The Taj - seeing is believing (by Joe)

We've all seen the pictures (see my best effort - above), but the Taj Mahal really has to be seen 'live' to undertand just how amazing it is.

I'm not a big one for spending my time site-seeing temples, tombs, forts or palaces, so was expecting to be a little underwhemled by the experience, but both me and Laura were actually blown away.

It's the luminescence of the white marble in different light, the perfect symmetry, both the minute detail and the massive scale that make it so amazing (two huge mosques built on either side to boot) ... and all built around the (tiny) tomb of the wife of Shah Jahan which sits at the absolute middle of the whole construction.

Shah Jahan was something of a serial monument builder having built many other major buildings around the city (see left - Laura in front of a view from a section of the Red Fort which he built also).

Joe