Elephant Spotting

A pachyderm is an animal with a very thick skin! I saw 2 elephant examples and bought a couple of shirts to celebrate. Dianne and I also saw monkeys and a tree full of parrots. We also saw the seventh wonder of the world, all in one day. Sunday our driver Lokesh picked us ap at 6:00 am in a Toyota Qualis. We picked up Sushil and Shilpa and Lianne and headed for Agra. We had 3 lovely meals, but the main event was the Taj Mahal. It is made of marble, with inlays of semi precious stones. Somehow 350 years ago they got stone from Chili to make water lilly pictures from. The actual monument itself was packed with people from all over the world. We had to take our shoes off and line up for a few minutes to go inside. We lined up outside with still a good view. There were eagles riding thermals over the towers which lean outwards slightly so that if there was an accident they wouldn't fall in to the tomb. Inside the tomb was this marvelous inlay work. After our guide took us to a store where they were still making inlays completely by hand. On the way back we walked along the side of this lovely shaded garden. It was like a different world. There was only the seven of us. We were by the area where the band played when the Mogul was in town. There was a tree that must have had 40 bright green parrots in it.
At the same time Dianne and I were in Agra, Ben and Joel were on a school trip in the Himalayas. Joel got to go white water rafting, and was bursting with stories when I drove out with another new driver to get them.