[Music]
It's Agra and we have a cow here.
Up early this morning,
and we're looking for a ride to go and see the Taj.
Oh with any luck, this should be it.
[Simon] "Good morning, I want to go to the Taj."
[Rickshaw driver] "Climb in." [Simon] "How much?"
[Rickshaw driver] [inaudible] [Simon] "Thank you."
A short but cool tuk-tuk ride, surprisingly
cool this morning.
Might have needed to put something warmer on.
I'm heading down to see the Taj Mahal.
Oh and look at that queue,
look at that.
Tickets i think are over there,
people are everywhere.
Oh I got here before opening
but not before the queue started.
Well,
it is one of the most popular sights in all of India
so not surprising.
Let's cut through the queue to get our ticket.
And people, tickets here we go
There's a counter for foreign tourists and a
counter for Indian tourists,
here we go, in we go.
No queues now
everybody has got their ticket and is queuing over there already.
[Simon] "Good morning, ticket for one. Do i have to pay extra for the camera?"
[Local] "No, it's free." [Simon] "It's free, thank you."
[Local] "One for you." [Simon] "Thank you."
Ah for the shoes, thank you.
Check the ticket, lovely thank you very much.
[Local] "And actually you pay 1500 entry and 500 tax."
[Local]"There's a very big line to entrance." [Simon] "I'll go and wait."
[Local] "It's 1 kilometres longer, it can take 3 to 4 hours.
I'm working the governments side [inaudible]"
[Simon] "it's OK I'm OK without the guide."
I'll just sit and patiently wait thank you very much.
[Loacal "See the govenrments side, see this is my licence."
[Simon] "It's ok."
[Local] "With me no need to wait in line."
[Simon] "Well if i have to wait i'll wait."
If they're nice to you they'll ask to help you skip the queue
I hear it's a 1km long, three hour wait
but i believe if you go over this way
there's a way in for foreigners, i think.
I'm about to find out because everyone in this queue is Indian.
[Music]
Okay so i just to prepare yourselves a little bit
there is quite long queues to get in
although there is separate queues for men and women
and for foreigners who buy a priority ticket,
a 1ooo rupee ticket
as opposed to locals
so make sure you get in the right queue.
Also when you get in they do search and they are quite strict on security,
tripods, metal items that they don't understand
anything or don't know what they are,
are not allowed in.
So the security is tight,
excuse me a minute.
Obviously he's gotta blow his horn to get through,
uhm, oh he's security so will not pick on him.
So yes when you go through security they search,
if you've got a bag on you they search your bags
and if they find metal bits and odd random things so
I of course had my steady cam, I didn't bring a tripod
I thought maybe I could hold it, no you're not allowed it in,
and a map of Delhi which was not allowed in.
I have no idea why,
so you then have to walk about 800 metres from
the entrance, when you've already queued and got in
to a locker room which charges 20 pesos to hold it for you for the day
so I've just walked down there
given them my 20 pesos,
my steady cam and my map of Delhi for them to look after while I eventually now get in and see the Taj Mahal.
Now i'm not sure what happens now
because I obviously queued, got in,
went through got all the stamps and everything
then I had to go out to put my things in the locker.
Now, you know, does it mean i can skip the queue and just go straight to the front?
Or straight through the entrance? I don't want to check security again, I don't know, but we're about to find out.
Because i really don't want to wait in this queue again,
I should have been more prepared.
Anyway when you come along,
you'll be more prepared now.
[Music]
Ok, gonna put the camera away now while I attempt
to skip through security again,
well not skip through, skip the queue
and get through here again.
And I'm in!
I am officially inside the Taj Mahal, well
inside the grounds of the Taj Mahal.
Past the queues, past the ticket, past the security,
past putting things in the locker room then
back to security and check again
and I've just got my first glimpse
of the roof of the Taj Mahal.
There it is there, so let's go and get a closer look.
And this is the main entry you come in through east, west or south gate, and then you arrive here,
I know it's a bit distant but if you look through arch
where everybody is streaming is the
Taj Mahal peeking.
Wow it's huge.
[Music]
The Taj Mahal,
one of the most iconic spots in all of India suddenly
when you think India this is one of the things that springs into mind, that and sari's and good food.
But here I am at the Taj Mahal in Agra,
built by the Emperor for his favourite wife as a mausoleum to house her body after she died.
Now that's a sign of affection.
Now coming to the Taj there's a few tips for you
to bear in mind, first of all even if you come early
there's long queues.
Now if you're a foreigner and you buy a foreigner ticket
what they call a privilege ticket,
you can shortcut alot of these queues.
Secondly you go through quite a bit of security
obviously to keep the place safe,
a lot of things like tripods, anything metal,
certain written materials are not allowed in. If
you do bring them with you once you get through the
ticket process into the queue and then security they
check your bag and they find these, you have to go and put them in a locker room
which is about a 4 to 5 minute walk outside again.
You deposit your things, pay 20 rupees they look after them for you then you have to walk back in, you
don't have to queue the second time, you show your locker ticket that you've been stamped
then you go in again.
But to bear in mind that things like tripods, metal things, certain written material is not allowed inside
so bring minimum possible. Food is also not allowed in either,
if you get a privilege ticket they do give you a free half litre bottle of water as well,
so that's quite nice.
Secondly as you come in, even if you come in early it's gonna be busy I mean except in the wet season
the monsoon seasons good time of the year, November, December, January, February or October it is busy.
So expect that, the earlier you get the less busy it is
but there's still gonna be lots of people.
but there's still plenty of room to enjoy, it is a fantastic sight.
As you go into the first entry you come to a big arch, you see the Taj Mahal
and then there's some steps down before the water starts like in this picture.
Up to that point and where I am now and right to the edge of it you're allowed to video and photograph
but you're not allowed to video from this point onwards.
So you can only video from back here
and you can photograph into the ground up to the mausoleum and inside the mausoleum you're
not allowed to photograph or video anything at all.
Also going in to the mausoleum at the end there you either take your shoes off and leave your shoes outside
or they do provide shoe covers over your shoes and you shuffle round.
An they look fetchingly like this.
So that's a quick tour, that's a quick explanation of the Taj Mahal, if I think of a better way of putting it or if
I've missed anything out I'll do another video
but in the meantime here's some shots I took,
mixture of video and photos because I could only take videos up to a certain distance
from there in the gardens I had to take photos only
but here they are,
so enjoy them as I
sit back and enjoy this fantastic bit of Indian architecture.
[Music]
The Taj Mahal, yes.