Monday, May 21, 2012

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Home » Television » Our Productions On Demand » Global Energy and Carbon » Following A Trail Of Carbon Footprints » Hot Marble

Hot Marble

A blog update from producer Bob Dambach
5/27/09

India, Agra, Taj Mahal

I lived in Las Vegas for over 4 years and experienced many a day in the 120 F range. When we were in Brazil we lived through a 128 F day and then slept in a hotel without AC or a working fan. But I have never been in heat like when we visited the Taj Mahal in Agra on Wednesday. It was 46.5 C or 116 F. There was a slight breeze in places but a bright sun bouncing off of polished marble brought the temperatures up to oven level. Not only could you have fried an egg on the marble you could have baked the chicken it came from! But we survived!

The Taj Mahal and its marble inlay work is truly one of the wonders of the world. It cost 750 rupees, about 16 US dollars, 20 rupees or 40 cents if you’re an Indian citizen, to enter. This includes a bottle of water and some fabric shoe covers. The shoe covers were a relief since all of us had seen “Slumdog Millionaire” and were worried about losing our shoes.

We also got to visit a marble factory where descendants of the craftsmen who constructed the Taj Mahal still do exquisite marble inlay work. Some purchases were made? I’ll let the pictures do the rest of the talking.

The ride to Agra and back is about 480 kilometers about 180 miles. We spent about one hour stopping along the road to pick up B roll. We spent 4 hours visiting the Taj Mahal, eating and shopping We left the hotel at 6 a.m. and arrived back at the hotel at 10 p.m. A long day of travel!

Still to come you’ll get to meet our families and read about my impressions of driving in India.

Dehli Temperature Wednesday: Low 84 high 103.

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