Day 2 Aurangabad, and we decide to relax for the day, though having the trots isnt exactly my idea of relaxation, but fortunately for me, it has calmed down to manageable standards.
We research our next leg of our trip
.
Ive been researching India for years, and much more in the last 6 months.
I had seen photos of Stepwells, in dry regions, that are architectural marvels, they look like inverted temples (google search Indias Stepwells if u are curious)
These stepwells are dotted throughout North West India, mostly Gujarat, and I had made lists of the areas where they were.
Its all very well googling these places, but there are many harsh realities as to getting there.
The immense size of India being the first obstacle.
The difficulty, expense, sheer exhaustion, in travelling to these places only hits you when you are in India.
Having to organise bus/rail tickets, tuk tuks to the departure areas,then tuk tuks from your arrival area, waiting for your bus, being gob smacked by the sight of the mode of transport you are about to travel in, is all overwhelming.
Im so grateful for having had Martina to travel with, because I wouldnt have enjoyed this on my own.
It amazes me how vastly different, different countries, and people, can be.
Travelling Burma on my own for 3 weeks, 3 years ago, was so easy
.
Their Buddhist religion/culture, care of each other, and need of tourists, made one feel welcome.
India is grizzly, manipulative (everyone on the street is out to make a buck), exploitative (extracting that buck), deluding (how much the buck should be), deceptive (were we parted with too many bucks?,cos the whole herd of bucks has parted with us now!)) , and leaves one feeling confused and insecure, because one can never get a clear answer to most questions!
Never the less, lets not sound totally despondent, and bore you to tears, because we have been offered help many a time by the middle class folks travelling between work and their homes, or just on vacation.
They sometimes went out of their way to be helpful, and looked just as confused as us when the prices, answers, didnt sound like reality.
And we have been treated like Rock Stars at all the tourists spots.
Greeted, welcomed, photographed, questioned as to where we come from, wished well,etc.
Gosh, I really digressed there.
On a second assessment of the places I had written down to visit, we realised that there wasnt as much to see, as I had expected
.
Sooo, we opted to do a long haul trek down to Hampi, as Warwick, who had travelled in India for a year (!) said it was well worth a visit.
I go downstairs to the reception clan, and start asking about money exchange, bus tickets, somewhere to get food (Im still hungry!)
They make some calls, the tuk tuk driver still sounds exploitative and pricey
My instinct tells me, hes no good.
After much too-ing and fro-ing, I opt to go find a travel agent myself, these folks prices sound wrong.
I walk to another hotel, and find a tuk tuk driver who I instantly like, he has the answers I need.
Back to our hotel, liase with Martina, we get ourselves together, and the tuk tuk driver takes us 10 minutes away to the travel office (poky little place, friendly people, nothing remotely like western travel agents)
So the complication here, is that there are 3 different travel route options,transport options,and prices, to travel to Hampi, none in a direct route, all via, via other places.
After a very brief blow up between Martina and I in the office (the poor travel agents eyes nearly pop out at these two white women arguing) ,(I mentioned earlier how exhausting organising transport is, and on top of feeling ill, its not easy) ,sigh!
Luckily the brief differing of views proves to be in our favour, because I rellooked at the last option, realised the agent was trying to put us on a upright seated bus, not a sleeper, and I reiterated our preference
.
I finalise the arrangements, pay the hellishly overpriced tickets, and I go in search of the money exchange people.
Western Union is the best money exchange place and doesnt charge commission, unlike the banks!
That done, we go get some food.
So, now you can see how it goes travelling here?
Back to the hotel, its taken all day to sort our trip out, and we are pooped, literally, haha!
The next morning we are up at Sparrows fart, and off to the Ellora caves.
We are feeling more rested than yesterday.
It takes 40 minutes, in the tuk tuk, into lovely countryside.
We walk around in amazement at the enormous size, and expert carving, of temple 16, Kailasha temple, carved out of a solid rockface.
It was astounding!
The rest of the caves are lovely, similar to Ajanta caves, but the surrounding vegetation and area is not as naturally amazing, tho it is beautifully manicured with pretty plants
I will leave the rest of the explanation of these temples/caves to my photos.
Ellora caves
Sunday, October 30, 2016
Aurangabad, Maharashtra, India
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Comments

2025-02-10
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Hester
2016-11-19
Hi Eliese,
Mom is forwarding your mail, boy have got guts to do all this now alone or are your friend staying longer.Your letters are enjoying, We spent 2 mnths in a mission hospital and 1 mnth travelling.The photos are beautiful and most interesting. What happened to the poor guys wife.
Stay well,only eat cooked food.Hope you took lots of tummy meds with. Hester
eliesethogersen
2016-11-20
Hi Hester. lovely to hear from you. Plse send me your email address. I put
yr email on my blog site address lust from the start, perhaps its a
different email address? My friend is back in CT. Im travel on my own now.
Im goin to be in Sri Lanka for 2 months now, relaxing. I know a lady here.
It will be easier now. Luv to Atties. How is your back? luv. Eliese
On Sunday, November 20, 2016, wrote: