Back Soon with New Travelling Report

We have gone on a new trip and headed to a beautiful Sangla valley, Himachal Pradesh, India. Soon enough you will be able to read a new travelling report here on Travelling Rants. Meanwhile if you want to read about some beautiful places, check out our posts on Beauty of Uttarakhand here http://travelling-rants.blogspot.com/search/label/Uttarakhand.

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Taj Mahal-Symbol of Love

This post does not aim at providing any one with travelling guide for visiting Taj Mahal,this post is aimed at providing the fatcs figures and history about the Taj Mahal.

Taj Mahal a master piece in Marble and a Symbol of Love, was created by Mugal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his beloved wife Arjumand Bano Begum, popularly known as Mumtaz Mahal who died in A.D 1630.

Below are some of the facts and figures about Taj Mahal

Construction start date:	1631 A.D
Construction end date:	1648 A.D
Time for Completion:	17 Years
Total workers	20000
Designer	Ustad Ahmad Lahauri
UNESCO World Heritage Site	1983
ArchitectureType	Islamic
Area of Taj Mahal	60 bighas
Location	Utter Pardesh (India)
Highlights	One of the Seven Wonders of the World
Timing	6.00 A.M to 7.30 P.M (Friday Closed)

Amanat Khan Shirazi was the calligrapher of Taj Mahal,Ismail Khan Afridi of Turkey was the dome maker.
Material for building Taj Mahal was brought from all over India as well from centeral Asia as per the records a feelt of around 1000 elephants was employed for this purpose.
Centeral Tomb of Taj Mahal is around 187 feet in height.
Following material was brought from different regions,28 kinds of rare,precious stones has been used in Taj Mahal

Red Stones:                                   Fatehpur Sikri
Jasper                                           Punjab
Jade and Crystal                            China
Turquoise                                      Tibet
Coal and Cornelian                        Arabia
Diamonds                                      Panna

Entrance

Main gate of Taj Mahal faces South,it is 151 feet by 117 feet and has height of appox. 100 feets.

Night Viewing of Taj Mahal

One can enjoy night viewing of Taj Mahal for five nights in a month including the full moon night and two days before and after except Friday and month of Ramzan.

Below is the table which summerize the Night View detail.

Night Viewing Timings:                       8.30PM to 12.30A.M

Number od batches                            8 Total per night

Person per batch                                50

Duration                                             Half an hour

Reporting Place                                  Shilpagram complex half an hour in advance of the viewing time

Entry Point                                         Eastern gate only

Video camera                                     Not allowed for night viewing

Booking Office                                   Archaeological Survey of India, Agra Circle, 22 The Mall, Agra

                                                          Uttar Pradesh

Time for Booking                                10.00 A.M to 6.00 P.M (one day in advance of night viewing)

Ticket cancellation                               Same office (up to 1 P.M on the day of viewing)

Cancellation Charges                           25% of the ticket 

Ticket Charges for Full Moon Viewing

Indian (adult)                        510 INR

Foreigner (adult)                   750 INR

Children (Foreigner)             500 INR

ForthComing Full Moon dates

April                         28th

May                          27th

June                          26th

July                           26th

August                      24th

Sepetember              23rd

October                   23rd

November                21st

December                21st

We have tried to present as much as accurate facts and figures with this post if any one of you feel that there is some mistake or correction needed,please feel free to contact us.

This was a general view of the facts and figures about Taj Mahal.In our next post we will try to find facts about the other aspects of Taj Mahal.so stay tuned

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Wordless Wednesday:Spring

Spring has finally shown its presence

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Wordless Wednesday: Symbol of Love

“You are responsible, forever, for what you have tamed.

You are responsible for your rose.”

(Antoine de Saint-Exupery, The Little Prince)

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Valley of Flowers - Where Nature Lives

October 1st 2009 (Ghangaria)
Again it's a beautiful morning and we woke up around 5.30 A.M.Today. It  is a tough day for us, we have to go back to Joshimath after visiting Valley of Flowers.

We left for Valley of Flowers, the most beautiful place in this trip around 6.30 A.M. Valley of Flowers is an Indian National Park.This is now a World Heritage Site. We paid 150 INR for 3 Indians.  For persons other than Indians, one needs to pay charges as prescribed  for them. Beside this one needs to pay for Movie Camera or professional camera's also.

Valley of Flowers

Valley of Flowers is home of diverse alpine flora

and other beautiful flowers species.

Total track distance from Ghangaria to Valley of Flowers is around 3 KM.It took us around 1 hours and 30 minutes to reach at the Valley.

Track

Track from Ghangaria to Valley of Flowers was a track fully blessed by nature. Track to the Valley is not a hard or steap track it's a normal one with just few minor steaps. But you will not feel the heat as it is full of breathtaking sceneries.

Track to the valley will be on the side of Pushawati river and snow bounded mountains. On the track one can feel the fragrance of the flowers in the atmosphere.

Tips

It's better to take water and any other energy

drinks or medicines as one will not find any source for

such items.

Valley of Flowers

We don't have much to write about of Valley of Flowers. According to some indian stories this is the place where Hanuman searched for Sanjivani Booti to cure Lakshman.

In 1931 when Frank S. Smythe a British mountaineer lost his way and accidentally reached at valley of Flowers and after seeing the Valley full of flowers named it as we know it now - Valley of Flowers.

Valley of Flowers is open only in summer between June and October. This place is the house of around 80 species of flowers which are being nourished and grown by nature.

Besides being the home of these flowers,Valley of Flowers is home to tahr, snow leopard, musk deer, red fox, common langur, bharal, serow, Himalayan black bear, Himalayan brown bear and for Birds Himalayan Golden Eagle, Griffon Vulture, Snow Partridge, Himalayan Snowcock, Himalayan Monal, Snow Pigeon, Sparrow Hawk.

Valley is really rich of nature, one can feel what nature has in it to offer to us. Show covered mountains on one side.  River flowing on the other side really making this place an eye catch.

The total area of Valley of Flowers is around 87.50 km² and it has a really rich flora with over 600 species, some of them are quite rare.

BestTime

Best time to go to Valley of Flowers is around July and August. At this time one can find all species of flowers and full beauty of Valley.

Tips

Since it is home of many wild life animals, it's advisable

to follow the instructions of the Rangers deployed

by the Govt.

This was the last post of this trip, we hope you all enjoyed these posts. Stay tuned for our next post in which we are going to explore some other part of INDIA full of beauty.

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