Caves Aplenty

When I left off the recounting of my India travels, Panda chan was about to arrive in Mumbai. Over the next two weeks, my trip was to change dramatically, for the better. Not only did I start staying in MUCH nicer hotels, but having Panda chan there meant not only was I no longer facing the solitude of traveling alone, but the trip became a lot more fun (still difficult, and still tiring, but more fun).

Additionally, three themes emerged out of all that we did together. The first I'll cover is caves, as in cave temples; the second is beach, as in Goa (which I think I touched on briefly during a break while we were there); and the third is shopping (I won't go into too much detail, but I'm sure you can use your imagination...)

When Panda chan arrived in Mumbai, I figured instead of diving right into the chaos that is India, we'd take a litle bit of a side trip outside of the city. Her flight arrived at night, so the next morning we headed out to India Gate and caught a ferry out to the famous Elephant Island. An hour or so outside of the city, it's worlds away from the hustle and bustle of Mumbai, as well as the pollution, the crowds, the poverty, the noise (you get the idea).

There's a lot of greenery on the island, as well as several mountains. To get to the main area, you have to hike up maybe 20 minutes or so of steps/path. The main sightseeing area was made up of 3 or 4 caves, each of which held temples built over a thousand years ago. The most impressive of them had MASSIVE carvings on the side of the cave walls, of religious figures and gods. And I mean massive, as in probably close to 10 feet tall. Very impressive.

But, in the end, they were just a drop in the bucket compared to what we found a few days later in the cave temple complexes at Ejanta and Allora. While all three complexes are UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Ejanta and Allora are definitely worth the extra travel outside of Mumbai. They are each about an hour or two away from the city of Aurangabad (in opposite directions), which is itself 6 or 7 hours away from Mumbai. We stayed in the Taj hotel in Aurangabad, and ended up hiring a car and driver for the two days of exploring.

What to say about these two amazing displays of human ingenuity, from nearly 2000 years ago? Unfortunately, as I'm traveling right now and don't have access to all of the pictures I took, I can't upload anything just yet (I'll try soon, though), but you can check out http://www.travel-pictures-gallery.net/india/ajanta-ellora/ajanta-ellora-main-1.html for just a taste (my pictures are more numerous, and better, if I do say so myself, although at least theirs are actually uploaded...).

Both sites were incredible -- Ajanta, for it's Buddhist paintings, that are still visible on cave walls 1500 years later. And Ellora for the sheer scale and number of the caves (over 30), built by Jain, Buddhist and Hindu monks throughout the centuries.

Without a doubt, though, the singlemost impressive cave was at Ellora. One of the caves (I forget which number -- 17?), is really known as the main attraction, and with good reason. This particular cave wasn't built IN by the monks from the outside, it was built DOWN from the TOP of the mountain. Furthermore, both the size and the exquisite detail are breathtaking. It really felt like something out of a movie or a video game, as if computer graphics of some forgotten ruin were brought to life.

All in all, despite being sick for much of the two days (well, much of the whole 5 weeks, really), Ajanta and Ellora were major highlights of the entire trip. Definitely highly recommended (should one happen to find oneself traveling in India).