. Yikes - where is Ngaire the non shopper, who is this new person!

New clothes for the Alaskan trip in May!! Cant wait to wear them most are not really "Indian" looking just great tops to wear with my black pants - with some color for a change.

We fly home tomorrow morning at 2.30 am it will be nice to get home and catch up on everything. Clay is eagerly awaiting my return I am sure.

Wow I guess it took India to turn Ngaire into a shopper! Didn't know you had the shopper's gene in you Ngaire!

Obviously, it was a recessive gene. Lol

Meredith took her out for practice training and she picked up the skill set very quickly. She bought more clothes than any of us.

....and they lived happily ever after!

What a beautiful magical experience, Ngaire & Ken!
(You Really Do look terrific in your ensembles!)

We're taking a nice sea day in Salalah, Oman, today to catch up on email. Although the internet has been much better on this segment, we were having lots of satellite outages yesterday, so nobody could get on at all. We did have some excitement yesterday morning--an actual pirate yellow alert. We could see four small boats coming towards us at full speed so the Captain issued a yellow papa warning. I guess the people in the boats saw the ships defenses and turned away -- or as the Captain said, they were just playing games. Our trusty Israeli security discouraged any evil intent they may have had. After today we have four sea days in a row in the Red Sea--I've got the new Tom Clancy novel waiting to be read.

Sounds exciting Peggy, or better scary. Hope there aren't anymore and things stay nice and unevenful.

Ditto what JoAnn said, Peggy! You do not need that kind of excitement. I wish you smooth and peaceful sailing.

I'm glad we all checked out the piracy defense machinery on the rear of the ship to make sure if it worked! Wonder if it was used? Glad you're okay. Keep having fun for us.

Pirates would have to be idiots to attack a large cruise ship. Too many people on board, and a large number of former military who still can put up a good fight if needed. Not to mention the defense systems in place.

Spent a few days in Dubai as part of my post Taj trip & had high tea at the Burj al Arab. Definitely an amazing experience!

Looks great Andrea...the Burj is an amazing hotel for sure. You sure have been on a looooong trip of a lifetime!

This may be the end of this sea mail thread -- we get off the ship tomorrow in Rome. So sad, this has been an incredible cruise--great itinerary, exceptional crew, wonderful food and great friends --who could ask for more. We'll only be home for two days and then we head out to Newport News, VA to visit our youngest son and family. I've already warned them I'll be jet lagged .

Safe travels!

Peggy, so glad you and Jerry had a great cruise! I always envy your long cruises!

FINALLY finished working on my blog that I have neglected for a couple of years - the TAJ posts can be found here:

http://expect-to-fly.blogspot.com/search/label/TAJ%20cruise

its pretty long, so you have to click on "older posts" when you get to the bottom of the page. Eventually I will try to figure out how to make it just flow.

It features quite a bit of prose from Andi and I used a lot of info from Eugene's posts since they were the primary commentators on the cruise, while I made all those photo collages.

Enjoy!

Leslie, this is amazing. I loved reading every word and the photos are wonderful. Andi and Eugene - you both are so talented. This was a real treat - thank you for sharing!

Can't forget Ken who we all know is a genius with a camera!

Leslie is really talented with text and photographs I am so glad she posted that link so all the Taj people can relive the adventure!!

Leslie,
This is a wonderful link and brings back so many fun memories. Thank you for all of the hard work in creating this blog.

Love this, Leslie. Memories!