Hotel Sai Sahavas Shirdi

... the restaurant, only to be saved by 2 waiters the Indian equivalent of batman and robin! At first glance they thought we were mad running away but then got rid of the beast and we carried on eating our delicious curry!... Neither the first or the last monkey that has put us into SVT on this trip!

On our way down from Delhi Jo had her bag pinched from the hotel or on the train- which was a bummer as it had all her valuables in it- thank goodness ...

We enjoyed our morning at the Lemon Tree Hotel. I was especially happy to see the cappuccino machine that actually works. Our driver picked us up at 8:30 AM for the 2 hour ride to Ajunta Caves, another world heritage site. The ride was interesting - we passed workers in cotton and sugar cane fields. The rural poverty is very apparent. Dingy small towns where dozens of men sat outside cafes on plastic benches. In between the towns were ...

... get there. On the ride back to town we stopped to look at the crumbling walls and fortress towers that protected the side.

Back in town we got a feel for Auragabad. There isn't much to recommend it. It seems depressed and dirty compared to our travels in Kerala. There seems to be a very high ration of oxes and goats to people.

One thing Auragabad is known for is textiles. We asked our driver to take us to a ...

... we showed everything.

He saw them and directed us to park the car beside the road and said in his very typical annoying accent “fine dena banta hai, bahut fine dena padenga, malum hai”.

We asked how much he replied “ 2-3000 lagenga, par chhodta nahi main, challan kaat ke deta hoon, court se chhudane ka”.

We didn’t have much cash with us. And the 1st thing we did was hide all the cash. Then we started to convince him to let us go ...

... trains from Manmad. Taxis and buses are easily available at Manmad railway station for transfer to Shirdi. Regular taxi service also operates between Manmad railway station and bus stand. State Transport Corporation and private operators run coaches to Shirdi from Mumbai. The easiest way to get to Shirdi is by bus. If you fly into the Mumbai airport, hire a taxi (the ones that are in lines at the very front of the airport) to take you to the Dadar Bus Stand ...

... to come closer where he said a prayer to bless our travels and wish us luck on arriving home safely. He then proceeded up into the temple which begins the ritual of their daily prayers. On his way out of the temple he passed by all the followers of this faith while they all clapped and bowed before him. Dave asked why he was able to meet the Guru while all of these people are in the roped off area. The Sadhu explained that things happen for a reason. We stumbled across the street on ...

... 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).

... paid trip to Goa for two nights and three days! What are the chances. I'm in Nashik at some pretty boring party from the first glance, and in comes Miss India plus an all expense paid trip to Goa! It turned out to be a pretty fun night after all. PS if anyone is wondering what happend with Miss India, me being me, I had to say something to her, unfortunatley the guy she came with was not too impressed. I wished her good luck in the pagent and went on my way.

... some business to take care of in Nashik which is about a five hour bus ride from Mumbai. Once considered a Hill Station, Nashik is a really nice getaway from Mumbai. The weather here is incredible and it is green as far as the eye can see. Situated on the holy river Godavari, Nashik has been a welcome change of pace and scenery. So far we've visited SULA winery, modeled by and architect from Napa, as well as a few holy ...

... cousins got in the car and took a 2 day trip. It took about 6 hours to get there from Mumbai. Most of it was spent in Mumbais horrifying traffic. I was very cranky and dirty by the time we got back. Indians dont seem to like to use air conditioning much. This is actually not a symptom that only Indians in India have. My Mom hates the A/C too. And after a month using only the Air conditioning at night in the blistering ...