Shi Keshav Hotel Shirdi

... is so good at wearing her money belt though which had her passport in- we lost all our funny pictures though of Narinder Singh! Spent many an hour in the police station in Aurangabad where we posed great amusement and curiosity from all the officers.

When we checked our diaries and realised actually how much time we had left we decided to brave the cheap Indian airlines and fly south to the very tip of India .. and onto the last chapter of our trip!

... 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 ...

... knew he is mentioned in Lonely Planet. The car cost about $35 a day; a reasonable price, especially because Ajunta Caves are over 2 hours away.

We had breakfast at a restaurant hotel next to Asoka's - a location that I would be shocked to see in Lonely Planet unless it was in the last resort section. It looked dirty and we didn't drink the luke-warm tea. The eggs seemed safe so we nibbled at them.

The drive ...

... 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).

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 ...

... Baba "If a man utters My name with love, I shall fulfill all his wishes, increase his devotion. And if he sings earnestly My life and My deeds, him I shall beset in front and back and on all sides. Those devotees, who are attached to Me, heart and soul, will naturally feel happiness, when they hear these stories. Believe Me that if anybody sings My Leelas, I will give him infinite joy and everlasting contentment. It is My special characteristic to free any ...

... the seats. Every tourist we have talked to that took a sleeper bus ALWAYS got stuck in the bunk at the back. This is easily the bumpiest spot on the bus, and if you take into account the swerving of the bus (these bus drivers think they're in the grand prix!), you don't get a whole lot of sleep in the "sleeper" bus. At 7am the next morning, we arrived in Ahmedabad. Neither of us got any sleep and we considered checking into a hotel for the morning to take a nap. The bus let us off ...

We headed for Aurangabad next, getting the train from Agra to Jalgaon and then the bus to Aurangabad. Me and Anthony went our separate ways from here as he wanted to go to Mumbai and I wasn't too bothered about it. I hired an auto rickshaw for the day and headed to the Ellora Caves. Over 5 centuries, generations of monks (Buddhist, Hindu and Jain) carved monasteries, chapel and temples out of solid rock. 34 in all, 12 Buddhist, 17 Hindu and 5 Jain. The Hindu caves were carved from the ...

... 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.

... 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 ...