It's the weekend, so you know what that means...road trip to the Ellora and Ajanta caves! We piled into a mini-van with Sairandhree from the office, her husband and his friend, as well as her kids at ridiculously early o'clock and head out into to Maharashtra countryside.
First stop was the Smiles Stone cafe, which I think is an adorably appropriate name for a highway pit stop for a generous helping of Indian-style nibbles. There was some emu's there too, chilling in their cages, but I don't THINK they were part of breakfast.
A few hours later we arrived at Ellora Caves. These are elaborate monasteries, monk residences, etc. all cut directly out of the mountain-side, one little chisel mark at a time. There was an assortment of religions represented. Buddhism was first - the acoustics in their carved out caves were phenomenal. Our guide belted out some prayers and the sound was outer-worldly. Next up was Hindu - and the shear size and detail put into their entire complex boggled the mind. Ten generations of people tireless chipping away at the mountain side to reveal a whole villa of buildings. Unreal. Jainism also represented at Ellora, but we skipped their entries as they were somewhat far away and not overly decorated (too plain Jain?)
After some lunch, it was off to Dalutabad fort - whose defenses were never breached. And I can see why. There were fully seven walls with various detriments to any army who got in their mind to invade central India. Moat with crocodiles? Check. Spikes on the doors to prevent elephants from bashing the down? Check. (Although this can be countered by using a camel as 'padding.') Twisty pitch black maze with ambush points, with a bonus swarm of bats? Check - they're in my hair, they're in my HAIR!
This is where I learned I am a celebrity. All day I was getting constant requests for locals to take their picture with me. Just one more, they'd ask. Yes, my pasty white skin made me all the rage and since they were so friendly, I gladly obliged.
We caught a few more sights too as we drove into Aurangabad for the night. An old watermill and a smaller knock-off version of the Taj Majal. At this point I was totally wiped and beat a hasty retreat to my hotel room to crash so we could repeat it all again tomorrow.
First stop was the Smiles Stone cafe, which I think is an adorably appropriate name for a highway pit stop for a generous helping of Indian-style nibbles. There was some emu's there too, chilling in their cages, but I don't THINK they were part of breakfast.
A few hours later we arrived at Ellora Caves. These are elaborate monasteries, monk residences, etc. all cut directly out of the mountain-side, one little chisel mark at a time. There was an assortment of religions represented. Buddhism was first - the acoustics in their carved out caves were phenomenal. Our guide belted out some prayers and the sound was outer-worldly. Next up was Hindu - and the shear size and detail put into their entire complex boggled the mind. Ten generations of people tireless chipping away at the mountain side to reveal a whole villa of buildings. Unreal. Jainism also represented at Ellora, but we skipped their entries as they were somewhat far away and not overly decorated (too plain Jain?)
After some lunch, it was off to Dalutabad fort - whose defenses were never breached. And I can see why. There were fully seven walls with various detriments to any army who got in their mind to invade central India. Moat with crocodiles? Check. Spikes on the doors to prevent elephants from bashing the down? Check. (Although this can be countered by using a camel as 'padding.') Twisty pitch black maze with ambush points, with a bonus swarm of bats? Check - they're in my hair, they're in my HAIR!
This is where I learned I am a celebrity. All day I was getting constant requests for locals to take their picture with me. Just one more, they'd ask. Yes, my pasty white skin made me all the rage and since they were so friendly, I gladly obliged.
We caught a few more sights too as we drove into Aurangabad for the night. An old watermill and a smaller knock-off version of the Taj Majal. At this point I was totally wiped and beat a hasty retreat to my hotel room to crash so we could repeat it all again tomorrow.
Dalutabad sounds like the inspiration for Dros Delnoch.
ReplyDeleteI didn't like people asking for photos all the time. We were told that young men will tell everyone that we're they're girlfriend using the photos - it reinforces the stereotype that white girls are easy. I refused photos as much as possible.
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