We Stayed at a nice hotel in Aurabgabad for 2 nights and got up the first morning for a long bus ride to Ajanta. The bus had to park a bit away from the caves and we took a different bus in poor condition to closer to the caves where we then "walked the gauntlet" through dozens of people selling stuff. Jim has been through this many times and just ignores the sellers or politely, says he is not interested and pushes on, but some of the people were taken aback by the aggressiveness of the sellers- even some tough NYC residents had a tough time being cajoled so aggressively! We finally started the walk up the hillside to the caves. One or two people took advantage of the "dholis"- 2-3-4 guys who carry people up in a chair - somewhat like a sedan chair only not very luxurious and maybe not so clean. This mode was tempting but Jim, being a big guy with a conscience, decided he could not bear the idea of these slight, but strong, fellows carrying him. The walk was not that difficult as it turned out, but it was long.
We spent most of the day at Ajanta. Most of the caves date from 400- 600 CE but a couple may be as early as 200 BCE. A few were never completed to the point where sculptures or paintings were done. Many have remains of wall and ceiling paintings that are quite glorious, but dark as they are trying to preserve, them as best they can. Most of the group managed to see all the caves that are open and we spent a lot of time in the few that have more extensive paintings. Jim's camera was just sensitive enough to let him take some pictures inside without too much vibration, but it was difficult without a tripod or other steadying device.
The stone carvings were quite remarkable too, but the paintings are the highlight because so few have survived from so long ago.
We were visited by Monkeys about 2/3 the way through our tour.
The next day the group went to Ellora- passing a huge old fort at Dalautabad that looked interesting! We did not see all of Ellora. We saw a few old Buddhist caves then several Hindu ones and a HUGE standalone temple carved completely out of the mountain side- it is amazing how much work was done to make this!
We went back to the hotel for lunch and then to the airport to fly back to Mumbai. We checked back into the hotel and got our stored luggage. Most of the group left in the evening or early morning hours. Jim Road to the airport terminal around 3:30 AM with our overall USA tour director who was flying home while Jim flew to Gujarat around 6AM. Ajanta and Ellora seem like the highlights of the trip to this point. The remainder of the trip was arranged by Jim with suggestions from friends and past experiences in India. That begins in Part 4.
We spent most of the day at Ajanta. Most of the caves date from 400- 600 CE but a couple may be as early as 200 BCE. A few were never completed to the point where sculptures or paintings were done. Many have remains of wall and ceiling paintings that are quite glorious, but dark as they are trying to preserve, them as best they can. Most of the group managed to see all the caves that are open and we spent a lot of time in the few that have more extensive paintings. Jim's camera was just sensitive enough to let him take some pictures inside without too much vibration, but it was difficult without a tripod or other steadying device.
We were visited by Monkeys about 2/3 the way through our tour.
The next day the group went to Ellora- passing a huge old fort at Dalautabad that looked interesting! We did not see all of Ellora. We saw a few old Buddhist caves then several Hindu ones and a HUGE standalone temple carved completely out of the mountain side- it is amazing how much work was done to make this!
We went back to the hotel for lunch and then to the airport to fly back to Mumbai. We checked back into the hotel and got our stored luggage. Most of the group left in the evening or early morning hours. Jim Road to the airport terminal around 3:30 AM with our overall USA tour director who was flying home while Jim flew to Gujarat around 6AM. Ajanta and Ellora seem like the highlights of the trip to this point. The remainder of the trip was arranged by Jim with suggestions from friends and past experiences in India. That begins in Part 4.
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