aurangabad, puna, and goa

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hi all. after some fears about the comfort of our train journey, we were plesently suprised to find that the people we had book our tour with had put us in the top class! we were in air conditioned heaven! we had our own bed and pillows and sheets, a lot different to the wooden chair i had imagined! the journey went smoothly and the 20 hours seemed to fly by!

we arrive in aurangabad at 12 the next day and after being kissed and being forced to kiss (on the hand by the way!) by some random indian drink seller, we made our way to our hostel. the first thing i noticed about being further south was that it was a lot cooler. there is a nice breeze here and the sun is not as hot. its quite a relief really as up in rajasthan in the north, it gets unbarably hot.

after lunch of a veggie dosa, and half a kilo of black forest gateau!!! (not all eaten by me!) we went back to the hostel. we spent the rest of the day sorting out how to get to the ajanta caves and the ellora caves. we decided to go with a private driver as for 50rs more, we get to have longer at the caves. if we went on a tour we would only have 2-3 hours. later that night we went to the circus! i was very excited as i dont think i have been to one before! we were sat in the cheap seats of course and it started off quite good with some acrobats etc. they then started to bring out the elephants and other performing animals. this i didnt like as the elephants looked really sad! when it started to rain and the water was coming throught the tent roof, we decided to make a run for it. india has a history of flooding when it rains and we have been cought up in that one too many times!

on the 7th of september, we spent the day at the ajanta caves. there are about 30 caves that are hand carved into the mountain side by buddhist monks. the caves were full of sculptures and paintings and there were amazing. in one of the caves, if you tap the pillars, they sound a note that rings through the whole cave. i would have loved to know how they managed this!

bit random but, we have seen a few funerals on the side of the road. there is always a huge procession of men followed by what can only be described as a coffin covered in colourful material being carried by two or four men. its quite a sight to see and obviously quite sad. just to throw that in there!

the next day (the 8th of sept) we went to the ellora caves. first we stopped at yet another fort called the daulatabad fort. some royal person (i think he was called arangazeb) decided to make a new capital within the fort. he marched the whole population of delhi the 1100km to the fort to populate it. after a few years, the fort was proven not worthy of being a capital and the delhi residents started to slope back to delhi. the fort is almost in ruins now but iw was pretty cool wandering around.

after the fort we went to the ellora caves. to be honest, after seing the ajanta caves, we were a bit dissappointed. the best cave was cave 16 which was huge and full of sculptures. the rest appeared unfinished in a way. i think if we had seen these caves first, they would have been amazing!

after the ellora caves, we went to see a water wheel. when we got there it looked like a garden centre pond with no sign of a wheel! we searched and eventually found one tucked in a corner behind a little door. talk about false advertising lonely planet! it does baffle me though that there are two rates of entry into sights. the indians normally pay 5 or 10 rs where as the foreigners pay between 100 and 250rs. i dont understand why!

the nest day we were due to catch a bus to puna. after nearly missing it from having a rubbish taxi driver ( and he tried to charge us more for the extra distance he went!) we spent the next 5 hours sleeping! we arrived in puna around mid day and we were kind of using this place as a mid way stop on the way to goa. in puna we went to a gandhi museum. it was quite interesting if not a little sporadic. we saw the place where his ashes were resting and it was quite humbling to stand infront of such an influential charector. although i did feel slightly unworthy as i know relatively nothing about his life.

puna was quite a western city with one half on the river being traditional indian and the other was really western. the divide was amazing. i also got my first taste of proper street food! its long time overdue i know, but it was well worth the wait! i dont know what it was called but it was kind of a spicy potatoe and veg pattie come fish cake thing. and for 4rs each, what a bargin!

after puna we were due to get on the 15 hour tain to goa. we were in a lower class this time but to be honest, it was a lot better! we ended up making friends with a few army cadets and learning a bit about the indian army and there punishments. why they join, i dont know! one of the boys couldnt lie on his back as he had been made to roll in gravel for god knows how long! they journey was good and at around 5 am, i looked out of the window into the dark mountains and i saw the most amazing waterfalls. they ware flowing bright white and against the black of the wet stone, they looked increddible.

so, were in goa now and we have a few days here. we then leave for bombay on the 15th and then off to singapore on the 18th!

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