Day 10, 11, and 12

The last few days have been a whirlwind of activity. We arrived in Delhi late Friday morning and were met by our travel guide. He is a young man from India. He is LDS and happily showed us pictures of himself with Elder Oaks for whom he was also a tour guide.

We first went to the Mahatma Ghandi home. It was here that he lived at the end of his life and where he was martyred. Such a reverent and peaceful place. I was barefoot (it is customary to remove your shoes at this sacred site) as I walked, reflecting on the lessons from Ghandi's life and carefully avoiding stepping on any ants. I am committed to finishing Ghandi's autobiography by the end of the year.

The afternoon was spent on the back of bicycle rickshaws going through old Delhi. And I thought driving was scary here! The alleys were so narrow and packed with people, shops, animals and low hanging electrical wires. I enjoyed the spice market and the visit to the Jain temple.

After a long bus ride to Agra, we checked into our very nice hotel. The luxury constantly tore my feelings between pleasure and guilt.

The next morning was the highlight of the trips. We got up before sunrise and made our way to the Taj Mahal. It is easily the most beautiful building I have ever seen. Pictures don't even do it justice but we took a ton anyway. The history of the Taj Mahal is quite romantic- the Emperor grieving for his beloved wife (who died after the birth of their 13th child) and devoted to preserving her memory. It took 22 years to build, using the finest Indian marble and painstakingly inlayed with precious stones. A true wonder of the world!

That night, a few of us went to see "Mohabbat the Taj"- a musical dramatization of the story of the Taj Mahal. I'm not going to lie, it was pretty magical. I got totally caught up in the the sparkling sarees and the traditional Indian dancing. But even that dancing couldn't inspire me to stay more than five minutes a the hotel's disco tech later than night. :)

Sunday morning was our much anticipated elephant ride. It sounds anti-climatic to write about it. A man with his very tame elephant met us in your run-of-the-mill Indian neighborhood and took us up and down the street. Nevertheless, we squealed and giggled as the local residents looked on with curiosity, obviously puzzled by our excitement.

It was fun to be a tourist for the weekend but I am glad now to be back at Rising Star and the real purpose of this trip