Blogs from Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh, India, Asia

An early visit to the Undavalli cave temples was a highlight, carved from solid rock by Buddhists in the second century and adapted in the 7th by the Hindus the third level has a wonderful carved figure of a reclining Vishnu. The next hour or two was through rural countryside to the archeological site at Amaravathi where the remains of India's largest Buddhist stupa built at the orders of Ashoka in the 3rd century BC. Much of the carved stone that decorated the stupa are now in the British museum but a few pieces remain in the onsite museum. In the trees nearby was a fruit bat colony and some nesting birds. We traveled further north west to the Buddhist site at Nagarjunakonda which sits on an island in a lake created by the damming of ... read more