Ellora Caves

29.09.11

Our train finally arrived in to Aurangabad at about 4.40am and by 5am we were showering and climbing into bed for a couple of hours kip before heading out. It was such a relief to be clean and in a bed, although it didn't feel very clean, thus completing a journey of about 40 hours. We had managed to arrange to get in a shared taxi to go to Ajanta caves leaving at 8.30am.

We got up in time to get directions from reception and then walk to the tour company to get picked up, still pretty exhausted but looking forward to the day ahead. We followed the directions we'd been given and lo and behold the tour company was nowhere to be seen. By this time we were running late so thought we'd walk back to our hotel and ask the reception to call the tour company and tell them the situation. However this seemed a rather difficult request, the receptionist couldn't find the number even though they deal with this company everyday. When we provided the number that apparently wasn't correct and they seemed at a loss as to what to do. A few minutes later the reception phone range and it was our tour company. When the phone was handed to Martin, they wanted to know what had happened because they had apparently come to the hotel to pick us up and the receptionist had told them we were still asleep! So we had missed our tour.

A little annoying, but it actually turned out for the best, because we realised we were actuallu really tired and probably weren't going to last the whole day at Ajanta, which was 100 odd km's away. So we ended up taking a taxi out to Ellora caves,only 30km instead.

The caves were incredible! There are 34 caves dating from the 500 - 870AD. There are Buddhist, Hindu and Jain caves. Probably the most impressive was the Kailash Temple which took 100 years to complete and 4 generations to carve downwards through

the rock. It is more like an elaborate sculpture and is imporssible to conceive the amount of work that it took to create it and the vision it must have taken.

The rest actually are caves. Cave 10 is a Buddhist temple, with a curved domed roof carved in to the rock and a huge Buddha statue at the back. Many of the Buddhist and Hindu caves have spherical pillars beautifully carved and elaborate carvings of Buddha or Hindu Gods. Several of the temples are more than 1 storey, with a couple being 3 storeys high. We spent a good few hours exploring every knook and cranny of the caves.

Next our taxi took us to visit various different sights around Aurangabad and Ellora. We briefly visited Deogirl fortress,Moghul (and muslim) tombs at Khuldabad. We were also taken to a Jain temple and outside they set up a little market where people were selling flowers and other charms and spices to take to the temple as offerings.

By about 3 pm we were dead on our feet so went back to the hotel for a siesta. Then early evening we ventured out to Aurangabad to go and sort out our buses etc for tomorrow. There was a real buzz as we walked around the town. There were so many people around and a fun fair, in aid of a festival that celebrates the build up to Divali (that's as much as

we've been able to establish from talking to Indians!). We decided to walk along the main road up the bus station to book a local bus to Ajanta caves the next day and the bus to Pune. Along the way we had to cross a couple of roads. It's strange in India because pedestrains are as much a part of the junction as the vehicles, people stood in the middle of a busy crossroads with rickshaws and motorbikes weaving about them, judging the speed and distance of vehicles to slowly cross the road. I find it really difficult to cross as I am not decisive enough and you can't hesitate and cars won't stop! The other thing to realise on the roads is that traffic doesn't obey any rules including stopping at a traffic light or a crossing outside a school for blind children (we saw this for ourselves!). Roundabouts are entirely pointless in this country, it's everyman for himself, people cutting eachother up constantly! So it was quite a walk and unsuccessful as at

the bus station they were adamant that we didn't need to buy a ticket that we should buy them in the morning.

So we headed by to a nearby hotel for a dinner and then went to bed ready for another day of caves!