Aurangabad/Ajanta Caves

On Tuesday the 12th some of us head to the Ajanta Caves. Ideally this trip would have taken place on Monday the 11th when we had time for a longer day, but these caves were closed on Monday.  So 7 travelers and the guide begin a two hour bus ride at 730. We will have to be back by 3 to pick up the other four and fly out to Mumbai at 5.

The bus driver goes as fast as he can on this no center line busy road. Passing is any time he looks bigger than what is coming.  Bill is sitting in the front and gets the full benefit of the way we cut in and dodge oncoming traffic.  Once we are three abreast all going the same way with us in the middle. We are passing a truck and a car is passing us. Woe to any motorcycles coming the other way. We pass three over turned trucks and a trashed motorcycle.

At least three to a motorcycle

Busy road. Driver on the right and assistant for hand signals on the left

Baby is sleeping

Lots of farm trucks are on the road hauling cotton, just stuffed in and covered, not baled and sugar cane. We pass migrant farm worker families moving on as it is near the end of the harvest season here.  They all ride in large wooden carts with all their possessions pulled by bullocks.

Passing the migrant workers

The Ajanta Caves consist of 30 rock cut caves excavated in a horse-shoe panorama on the Waghora River. The river is mostly dry now because of drought.  The caves belong to two phases of Buddhism, the Hinayana Phase from the second century BC to the first century AD and the Mahayana Phase from the 5th century AD to the 6th century AD.  They consist of shrines and monasteries richly decorated with carving, statuary and paintings.

The caves had been over grown and covered with rubble and were rediscovered by a British man on a tiger hunt in the 1890's.  The locals always knew they were there, but considered them haunted.

It took us more like 2 1/2 hours to get to the caves and by the time we walk through some shops to the Ajanta Cave buses and the guide purchases tickets time is slipping away. There are lots of stairs up to the caves and I would be slow. So I and one other woman go up by sedan chair. Maharini for a day. Up the stairs I go.

It is socks or bare feet in each cave and they are hot and airless, but wonderful. No flash, so the pictures are a bit dark.  My favorite is the sleeping Buddha with Bill.

We race back even faster than we came, trying for 3, but it is closer to 330.  Lucky for us the Aurangabad airport has only 2 flights per day. One to Delhi and one to Mumbai.  We breeze through, as we are seasoned travelers now.

Everyone goes their separate ways at the Mumbai Airport. We take a room for a short night.  Some are staying at the airport to make a 3 AM flight. Our tour leaders will stay in India for another 2 weeks.

Wednesday February 13th we are up at 4 and at the international terminal sipping a latte by 530.  Our flight is off at 8 for a short 4 hour hop to Bangkok. We are now on our own!

It  is hot in Bangkok. We walk around in the Patpong night market around the corner after dinner. "Best deal here." The song "One Night in Bangkok" from the musical Chess, 1985, is running through my head.

Mumbai and Aurangabad

On Saturday after a flight from Kolkata to Mumbai, we check in at the Taj Mahal Palace. This is the grand hotel in Mumbai. The older part was built in 1903 when the even then wealthy Mr. Tata was refused entry to a British hotel because he was brown. The Tata's are now the wealthiest family in India and one of the wealthiest in the world. They still own the line of Taj hotels as well as car/truck companies plus many other businesses. The Palace is over the top luxurious. At $600/night we would not be staying in a place like this except as part of a tour that gets a break on the price. The buffet lunch would be $66 a piece. We chose something less pricey off the menu (hamburger and fries for USD $22).

We stay in the new tower addition

Our guide looks like a tiny guru.

 We head off on foot through the gate called the Gateway to India for a one hour tour boat ride out to the Elephanta Caves. We have to hop from boat to boat to disembark and take a putt putt train to the bottom of the hill that we will climb up to the main cave.

These caves were carved out of solid rock as Hindu temples beginning in 200 BC. When the Portuguese arrived here they destroyed some of the statues.

There are 120 steps up cave #1, the biggest and best one, through a gauntlet of vender stands. About 1,000 people live on the island, venders and guards. Also monkeys, cows and goats.

