Juwal Bose Says

So this was the big event of the whole trip. I squeezed this one in and made everyone else follow suite. Let me tell you that such a trip attempt for 1 day visit from Mumbai to both the caves is something that is to be perfectly planned. We got in our Bus from Thane to Aurangabad at 11 pm at night which was Netha Volvo and the tickets ran at Rs450. We had the pleasure of knowing a tour agency who controlled the ‘Royal cars’ which had bus and cars arranged for travel. An Indica car with AC for the whole day cost Rs3000 and without AC it will be around Rs2000. (Royal Cars owner:9823533532, Mankesh Driver:9765449330). The AC was good and we were in shorts, all pumped up. We reached Aurangabad at 7am the next day.

From Mumbai Trip 20-26 jun 09

The indica was exactly at the spot where we were getting down, we had called the driver to sync up. Now we had to change and freshen up, this was something which we didnt plan ahead. So we had real problem finding a good accomodation for single day and it cost us Rs800, but could have bargained for less if we had time. After a superfast bath we left some of our stuff at the hotel room and started journey to Ajanta. Ajanta is 100 Kms from Aurangabad. Just before we reached Ajanta there was this local Dhaba where we had Poori Bhaji and Milk and it was damn economical.

From Mumbai Trip 20-26 jun 09

The driver told us that there was the Himroo handicrafts sarees available nearby which costed upto 11 lakhs per saree. The Abhi-Ash wedding bulk booked these ones from here, he said. Remnants of old forts and palaces were scattered all the way. We saw the Ajanta village which was enclosed in an old fort fence. We came to Ajanta valley where we needed to take tickets and some other passes. We gave signed agreement that our photos will be used for non commercial purposes. Also there was a ticket for using light inside the cave, which meant we needed to carry extra lights. If we dont have extra light the guides inside the caves had LED torches to help, but you needed to pay them.

From Mumbai Trip 20-26 jun 09

There are AC/non AC buses going up and down the road to Ajanta. You will need to take tickets for these too.

From Mumbai Trip 20-26 jun 09

Guys dont hire external guides, just buy the guide book for Rs20, dont offer anything more than this. The book depicts all the caves you need to visit and the total layout. The initial scene of the horse shoe cave structure was unique and you wont get to see something like this anywhere else. I cant possibly explain the caves and their architecture. There are loads of murals and sculptures inside the caves which are primarily Buddhist.

From Mumbai Trip 20-26 jun 09

In each cave you will get guides who will tell kinds of stories about the murals and how the cave was built. You can give Rs20 in each cave.

From Mumbai Trip 20-26 jun 09

There is a big reclining Buddha in cave number 26 and other good caves can be 9,15,16 and 21.
There is a viewpoint in the middle to the other side of the rived that flows below the horseshoe. There is this small hill which sits in the middle which offers good view of the whole caves structure.
But as we didnt have much time, we hurried back and even skipped the beer parlor at the bottom. Bargained with the shopkeepers around for some pictures of the caves and bought some to be framed later. Now we had to get back all the way to Aurangabad and the start for Ellora. So the driver was speeding away when suddenly one of the tyres was blown away.

From Mumbai Trip 20-26 jun 09

It was the driver who saved the day with his presence of mind and super fast tyre change skills. We skidded for 50 mts on the road until we came to stop. Ellora was 30kms from Aurangabad in another direction. We had our food in a near by hotel. The caves here was spread all around the place and there were Autos running among them. The caves are mixture of Brahmin, Jain and Bhuddha cultures. Hindu carvings were enormous and we just lost our ways inside Kailasa cave.

From Mumbai Trip 20-26 jun 09

We just get to think that these people had nothing else to do back then. Dont miss Cave 16-Kailasa, 6,10, 30, 31 and 32. We misses the Indraprastha caves which were a little far away. The driver had booked return tickets by phone and we saw Daulatabad Fort and panchakki on the way back. Panchakki is just a waste of time and effort, but daulatabad can be a hideous climb to endure. If you loose your step you are a goner.

From Mumbai Trip 20-26 jun 09

At Aurangabad we also had the pleasure to see the Taj replica, Bibi ka Maqbara. It was delightful for me to compare the structures as i had visited the Taj. It looked almost the same if you analysed from far away and thus didnt notice the size difference.

From Mumbai Trip 20-26 jun 09

The caves closed at 6pm, just in case and they are not open on 2 different days(mon/tue) respectively each week. We started back at 9.45 Pm and reached back at Thane at 8 am due to some delay with roadblocks.
We went for shopping the next days and saw 2 movies, Xmen Origins-wolverine and Terminator salvation. T-IV was an opening show at 7.45Am which we enjoyed in an almost empty multiplex with reclining sofa chairs. The journey ended when we got on train at 4.50 back to Kerala. The train journey was fun as we had this full gang of 150 ppl who got on this Garib Rath with out tickets. We had to adjust with them as they had missed their train and paid some money to the TT. These people were manual laborers coming to Kerala. It was so evident fro their expression that they considered Kerala like a heaven, like US for us. Amazing.

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