the taj

one wonder of the world down, six many more to go.

the taj mahal is a glorified, exquisite tomb. it's breathtaking.
we waded through the cramped, chaotic streets of agra, and then all of a sudden the taj was around the corner.


it was seriously hot that day.
our guide, ramesh, rattled off statistics about visitors and weather and dates and names,
but all i know is that if we'd visited the taj a few months later, it would have been 120+ degrees.
no thanks.



upon hearing her name, many strangers informed us that in hindi, sage means the bed covered with rose petals on the night of your honeymoon.
i felt like i needed to say wait, no. she wasn't conceived there, i promise! after getting some strange, amused looks from these people.


we opted for a few cheesy photos, but nothing near nate's last escapade to the taj.
however, we were pretty appalled at the lengths people would go to take pictures of sage. as we passed groups of indians, they'd pinch, pat, and squeeze whatever body part was closest. even when we walked away, one woman followed us with her phone video camera.


poor sage. leggings + socks in the sun got too hot fast, but i was determined to avoid germs.








we had lunch at a gorgeous hotel, then headed back the way we came.
it was a long day, but well worth it.

india was a great adventure, and i'm glad we did the taj.
i don't think i've ever been so excited to get back to our little singapore home though.

delhi, india: the road to agra

{entertaining sage at the airport}

india, oh india.

nate travels to india quite often for business. when we moved to asia, i thought i'd never take a baby there, but after asking friends and researching a little, we decided why not? our destination got progressively crazier as the water got progressively dirtier...singapore, bangkok, india. despite my best efforts, sage and i barely left our hotel room the first five days thanks to coughs, colds, and a case of "delhi belly" for me. yuck. delhi is home to 14 million people and is consistently on the list of top 20 worst-polluted places in the world.

but

delhi is a mix of old and new, rich and poor, and is so colorful. i guess i was blown away by india in general. it is a different world.

{our view while quarantined in the hotel room}

since we didn't make it to the actual city of new delhi thanks to being sick, these photos are mostly from our day trek across india to the city of agra, home of the taj mahal. the drive to agra was about four hours each way, and it was the most eye-opening road trip for me. i feel like i saw a raw slice of spicy indian life. i never want to forget the dozens of skinny cows wandering the "highways," woman dressed in vibrant saris balancing water/sticks/anything on their heads, families of 5+ people piled onto a motorcycle, dirt and garbage everywhere, monkeys sitting atop the buildings, sheds built from cow pies, villages made from sheet metal and boxes, beautiful children (sometimes sans pants), the dusty dirty air, the delicious displays of fruit at the street-side markets, and the kind people who constantly stuck their arms out wanting to hold the white novelty -- sage.

many of these pictures were taken from my car window since we didn't get out much during the drive, and the air quality + mosquitoes were not so great. okay, and i was maybe paranoid about sage getting malaria/dengue fever/tuberculosis/every illness on wikipedia.

when we stopped to change sage's diaper, our driver motioned for us to throw the diaper into this field. "it's india!" he said.
sorry environmentalists, but most of the indian countryside looks like this.

i can't get over the beautiful, bright saris the women wear

this almost became the theme of our drive...trash everywhere, with a variety of animals wading through it...cows, camels, goats, monkeys, dogs, and pigs to name a few

when i motioned to take a picture with them, he motioned for me to pet his cow.
my hand started reaching out, then i came to my senses.

one by one, more people came out of the woodwork, probably curious to see this white lady who was excitedly taking pictures of their cow pies

it turns out cow pies have many uses, and can actually look artistic.
some indians cook chapati in "ovens" made of cow pies.

getting her indian on.