Over the first weekend in October {2015} we headed north west of Mumbai to Aurangabad {where we were to experience our first really bad hotel stay!}. We left Powai on the Friday before eight in the morning with Nick, Tom and Steven {three of Andrew's work colleagues} for our hotel in Aurangabad. Krishna was our driver, actually, he's Nick's permanent driver whilst he's out here. Aurangabad is where you want to be staying if you are making a weekend of it, just not in the hotel we stayed in! We arrived too late to go looking for a restaurant so we ate at the hotel....what a joke! We were the only people in the restaurant {we learnt that the other guests were having room service as it was chucking it down outside} & the other guests were clearly their priority! We waited over an hour for our food to arrive! Starters started to arrive along with mains and some got mains before their starters! The table cloths were filthy/stained {we couldn't find one table with clean linen - believe me I looked!} and some of the glasses were dirty too. I learnt my lesson on 'looking at reviews' on-line! I hadn't done my 'homework' properly on this hotel - I wasn't paying attention to who had written the reviews! I will not start on the bed linen or towels in the rooms.....One of the issues we were faced with when booking was proximity to the caves....and when researching where to stay, this seemed like the only decent place to put your head on a pillow for the night. Sadly, we were staying for two nights! The second night we ate out in the centre of town {reasonable food} and on the way back to the hotel we passed what looked like a really good hotel....guess you can't 'win them all'!
You really do need to make a weekend of it when going to see the caves as they are not just down the road! From where we live in Powai, Mumbai it is 325kms {approx} to the hotel we were staying in and a further 102kms to Ajanta Caves. You may think that it is not far at all....ha! It took us 9 hours to get there! Nope, we weren't driving the whole time - about 7 of those hours were spent driving. The other 2 hours were spent between wondering around Nasik which is one of India's most holy sites and a couple of short breaks. The roads are not that brilliant hence the time it takes to cover the miles!
Our first stop was at Nasik. It's a bustling temple town which has been built on both banks of the Godavari River and it has almost 200 shrines/temples. Ramkund is the centrally located tank {& the town's focal point} and it is believed to have marked the place where Rama & his wife Sita bathed. Rama is the 7th avatar {the manifestation of a Hindu deity especially Vishnu in human, superhuman or animal form} of the Hindu god Vishnu. The ashes of dead are also immersed here! Most of the temples date back to the 18th century. Our second stop was unplanned; it was at a railway crossing and the road was closed for a good twenty minutes. The five of us bundled out of the car to watch trains!! Pretty cool actually!
a selection of photos from Nasik.......
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| the large round water tank |
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| I asked if he would pose, he obliged |
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| this is the river Godavari |
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| one of the many temples/shrines and vendors selling their wears |
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| seriously, no matter where we have been in India, it is nearly always the men being asked if they can have their photo taken! & no, they don't always say yes! |
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| the weekend before was Ganesh {see previous blog post} this will stay here until it disintegrates |
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| not only is it a holy site to bathe in, people also wash their clothing in the river |
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| I have no idea what half of these items are |
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| this dog knew the best place to be on a boiling hot day! |
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| when we arrived at Nasik, this man was lying under a bridge. I am guessing that he lives in the area off the goodwill of others or he has travelled rom far to get to the holy waters |
After wondering around in the heat for an hour or so, we carried on to our destination which was the hotel in Aurangabad. The following morning after an uneventful breakfast, we left before eight and headed for the Ajanta Caves {a 1.5 hour trip to do 102kms!}. The 30 rock-cut caves were excavated between the 2nd century B.C. and the 6th century A.D. These are renown for the Buddhist paintings although they are not in mint condition given how old they are! At the end of the 7th century, Buddhism began to decline in the land of it's origin and shrines fell into desolation and ruin. For a 1000 years Ajanta lay buried in the jungle-clad slopes of a horseshoe-shaped escarpment. They were discovered quite by accident when in 1819 John Smith, a British Army Officer unintentionally stumbled upon these caves during his hunting expedition. These caves were added to UNESCO in 1983.
We went into almost every cave. They are really interesting and they also offered a little respite from the heat outside! It was a baking hot day! Like fry an egg on the ground in 60 seconds hot! I was quite in awe of the caves. A few thousand years ago, men used their bare hands and carved into the side of this mountain and created some pretty impressive caves and painted the walls and ceilings; I found myself saying to myself, how skilled is the human race!
photos from Ajanta Caves......
