Aurangabad

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Our foray ino the dark world of Bijapur's eateries came back to bite us with a dose of the dreaded Delhi Belly. An already torturous 10½hr bus journey to Aurangabad was made all the worse with bad stomach cramps. We arrived into Aurangabad and it felt like we had stepped into the twilight zone. Every day for six hours this city has no power and it has been this way for three years!! We learned very quickly that none of the budget hotels had back up generators. Despite being sick, sore and tired we decided to suck it up and we checked into a basic room with air con (when the power was on) for about Є11. A few miserable days were spent with sick bellies, no power and frequently no water. On a sortie to find some good old, plain cereal and toast, we stumbled upon a smart looking business hotel. While we were here we were approached by the manager to look at their rooms. At Є120 per night and 8 nights left in Aurangabad we thought 'pie in the sky' but what the heck! Of course, the room was fab and made our current lodgings all the more depressing. The reduced rate being offered by the manager was just over Є75 per night, still over our budget. After polite refusal this was further reduced to Є42. With 24/7 air-con, hot water, cable tv, wifi and breakfast included we simply counldn't say no. (Well, Vinny might have been able to until I convinced him that he couldn't, not that it took much convincing!!) Our improved lodgings certainly perked us up and set us on the road to recovery. After a few days we were all set to get out and about seeing the sights. Aurangabad is the jumping off point for two World Heritage sights - the Ellora and Ajanta caves. The Ellora Caves are breathtaking. Cave 16, home to the Kailasa Temple, is a stunning masterpiece. It was hewn out of rock over a 150 year period by 7,000 labourers who removed 200,000 tonnes of rock. The sheer size of the temple was impossible to capture in photos. The Ajanta Caves are older but much smaller in scale. Whilst not as impressive, they have wonderful paintings on the ceilings and walls. The caves are in a horse shoe shaped ravine and had been hidden by trees and jungle until 1819. A number of sights are dotted around the outskirts of the city, the most impressive that we visited was Dualatabad Fort. This ruined magnificent fortress sits on top of a 200m high hill. On our way up to the summit, we passed through several ingenious defences - doorways with spike studded doors to prevent elephant charges, pitch black spiralling tunnels to confuse invaders and used to hurl down burning coals, arrows and boiling water on the enemy. It seems pretty impenetrable but allegedly the fort was once taken when a guard at the gate was bribed. The power of baksheesh, it seems, was alive and well back then too!!

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