Although you can pay for a ride up in a sedan chair, I make it up myself, slowly. Cave number one is a temple to Shiva. We learn a lot about Shiva. The multiple head of Shiva is the most famous statue.

The famous multiple heads of Shiva

It is dark as we arrive back at the dock at the Gateway. The open area teams with venders; still, the whole thing has the feel of the Malecon at Puerto Vallarta.

Sunday morning we have a drive around Mumbai. We see Victoria Terminus, a fancy railway station. At least on the exterior. The gutters end in gargoyle water spouts like European cathedrals.

Victoria Terminus

The hanging gardens are gardens on soil placed on top of a huge water tank that serves Mumbai. Topiaries and exotic flowering plants are abundant.

the hanging gardens

kites taking off

Kite on a rubbish pile

 The kites (large raptors) are sitting on some piles of dirt and plant debris and carrying off bits. To built nests? The kites are coming from the quiet tower where the Pharsee sect places their dead. The Pharsees are an ancient sect of Zoroastrians who worship a fire god and believe that bodies of the dead should be placed in the open to decay. The Pharsees also do not allow marriage outside the sect and allow no one to join the sect. They are reduced to marrying cousins and this has caused problems with lack of genetic diversity. The Tata's are Pharsees.

The quiet tower where the Pharsee dead are laid out

We also see the largest single family house in the world with 27 floors. But the family does not live here. Bad Feng Shui.

The tall house in the background is the biggest private dwelling in the world.

a Sufi saint is buried here

A shopping stop where I buy a caftan and a shawl and William buys a shirt.

Another long train ride. We are in coach and arrive in Aurangabad after dark. Our guide finds us quickly and we hustle out to the bus. William and I manage our cases, because even though we are staying abroad for 2 ½ more months, we packed light. We can rinse out our clothes and they dry over night. Some others have huge incredibly heavy cases that are hard to manage and by this stage of the trip are more than half full of dirty clothes.

Monday February the 11^th

We ride the bus for about an hour to the Ellora caves. The first cave we see is a Jain cave. This cave was carved and used as a temple in the 11^th century AD. The Jain deities look like Buddha statues except for the fact that they are naked. The figures are stylized carvings so that the Jain carvings look like Buddhist carvings which look like Hindu carvings.

The next cave we visit is the Buddhist monastery and temple. The acoustics are phenomenal. Our guide does a chant to demonstrate. A lovely image of Buddha is in front of a stupa. The roof is carved to look like it is made of arched wooden ribs.

Me and Buddha

The last temple is a Hindu temple. This is a Shiva temple with the interior temple carved in the form of a giant chariot resting on the backs of elephants.

The chisel marks are plain on the ceiling

We also go to the mini Taj Mahal. A smaller tomb built in a smaller style to the Taj Mahal.

We arrive back in time for Wm to go for a swim and to take some pictures of the grounds.

This is also a Taj Hotel

We make the obligatory shopping stop, but Bill and I are shopped out for now. I might have bought a necklace, but I can't find exactly what I want to go with my new shawl.

Kolkata(Calcutta)

Friday the 8^th we sight-see in Kolkata. First we go to Mother Teresa's Motherhouse.

Mother Teresa's tomb

We walk to the Kali Temple. There is a sook like area of shops outside the temple courtyard.

The food seller has his little boy with him. Over in the corner are food bowls made out of leaves pinned in a cone shape with a sharp piece of wood. Other leaf bowls and plates are pressed into bowl and plate shapes. Very green food service.

the tree planted by bird poop is growing out of the side of the house. People keep them and only cut them down if they threaten to destroy the house.

A goat was sacrificed for the Kali temple.

Over kill on this 8 foot high wall. Topped with broken glass, nails and spikes.

coconut water

William buys me a set of bracelets that signify a Bengali woman is married.

Me with the red and white shell braclets

in the shops

shops

a dog just had puppies. Most dogs are strays.

a ritual first haircut for this boy

Chopping the coconut

have some

 The story about the temple location is that the goddess Kali was cut into pieces and where the pieces landed a temple was set up. Her toe landed here.

A Jain temple

On to the Victoria Memorial Museum. Very dusty exhibits inside shows a lack of a proper curator.

Victoria Memorial

Where some defeated British soldiers perished in the black hole of Calcutta