Quality Inn Vedant Aurangabad

And so began our long journey south via Delhi to Jalgaon and Aurangabad where we stopped to view the magnificent UNESCO caves at Ellora and Ajanta. Aged around the second century BC they are a remarkable set of many Temples dug out of the sheer rock face - Hindu, Buddhist and Jain religion- they are all very impressive!
Jo and I had a close encounter with a huge monkey who growled at us when we were eating our dinner- when he flared his fangs we ran out ...

... br>There were only a few non-Indians. Kip provided the locals some entertainment because she was wearing a straw hat. All the kids starred at her and giggled; the adults looked when they thought she wouldn't notice. A couple of groups asked us if they could take our pictures with their families. They always like it when we ask if we can take their pictures too.

After the visit we went back to the Lemon Tree where they gave us a room ...

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 ...

... we ordered room service hot brekky ( $5Aus) and headed off to the bus station 1km away to get the local bus out to the famous caves 29km away. The bus took about an hour and we arrived around 1pm to the ticket office where a group of 4 backpackers were there looking to share a guide which we agreed to. The caves are a group of 29 caves cut into the granite volcanic solid rock by people from the 6th century AD. The massive effort of hand carving out temples from the rock is astonishing ...

... before deciding on one offer of transport to our chosen hostel. We arrived pretty cheery to the Shree Maya Hotel to find that they had a room, it was clean and OK, and it was the cheapest yet....more being on budget , was it all a dream?...well no it was really happening - yippee dreams can come true in India as well as anywhere else. The hotel has the added bonus of a communal lounge/restaurant and an outdoor roof terrace/restaurant where guests hang out. This is ...

We were up for leaving the state of Gujarat and making our way into the centre of the state of Maharashta to visit the monumental caves at Ellora and Ajanta and also to do a spiritual pilgrimage at Nasik and Trimbak on our way back in to Mumbai (Bombay). There was a few travel hours involved in the next bit. We took a 3 tier non A/C sleeper train from Ahmedabad to Mumbai and were happy to find the open windows allowed fresh air to flow all night which was a good thing ...

... hotel in connecticut for dinner at the hotel (complete with christmas toons muzak) in other words, everything i hate and feared about traveling with an organized tour. No shopping, no markets, no street food just bed at 8:30 as theres nothin else to do. So I complained bitterly to the company by the email using what whispy connection we managed to get and yesterday he took us to a weaving cooperative as they are famous for gold and silver brocade ...

... haha. Following that, Ranjeet took us to show us around his furniture plant. It kinda turned into a business meeting between Ranjeet and Anand... kinda funny. On the bright side, I learned the meaning of "accha," as Anand was constantly using the term! haha. (It means good, okay, well, etc.) Anyway, after that Anand arranged a car (and chauffeur) to drive us out to the Ellora Caves, about 30 km from ...

... of strangers to pass it down to him...how did they know where to send it...he was the only other foreigner on board...too easy..as no words were exchanged... At least, he had a smile on his face now, maybe he had made some friends like me, and we all know the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. I also used the people around me on the train to work out our next move, they were great travel guides.We took the train on a Friday lunch time, that was probably ...

... and ask my mine. For the love of god, I was signing autographs! Kids, teenagers, and adults alike were thrusting pieces of paper and books in face and asking me to sign them. It was unbelievable, and surprisingly flattering. I'm not sure who they thought I was (maybe Batmeister has finally been released, to critical acclaim?), but I could get used to fame...even if it was just for a day. ;-)