Ajanta,
India
Saturday, April 21, 2007
The caves at Ajanta are carved out of the side of a mountain in a picturesque valley that contains a fantastic waterfall and gorge as well as 30 hand carved Buddhist caves that date from 200BC to AD650 and contain some amazing carvings and paintings from that era, but unfortunately photos are not allowed inside the caves. We arrived in Ajanta after staying in the nearby town of Jalgaon the previous night with all of ours bags on the bikes. We had been informed that there was a cloakroom here to keep our belongings so were sure it would be fine. On arrival we found out that like most other things in India not everything is done like elsewhere in the world. First you have to carry your bags through a mass of shops and restaurants from the car park then get on a crowded bus for 4km and then leave your bags in the cloakroom rather than having the cloakroom at the carpark. Then you have to do it all over again on the way back......... incredible country !!!
Later that day we rode almost 200km to the crater left by a meteorite in the town of Lonar over 50,000yrs ago. This was another spectacular sight and the 2km diameter hole now contains a lake and is surrounded by a green forest while scientists believe the meteor is still 600mtrs below the ground. The hole is 170mtrs deep and is the largest in India and 3rd largest meteor crater in the world and was well worth the trip to see.
