Blogs from Ellora Caves, Maharashtra, India, Asia

Pictures from the caves. I wish I had had a better camera. Some of the pictures are so dark.... read more

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

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

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

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