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Seconds after taking off from Kolkata airport, the airplane motors suddenly powered down. A few seconds later they came back just to power down again. It was as if the pilot could not keep them going at full throttle! We heard strange noises and felt vibrations, as if something was loose or open. Then the plane started to loose altitude, which is not something it should be doing during take-off! I feared that the engines were not working properly and mentally pictured us crashing into the ground!

Nepal, India and Arabia

Odv
2006-04-15 18:46:13

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in the distance and I could only think; "When can I go back?"
Taj Mahal

Our short stop in India was to visit the Taj Mahal. It would be hard to image leaving the subcontinent without seeing the Taj. It is certainly a beautiful sight of which I took photos of from every angle.

The Taj was built by Shah Jahan (1628-1658) whose favorite wife Mumtaz died in 1631. It was a monument to his love for the only one of his four wives to bear him children. It took 22 years to build the Taj and in doing so Shah Jahan nearly ruined his country.

Everything in an around the building is in perfect symmetry. Her grave is in the center of the building. However when Shah Jahan himself died his grave was placed next to hers, breaking the symmetry of the place.

A black marble Taj Mahal was allegedly planned on the other side of the river to be Shah Jahan's own grave. The two were to be connected by a bridge but this was never realized as one of his sons deposed him, before any serious work could be started. Shah Jahan spent the rest of his years imprisoned in Red Fort with a view of the Taj Mahal...
Arabia

Our stay in Dubai was short as well, we spent just two nights, visited the museum and walked around the city a bit. It was very warm so we escaped the heat by visiting shops and the museum.

The area where we stayed is known as Little India, and for good reason, we only saw Indians, Bangladeshis and Pakistanis. It felt as if we were still in India, but for the fact that the town was clean and traffic organized.

In fact only about 20% of the population of the U.A.E. are Emiratis (or however you are supposed to call nationals of the U.A.E.). The rest of the population consists of immigrant workers. Could we be visiting Arabia without seeing any Arabs?

My aunt and uncle currently live in Sohar in neighboring Oman. As we wanted to visit them as well they came to pick us up in Dubai. This was ...