Hotel Laxmi Shirdi

... freshen up. The hotel was a great value and the service was excellent. We had dinner, then our driver took us to the airport for our 8 PM flight back to Mumbai. Kerry was waiting at the airport. Unfortunately, the plane was about 45 minutes late and he had been attacked by mosquitoes. Exhausted, we crawled into an auto rickshaw for the midnight drive back to his apartment. Back to the smoke, rotting garbage and smelly rivers of Mumbai.

Preeti had arranged for a car to pick us up at 5:45 AM to take us to the Mumbai airport. The driver called three times starting at 5 AM (earlier than we hoped to wake up) to get directions, but he did make it. When we went downstairs, the gate of her apartment was padlocked. We had to wake the night watchman who sleeps on a mat on the concrete floor to let us out. 5:30 AM is a great time to drive in Mumbai - we got to the ...

... At one point the maze opens into the moat. A wall has been built there now. After you cross all the obstacles, there is a short hike to the palace on top of the hill. There is also a 110m tower of victory called Chand Minar (Tower of the moon).

Kuldabad is a Muslim pilgrimage town situated about 3 KM from Ellora. Aurangzeb, a mughal emperor who ruled for 50 years, is buried here. He wanted to be buried near the dargah of his guru and he wanted a very simple monument to be built from the money he ...

While this trip, unexpectedly turned out to be a drag thus far, it still had some adventure to offer. It came as the traffic cop. Some 25-30 Kms before Jalgaon, we met this ridiculously straightforward corrupt cop who signalled us to stop; we did it in a very gentleman kind of manner. He told me to produce the driving license & other documents. I was pretty confident, there's no reason I shouldn’t be, it was the 1st time I was carrying the DL in 6-7 years; I showed it to him ...

... Things to know: A majority of the people do not speak English inside or outside of the Temple Complex at Shirdi. Most of the people who speak English are the ones who run the larger hotels. Purchase anti-diarrheal medications before you leave to Shirdi. The Temple Complex has two main places for you to keep your shoes (cost is 1 rupee). If you are wearing chappals or sandals, you have to store them at a separate shoe counter. This is perhaps the most ...

... We caught a local bus that dropped us off in the middle of nowhere. We then caught another bus to the actual caves. Ajanta caves are set in a horseshoe shaped valley covered with lots of trees. It's quite beautiful. Upon arriving, we were greeted by an army of touts hoping to sell us all sorts of **** that had any relation to the caves at all. The caves themselves were amazing. 2000 year-old carvings in stone. These weren't just caves, they were entire rooms (think university ...

... down and so no scaffolding was required. The best cave for me was cave number 10, called Viswakarma or Carpenters (Pic 19-26). It's called this because the ribs in the roof of the cave look like wooden beams. Each rib has a figurine at the end of it and there is a giant Buddha in there as well. Also impressive was the Kailasa Temple with its huge stone elephants and intricately carved central building (Pic 14-18). Some of the caves had bats in them, glad I had the rabies shot (Pic 1).

... while a few drunkards danced horrendously on the dance floor. After a few moments of trying to figure out what exactly was going on, in strolls Miss India (literally). The womam competing for the Miss India (Earth) pagent made her way center stage. Without pause, every over-hormonal 20-somthing stopped what they were doing and proceeded to stare wide eyed at this woman. I've never seen something like it before, it was like being in a den of heinas and she ...

... to see what comes of this disaster in the form of better infrastructure and city-wide improvements. Last time I wrote, I had taken refuge at the J.W. Marriott hotel in Juhu, a coastal suburb of Mumbai. For a time there it felt like a rendition of Hotel Rawanda, minus the rebel gorillas--so yeah I guess that is kind of a stretch, but it was interesting seeing all the foreigners holed up in a five star hotel while the ...