Superb train ride from Goa to Mumbai was colourful, lush, green and never boring even though it was 13hrs long. Stunning scenery , lots of rice paddies, rivers, bridges and people going about their daily lives. Sarah saw her first shack like dwellings cuddling the railway lines as we entered Mumbai.
Aurangabad is a 40min plane ride from the mad, chaotic, traffic dense Mumbai. It is a city of a million or so people with long streets full of colourful shops and restaurants. Actually the last 2 days has been a blast of colour again. Many more women in saris, men in traditional dress, cows with painted horns...so good.
Aurangabad has muslim areas with mosques, Hindu areas with temples and the famous Ellora Caves which have Muslim, Hindu and Buddist temples side by side.
The caves are incredible. It is quite something to be wandering around temples 2000 years old.
We drove to Ajanta Caves yesterday. 100km took 3 hours . The roads are under construction...well at least 80km of them are. We would have been better in a 4WD. Luckily the caves are worth the drive.
These caves are Buddist caves carved into solid rock.
Dinner last night was hilarious. The Greenleaf restaurant. Nice food, 4 waiters per table attending to our every need...and a mini Effiel Tower glowing behind us. We have since found Giza Pyramids, The Statue of Liberty and today a mini Taj Mahal. The Taj is genuine...built for a moghul's mother. The others are a tad bizarre.
It is Navarati festival time. Everyone celebrates the end of the monsoon and the goddess Durga. The Hindu festival spans 9 nights. 3 of the nights are dedicated to Dandiya...mass dancing Bollywood style by mainly teenagers. Sarah and I joined in though. Great fun..although friggin’ tiring. A song set goes for 40mins if not longer.You repeat the same dance the whole time. Today...our calves, archilles and knees are suffering.
Sarah has now experienced the selfie culture. She is quite a hit with local tourists, especially with the blonde spiky hair. Again there are only a couple of other European tourists here.
Finally experienced a monsoon downpour. Sarah has been so keen to experience it but the weather has been hot and sunny. We visited the mini Taj in pouring rain today.Great experience with mainly muslim visitors. Lots of thunder and lightning this afternoon. Some good flooding, locals sheltering under trees, in bus shelters , tuk tuks stuck in puddles and families on motor bikes soaked as they left a fun fair and market. We were luckily in a car - our driver called it his tuk tuk as we drove for 2 days with the windows down and no AC on. Our car plus driver for one day cost He picked us up at 8.30am and dropped us off at 6.30am - he drove 100km each way on terrible pot holed roads. We gave him a big tip and made his day!
Aurangabad is a 40min plane ride from the mad, chaotic, traffic dense Mumbai. It is a city of a million or so people with long streets full of colourful shops and restaurants. Actually the last 2 days has been a blast of colour again. Many more women in saris, men in traditional dress, cows with painted horns...so good.
Aurangabad has muslim areas with mosques, Hindu areas with temples and the famous Ellora Caves which have Muslim, Hindu and Buddist temples side by side.
The caves are incredible. It is quite something to be wandering around temples 2000 years old.
We drove to Ajanta Caves yesterday. 100km took 3 hours . The roads are under construction...well at least 80km of them are. We would have been better in a 4WD. Luckily the caves are worth the drive.
These caves are Buddist caves carved into solid rock.
It is Navarati festival time. Everyone celebrates the end of the monsoon and the goddess Durga. The Hindu festival spans 9 nights. 3 of the nights are dedicated to Dandiya...mass dancing Bollywood style by mainly teenagers. Sarah and I joined in though. Great fun..although friggin’ tiring. A song set goes for 40mins if not longer.You repeat the same dance the whole time. Today...our calves, archilles and knees are suffering.
Sarah has now experienced the selfie culture. She is quite a hit with local tourists, especially with the blonde spiky hair. Again there are only a couple of other European tourists here.
Finally experienced a monsoon downpour. Sarah has been so keen to experience it but the weather has been hot and sunny. We visited the mini Taj in pouring rain today.Great experience with mainly muslim visitors. Lots of thunder and lightning this afternoon. Some good flooding, locals sheltering under trees, in bus shelters , tuk tuks stuck in puddles and families on motor bikes soaked as they left a fun fair and market. We were luckily in a car - our driver called it his tuk tuk as we drove for 2 days with the windows down and no AC on. Our car plus driver for one day cost He picked us up at 8.30am and dropped us off at 6.30am - he drove 100km each way on terrible pot holed roads. We gave him a big tip and made his day!
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