Finally, the Taj Mahal

I was not disappointed at my first sight of the Taj. It had a sheer glow to it, amazing that it's over 400 years old. It was built as a tribute of love for the king's third wife Muhtaj. They were married for 18 years and she bore him 14 children. She died at age 38 while giving birth to the 14 child. Before she died she extracted 2 promises from her husband - that he never married again and that he would build a monument for her. He kept both promises especially the 2nd one. It took 22 years and 20,000 laborers to build the Taj Mahal that held the tomb of his wife. The Taj is made entirely of non porous white marble with inlays of precious stones. We had to wear booties while touring the place. Upclose it's even more amazing. There is a serene feel to the place. I swear the monument looked like it was just built instead of being 400 years old. Everything in the whole site was symmetrical including all the side buildings consisting of a mosque and rest houses for the laborers. Since it was a saturday the Taj was quite crowded. Surprisingly there were more indian tourists than foreigners. Interesting that entrance fee for indians is 5 rupees and for foreigners it's 750 rupees. For the last 1km before the entrance we had to take a public tuk tuk. By the entrance we were beseiged by hords of people trying to sell us things. They don't wait for you to go by the stall of crafts, instead they had pieces of jewerly or crafts in their hands waving it front of our faces. It's annoying and stressful.
Well, seeing the Taj in person was well worth the arduous trip. There's a reason why it's one of the wonders of the world. I bought a set of coasters made of the same white marble with inlays of semi precious stones (green molokite, indian coraline, blue lapis) so he can have an idea on a much smaller scale. When you turn out the lights and shine a light over or under it, the marble and orange coraline actually glows translucent. That's why I read that if you can you should also see the Taj during the full moon. It's supposed to be an amazing sight.