Agra and that big marble building

Ok, I am the first to admit that I wasn't too fussed on heading to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. It is not that I didn't want to see it, it is just that I am more inclined to enjoy natural beauty than I am man-made ones and I just didn't think I'd be that 'wowed' by a big marble building. After an overnight train trip coupled with 'India Belly' (formerly known as Delhi Belly) I was even less in the mood for sight seeing. I was so ill that I almost stayed hidden in my hotel room until I had a "you can't come to India and not see the Taj" revelation.

I am mighty glad I had that revelation too, because that big marble building commonly known as the Taj Mahal is every bit as magnificent as everyone says it is. Brent and I were both in awe of its sheer beauty and it easily trumps any other man-made monument we have come across in India. As usual we (like so many other tourists) proved to be of more interest to the Indian tourists than the poor Taj itself. The novelty of having our pictures taken with the locals has more than warn off, especially when we now know what some of the more unsavoury men are doing with those pictures! While I did let the odd child take our picture, I was pretty annoyed when I sat down (in an effort not to vomit on the Taj) and an Indian man sat right next to me (almost on top of me) and his friend began taking unwanted photos of the two of us. I'm really not sure what he plans on telling his friends about the photo of him with a foreign girl doubled over in pain with a look of disgust on her face, because that is exactly the kind of picture he got.