A family for a day

Hannah and I made the trip to the Taj yesterday! Our trip consisted of the two of us, another american from conneticut who sells helicopters - cool, and a austrian also here on business and our Indian driver in a nice Toyota SUV. We had so much fun seeeing and sometimes laughing at all the interesting sights along the road during our 4-5 hour drive each way. Drivers here receive money from shops for bringing tourists there so we made several stops doing this. While we could have refused, we just enjoyed getting out of the car.
Our driver did not speak much English at all. At first we thought he was telling us that each shop was his shop. Until we realized that he procedes everything with "my". Here is my hotel, my picture, my fort... he would say. I could not stop laughing at what a lack of communication can lead to...because we really did believe him at first. It also reminded me that I should try to understand the concept of what people are saying and not just the words...handy idea when it comes to medical care where miscommunication is more costly.
At the Taj, security was "tight". Greeted by armed guards and security check points was expected. We knew we could not take electronics or food so left our i pods and snacks in the car with our driver. I did not know that I would still break the security rules. There is a separate line or queue for women. While being felt up for secret weapons another female guard carefully went through my bag. I could tell she was more curious at what everything was. She played with my pepper spray that I had left on the outside of my bad but thankfully it did not fire and she just left it alone. Then she found my National Geographic that I had been reading on our car ride. This is not aloud she quickly states. I was in disbelief. She started flipping through the pages immediately while I was still standing there. I was confused since I had my bible and other reading material in my bag as well. I refused to let here keep it and my guide had someone outside hold it while we toured. Coming out I found that they had been passing it around and did not want to give it back. I did get to take it with me but with a greater appreciation of what I possessed! Who knew how much of a ruckus that would cause!!!