Blogs from Ellora Caves, Maharashtra, India, Asia
March 2nd 2012
I am feeling healthy today, still disappointed with the food but there is nothing new about that, when we departed Beed I had a bag of chips and a carton of mango juice to break my fast. It took us perhaps three hours to drive to the fifty two thousand year old basalt crater at Lonar which was filled with a salty green lake with a circumference of 1.8 kilometres and a deciduous forest. A very impressive sight, there are sixteen temples built around the lake some of which were quite attractive. After checking out the crater we had an excellent lunch (eggs and chapatis for me) before visiting a couple of interesting old temples around the town. From here we made the long drive to Aurangabad arriving in the late afternoon, I noticed a pizza ... read more
Bush camping and a whole lot of Caves
Published: February 5th 2012Asia » India » Maharashtra » Ellora Caves
February 5th 2012
We left Udaipur early (as always) and headed south, the next 4 nights would be spent camping, 3 of these in the wild. Despite the early start I made sure to get up in time to take a shower as I was all too aware that I would be smelling and feeling pretty savage after 4 days without a shower. We covered a decent distance today crossing from the dry and mostly flat deserts of Rajasthan into the soaring valleys of Uttar Pradesh, many of these lush and green (albeit because of manmade irrigation). The change in scenery across a relatively small timeframe was dramatic as was the rise in temperature and for the first time on the tour my very white bean poles were exposed to the Indian sun (and very happy they were about ... read more
October 9th 2011
Wednesday night: 4-day weekend! It’s Dusshera tomorrow (well, technically today as I have begun writing this at past midnight) and the next day so we have Thursday and Friday off as well as the weekend. And it can’t come soon enough..it feels like an age since the summer holidays.. Anna and I are continuing our once-a-month-getaway from Bangalore by making a trip to see the Ellora Caves and anything else in the area. To do this we have to fly to Mumbai, then to Aurangabad and use that as a base from which to travel to the caves around 30km from there. At this present time I’m sitting in a rather uncomfortable black chair, one of many joined by the arm here in Mumbai airport at nearly half-past midnight. A 6-hour wait here in Mumbai airport ... read more
April 16th 2011
Ellora Caves is a World Heritage site, that until I arrived in Ajanta, I had never heard of. On meeting Tatiana (a french girl), she told me of her plans to go there after Ajanta. She also told me that she had already paid for the taxi and I was welcome to come along if I wanted. It didn't take much arm twisting and after Ajanta I found myself arguing with a greedy taxi driver who wanted an extra 1000 Rupee (17 Euros) for taking me. As he had already charged the newly arrived Tatiana about 1500 Rupee more than the going rate, I took exception to his racial profiling based greed and eventually won the argument. Having already ripped off Tatiana earlier he had obviously decided that all his Christmases had come at once and ... read more
March 12th 2011
Hola a todos, ya os escribo desde España donde llevo una semana, en los ultimos dias del viaje estuve en Ellora de camino hacia Bombai donde cogi mi vuelo de vuelta. Todo ha ido muy bien, solo he tenido bastante Jet Lag, durante 5 dias, pero muy contento de estar en casa con la familia. Los ultimos dias los he pasado en Bombai haciendo algunas compras en espera de mi vuelo, y antes pude parar dos dias para ver las famosas Cuevas de Ellora, declarado Patrimonio Mundial de la Humanidad por la Unesco donde sobre una montana de piedra y durante maqs de 500 años, esculpieron 34 cuevas con increibles pilares y esculturas, templos y monasterios, entre los siglos VII y XIII Ellorā es una localidad de la India, antiguamente conocida con el sobrenombre de Elapurā, ... read more
April 23rd 2010
Temple Madness An overnight bus took us from Hampi to Mumbai, where we happily killed a few hours at Leopold's ( bar made famous by the must-read book Shantaram), before boarding a rather crowded train for the 9 hours to Aurangabad. We stayed here mostly as a base to use for visiting the famous Ellora caves. However this town had a few tricks up its sleeves...a 'mini Taj Mahal',(built by the son of Shah Jahan), did indeed look a lot like the real thing, but sadly the craftsmanship and materials used were vastly inferior, nevertheless, i struck my "Diana" pose on the bench, and we had a fun visit. Driving back from an excursion one day we spied an Indian wedding, about 150 excited Indians dancing around the groom riding his white horse, everyone enjoying the ... read more
November 27th 2009
Over the course of a couple days we paid visit to the stunning cave temples of Ellora & Ajanta. Ellora is a grouping of 34 cave temples of Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist origin. The crowning temple of this group was the Kailasa temple, a 1500 year old Hindu temple dedicated to Shiva, which is the worlds largest monolithic structure. The complex was completely awe-inspiring: intricate carvings, massive pillars, and serene statues making for an experience of a lifetime. Though Ajanta's 30 Buddhist shrines didn't match Ellora in terms of scale they definitely were every bit as magical of a sight to behold. The focus of Ajanta was the intricate paintings found within the caves that have survived for around 2000 years. Ajanta's layout was also more deliberate and serene than Ellora's; the temples were set in ... read more
September 27th 2009
My first journey on the Indian railway network went off without any hitches. Punctuated by the frequent cries of 'chai-wallah, chai-wallah, chai chai chai', our train worked its way slowly out of the sprawling mass of Mumbai and into the Maharashtra countryside, arriving in Aurangabad in the evening. My reason for travelling east, besides escaping Mumbai, was to visit two of India's World Heritage Sites - the cave temple complexes at Ellora and Ajanta. Built from the 2nd century BC onwards, the two sites - 30km and 105km from Aurangabad respectively, represent an astonishing collection of Hindu, Bhuddist and Jain temples, with intricate carving and beautiful paintings. After spending the night in Aurangabad, I caught a local bus the next morning to Ellora with an Auzzie couple called Ally and Murray. Ellora contains 34 cave temples ... read more
December 20th 2008
We spent Wednesday and Thursday in Ellora, a little country town close to the city of Aurangabad, visiting the caves, a world heritage site, a mix of three major religions. Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism. From Mumbai to Aurangabad the Bus journey took us 9 hours through the night. We had spent the entire day just chilling out nearby the Bus station in Mumbai, taking care of some last minute internet complications, exchanging our Aussie Dollars and chilling out in the Park. A couple of hours before boarding the Bus, we treated ourselves to a cold Beer and a Gin mix at a cozy mid 70’s type Bar/Restaurant. The Bus ride was surprisingly comfortable, I happily drooled all over my husband to be, lost in a sea of dreams of his own. We hopped into a taxi ... read more
December 14th 2008
The Ellora Caves, just North of Aurangabad was another small day trip we embarked on. Suppose to exceed the Caves of Ajanta, so should be good, even though both of us under the weather. Cave 16(of 34), is Kailasa Temple. Built by 760 AD, this rock cut temple was seriously carved out of the rock hillside. Some 200,000 tonnes of rock carried out and then intricately formed a temple, with rooms and everything! Totally impressive! The entire thing is one rock, not built up with different rocks. Enough explanation I hope. Anyways the Temple is to be Shivas home in the Himalayas, Mount Kailash (in Tibet). From start to finish it was estimated to have taken over 200 years to carve. What a sight!... read more
