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Dirty Indian Men Sipping 'Action' Lassies
Entry 24 of 31 | show all | print this entry |
Firstly, there is one crucial thing I forgot to mention in my previous travel blog (Diu -Xmas). The WE at New Years included our mates Nick and Lindsey from London... I think I also forgot to note that the reason we'd come to Diu was to meet up with them. N & L please accept my most sincere humble apologies for missing your names out :)
Anyway, from Diu we (Ant, me, Nick, Linds) caught an overnight sleeper bus to Ahmedabad. The journey went without any problems, though we did leave almost an hour after the scheduled departure time and the toilet stops are simply awful - picture this 8 squat toilets in a row filled to the brim with poo and god knows what else with flies hovering over (never in my life have I seen such a disgusting site).
After spending a glorious day in Ahmedabad, mind you not looking at the 'must see' sights, but hanging out at an amazing Grand Bazaar - a wicked Westernised shopping complex, with McDonalds (go the McAloo), a department store and a cinema.
Linds and I excitedly went and saw our first Bollywood film - Dosti. What a crock of @#!$. Although the films are in Hindi, you are suppose to be able to follow a story - if there is a story line, in this case there didn't seem to be one. Anyway the movie was crap and the acting too dramatic, though the dance scenes amazing it bordered on being a dodgy-gay film (Indian men who like to hold hands and gaze into each others eyes a bit too much). So... sadly, our first taste of Bollywood wasn't the greatest.
From Ahmedabad it was a 15-hour overnight bus to Jalgaon... another uneventful night, though the bus looked like it had been built in the 1940's - we were somewhat worried we wouldn't see the end of the journey.
The thing you come to quickly learn when catching buses in India, is that the drivers - although they know where you are to get off - will not bother to tell you when you arrive at your destination. Instead, they will pull up (normally before 7am) and start beeping the horn, whilst yelling something in Hindi (which never sounds like the town name) and yell at you to get off... quickly! quickly! At times it can be awfully frustrating!
The only real reason you come to Jalgaon is to visit the Ajanta Caves - caves that lie deep within the Sahyadri hills and cut into the curved mountain side. They depict the story of Buddhism, spanning a period from 200 BC to 650 AD. The caves were amazing, some temples were still in great condition and you could still make out some of the stories that had been intricately carved into the walls. In some you would be greeted by a large Buddha right at the rear of the temple - as always bringing over you a calming feeling.
We spent the day aimlessly walking around the caves, trying to keep ahead of screaming school children. I was stopped by a monk at one point, who wanted to have a picture with me - although very flattering, I had always believed that monks did not need or have material possessions??
When we'd finished at the caves we had to catch a bus to Aurangabad - for our next destination Mumbai. So, here we then found ourselves... standing on the side of a road in the middle of nowhere trying to wave down every bus, in the hope its destination was Aurangabad. After about 40 minutes in the blistering heat; numerous local cars trying to pick us up for a hefty far; bus drivers telling us to hop on (although they were going to a totally different town), we finally found a bus and enjoyed being crammed on the bumpy rear seat for 2 hours to Aurangabad.
After a night in Aurangabad which was uneventful, we caught our train to Mumbai.
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| 24. | Dirty Indian Men Sipping 'Action' Lassies - Jalgaon, India Jan 04, 2006 |
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