The scale and numbers of these monuments in India are unbelievable. The Taj Mahal is the crown of them all… and we decided to get a guide of the day…. then we decided to accept the photographer he suggested to “document” our visit.
First we had to wait on line…. a long line, but our guide helped us cut up front. We followed all of his suggestions to expedite the entrance…. (no bags, no pens, paper, food, etc)… but he didn’t say “no balloons”… they took them from me at the entrance.
Next he went into “professor” mode – explaining all the history, poetry, culture, colors, etc… as the photographer moved us from one location to the next, posing us in all the “required” poses (like a wedding photographer, navigating around 100 other weddings that were using the same location). I don’t think we ever got to actually enjoy the Taj… we just rushed between the photoshoot and the lecture.
The photographer said, “no pressures, $1.50 per photo we liked and we could decide (he’d have them ready when we’d exit). Then he said for about just $150.00US we could have a complete album of the 70 or so shots & even a CD with the photos… including some arial shots (not taken when we were there). Oops…. the phrase “no pressure” was about to come back and hit us when we’d leave.
We chose more shots than we really wanted…. and we didn’t go for the CD or the arial shots.
It made us feel a bit like celebrities.