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| a view of the caves from near the entrance |
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| looking back towards the entrance to Ajanta caves |
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| inside cave no 2 |
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| inside cave no 1 |
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| :) |
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| one of the many Buddhas |
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| a beautiful ceiling |
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| a very hot & sweaty me! |
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| the details are quite amazing really! |
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| this was carved out of the rock! quite something really! |
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| cave no 26, a reclining Buddha {7 metres long} |
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| this is outside one of the caves |
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| again, outside one of the caves |
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| these guys had their work cut for the day! they were moving chunks of rock that were about a ton in weight! there was repair working going on in one of the temple caves |
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| heave! |
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| after I took this photo, I wondered over to see what he was doing, he was doing the crossword & sudoku had been done! |
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| entrances to the caves |
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| cattle grazing in the near river bed on our way out |
We woke again early on the Sunday morning, had another uneventful breakfast and we headed off to the Ellora Caves. The caves are only a 30 minute drive from Aurangabad but we wanted to beat the crowds and the midday heat! Besides, we had to get back home. This would take the better part of six hours covering 320kms!
Ellora Caves {added to the UNESCO list in 1983} are way more impressive than those at Ajanta. Ajanta is known for the paintings whilst Ellora is known for its architectural design and sculptures. These 34 caves were hewn from a 2km long escarpment and are the most wonderful examples of rock-cut out caves in India! The caves were excavated between the 5th and 11th centuries A.D. The 34 caves are made up of 17 Hindu caves, 12 Buddhist caves and 5 Jain caves.
The finest of the 34 caves at Ellora is the Kailasanatha Temple {Hindu}. This cave was commissioned by the Rashtrakuta king Krishna 1 in the 8th century. This large {and I mean large} complex which spans 84 metres by 47 metres was carved out of a huge rocky cliff face. Sculptures chiselled through 85 000 cubic metres of rock beginning at the top of the cliff and working their way down! This reportedly took about 200 years to complete! It is one of the most impressive pieces of architecture I have seen! Hands holding hammers and chisels created something quite extraordinary given the time it was built! Sadly, the photos taken cannot do this impressive temple justice!
There is quite a bit to say on both Ajanta and Ellora Caves but I'm not going to. If you would like to know more about the caves, check them out on Wikipedia. One other thing I'll mention is whilst Ajanta is quite amazing to see, I would opt for only seeing Ellora if all you have is a weekend {or two days}. We did this trip over three days which enabled us to see both sites.
photos of Ellora Caves......
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| this crack you can see is a planned drainage system! |
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| Buddhas on a wall |
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| I think this is cave no 6 |
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| the biggest bee hive I have ever seen |
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| a section of cave no 4 |
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| cave no 2 : it is said to be a chaitya-hall {prayer hall} |
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| these two men were more than happy to have their photo taken; thanks guys |
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| the outside to cave no 1 |
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| this poor chap! I looked around for something to scoop him/her up with but couldn't find anything! this crab appeared to be 'stuck' on some stairs |
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| the upper story hall, Vishwakarma, cave no 10 |
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| Tom, Andrew, Krishna, Steven and Nick |
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| information on cave no 16, the most impressive rock-cut cave in India |
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| this was once all rock! sadly, the trunks of most of the elephants are no longer on the bodies |
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| we wanted to walk around to the top but weren't allowed to. the people at the top give you some perspective |
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| there are elephants all the way around the centre piece |
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| Lakshmi with elephants; this faces the entrance |
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| inside looking up |
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| so many of the elephants had lost their trunks |
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| a good day to do the washing |
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| and a swim too! |
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| monkey'n around |
seen on/from the road......
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| a mobile knife sharpener : peddling get the grinding wheel going |
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| this rather lovely toad was outside our room when we got from dinner; so very pleased I have my prince! |
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| most trucks and lorries are decorated in India |
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| on his way to the holy town of Nasik |
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| a working elephant |
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| ploughing the land |
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| a baby plus three on this bike! |
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| looking for lunch! |
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| taking photos of passing trains! |
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| this guy was the signalman |
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| CHAOS!! road is open and it's free for all! |
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| this chap was selling peanuts to the buss passengers as they got off for a chai {tea} and toilet break |
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| sniffing out the peanut shells hoping to find a few peanuts |
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| oh the choice of bedding! |
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| we wondered how long this load was going to stay on the truck! |
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| recycling depot |
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| we saw quite a lot of this mode of transport |
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| have friend with bike so can transport the goat |
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| serious horns on these water buffalos |
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| living under plastic.... |
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| I like this bridge |
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| just a few bananas left |
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| how many can you fit into an auto-rickshaw then? |
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| a chipmunk |
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| a large banyan |
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| this area really reminded me of parts of KwaZulu Natal in South Africa |
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| no red triangles to warn you of a broken down truck, only small branches and rocks! |
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| heart shaped dried cattle fodder |
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| bikes and buffalo |
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| sunflowers |
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| marigolds; probably my least like flower |
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| home for some.... |
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