Agra's Red Fort

The Agra Fort is located near the Taj Mahal and it's the most important fort in India, historically speaking. This is the Amar Singh gate.

More than a fort, it's actually a walled city, enclosing several palaces.

The Khas Mahal is one of those palaces.

A room in the Khas Mahal

Anguri Bagh

One the Khas Mahal's windows. One of them overlooks the Taj and it is said that its builder died here looking at it.

The fort's moat

The Jehangir Mahal

The Jehangir Mahal's court

The gardens

The Jehangir Mahal's façade

I was told this used to be someone's bathtub.

N.B. - UNESCO's website has an amazing collection of 360º views of Agra's Red Fort, as well as many other World Heritage Sites.

The Jewel of India

There is no such thing as too many pictures of the Taj Mahal.

Delhi, part II

Iman Zamin's tomb (16th century), by the Kutab Minar

The Kutab Minar, which was built in the 12th and 13th centuries and struck twice by lightning

Here's another one so you can see the actual size of the tower. It's the tallest stone tower in India.

Kids make great photo subjects because they almost always look spontaneous.

Motorcycle accidents are very common.

A crafts market in Delhi

Delhi

The India Gate, built in memory of the soldiers who perished in WW1

Alternative means of transportation

Entrance to the Red Fort. The guards carry machine guns.


According to the postcards, this part of the Red Fort is called the Diwan-i-Am.

A marble courtyard inside the Red Fort

Elsewhere

Last week there were no updates because Steve and I were away. While I went to Portugal, he traveled to India, ate too much curry and brought many pictures back. Since I didn't get to go, my comments will be restricted to naming places and buildings. You can ask him directly about the details later! For now, here's a teaser:

The MacRitchie Reservoir

This is the jungle. This is also before we had walked a lot and it got too hot, and that's why I still look presentable. This particular section was very nice to walk through, especially because of the river.

And this is the treetop walk section. We could see as far as the lake on the other end of the reservoir, but it was a little too far to catch on camera. I was slightly disappointed that the bridge wasn't wobblier (it would be fun!), but then again, it was pretty high so maybe not...

Apart from a giant ant, the macaques were the only animals we spotted. There were lots of them by the bridge.

Personally, I'm far more worried about the animals attacking me (and they do attack you if you have food) than about the $250 fine for feeding them; but whatever works as motivation...

Walking on clouds

Singapore was once entirely covered in tropical rain forest. Nowadays, all that remains is a relatively small patch in the center of the island, which was turned into two reserves/natural parks: the MacRitchie Reservoir and the Bukit Timah Reserve. The former has a lot of walking trails you can take, although the secret is to arrive very early in the morning, to be done with your hike before the heat gets really, really bad. We arrived at 9am to walk though the most famous of the trails: the Treetop Walk. For the most part it's a sweaty hike through the jungle, but you get to walk for about 10 minutes on a suspension bridge that connects the two highest points in the reservoir, for a view of the canopies and, with luck, a few animals. And even though we were done by 11am, I can't begin to tell you how drenched we were when we got out. Perhaps next time we ought to start at 7:30.

The Chinatown Vesak Day Parade

Vesak Greetings

Parading dragons on South Bridge Road

A lucky family gets an unrestricted view of the parade from their window.

A pink dragon passing in front of the Sri Mariamman temple

The brand new temple, about to be inaugurated

Dancing Dragons on the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple

Happy Vesak Day!

Vesak Day is possibly the most important Buddhist holiday in Singapore and takes place on the 8-15th day of 4th lunar month. This year it was on May 31st and a new temple, the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple, was inaugurated the night before in Chinatown. South Bridge Road was closed down for a Chinese parade with music, drums and dragons. We went to see it but it was hard to take good pictures with so many spectators!