Aurangabad October 29th to 31st

When I hear the town name Aurangabad my mind conjures images of cave temples. Next to the town are 2 world famous Unesco temple caves Ajanta and Ellora. They hold some of the most beautiful Jain, Hindu and Buddhist temples I have ever seen. I lack far too much knowledge to begin to appreciate the historical and religious value of these caves but boy I appreciate their beauty, workmanship and religious importance. I believe each cave was carved by hand so I can imagine the effort and time it took!

If I had to pick one of the 2 caves my choice would be Ellora just because of the surroundings. The caves are away from urban areas and surrounded by beautiful nature which for me adds to its spirituality. A must see if you are in the area!

The trip to Aurangabad was hectic. After an adventurous hitch hiking of the night bus in Mumbai we arrived at 6 am at the hotel. The owner was kind enough to allow us to check-in at no extra cost. Really appreciated it as we were able to rest for a few hours before going straight into site seeing mode and heading to the Ellora caves. If that was not enough for a day, we further added the visit to the Daulatabad fort and to try to catch the sunset. As it usually goes with sunsets it was a race against time. First we nearly were not allowed to buy tickets as it was close to closing and second, once we had actually approached the top of the castle security tried stopping us from going further as it was nearly closing time. However with a few smiles and pleas they let us through and we were rewarded with a beautiful sunset!

Streets

Anna’s new favorite mode of transport 🙂

One could say its a scene off a series of David Attenborough!

Ellora Caves

Not very visible but I was trying to imitate the position of the sculpture in the far left of the background. I think I lost a bit of flexibility 🙂

Temples carved in the rock. Super cool!

A stranger reading a book. Love the light of this photo.

Very atmospheric place.

Somebody is keen to try yoga.

I spy with my little eye…

Ongoing refurbishment.

Daulatabad Fort

Minaret.

The reward after the stress and effort to get to the top.

Ajanta Caves

Some of the caves are unfinished such as the one above.

Wow!

Bibi Ka Maqbara (Baby Taj Mahal)

I am sure if people didn’t pay attention or never been to the Taj Mahal they would not be able to tell the difference 🙂

Money offerings in the background.

Playing with shadows…

Transport

So far catching a bus was sort of straight forward but this one was a real challenge. We had to catch the bus in the middle of the motorway at night time. No bus stand, no sign, nothing. Luckily on this particular occasion the bus gps coordinates were being sent to us live. We managed to wave the bus when it approached but based on the reaction of the bus manager it seemed that they had not planned to stop there in the first place…

Local bus ride to Ajanta and back. By far the most bumpy and adventurous ride I have been on. At some point during the journey the bus hit a bump so hard that anybody who was asleep woke up in absolute fear and those who were awake felt their internal organs coming out of their mouths.

Food