Today was a full day and a very good day. These photos do not do it justice...
I was up early as I wanted to have a good amount of time in Ellora. I had an awesome breakfast at the hotel in my room - I love Upam. I then took a Ricksaw to the train station. I was worried that my train ticket to Palampur has not been confirmed and I am really high up on the waiting list so I wanted to buy another ticket to ensure I would get a seat. I thought that this might take ages and be really hard with the language issue and the general amount of queuing necessary in India to get any thing done. However, in fact I was only waiting 5 minutes before getting to see a man who spoke fanatistic English and was really helpful. He tired several options and eventually got me an emergency ticket which starts from a different station (as the quota was full from the station I wanted to leave from). I had to pay slightly more but I now have a confirmed ticket and I can stop worrying about it.
It was about 9.30 by the time I had returned from the station put on my biking clothes and packed up. I took one last look out of my veranda and saw an old man bent double hobbling on crutches. I find it very difficult to see such things. For all the wastage that we have with social security in the UK, I am much happier to deal with the inefficiencies than to have no social security to look after unfortunately people in this situation. I saw the same man only 100m down the street when I passed him on my bike and stopped to give him 500RS (same amount as I paid to stay in the hotel last night). I know I am an idiot and this will probably be stolen from him and go to the wrong people but I could not help myself this time. I am so fortunate to be able to bike round the world and not work for a year. This man must have such a miserable existence. India is an amazing country with so much going for it but it as a long way to go in terms of education and support for the less fortunate.
I am getting used to Indian traffic now and it was no big deal to bike out of town. I would have liked to spend a little longer there buying some Western things I need which are not available in the rural towns I have been passing through and using the internet but I needed to push on to the caves.
I arrived at the town of Khuldabad, 4 km South of Ellora, at about 12 and had a look around for a cheap lodge (I had been told that the ones right next to the caves are very expensive). The town itself is a Muslim town with lovely little lanes and old architecture. I image that it has not changed very much in the last 500 years. The town is a tourist attraction in itself with the tome of Aurangazeb's Tomb, a fort, a dam and a huge Mosque in the middle. I did get more stares than usual as I biked through town. There were no lodges in the town and so I went back to the highway and checked in a great place with a huge room. They were kind enough to give me a discount of 200RS and I got the room for 300RS. I left all of my bags there and changed into trousers and a top and cycled to the caves. It was downhill all the way. I really enjoyed biking without all of my bags and helmet etc. It was so light and I got up one hell of a speed going down the hill. Such a big kid.....
I had a light lunch of daal fry at one of the restaurants outside of the caves and a fresh orange juice and then tied up my bike and went to the caves.
They really where very impressive - well worth its status as a Uneso World Heritage Site. It was well worth my detour to go and see them. There are 34 caves all along one stretch of cliff. They cover and area of 18km apparently...... It is only about 4km from one end to the other though. There are 3 sections of caves: Buddhist, Jain and Bramhan. Wikipeadia can describe it better than I can:
Ellora (Marathi: वेरूळ) is an archaeological site, 30 km (19 mi) from the city of Aurangabad in the Indian state of Maharashtra built by the Rashtrakuta (Kannada: ರಾಷ್ಟ್ರಕೂಟ) rulers. Well-known for its monumental caves, Ellora is a World Heritage Site.[1] Ellora represents the epitome of Indian rock-cut architecture. The 34 "caves" – actually structures excavated out of the vertical face of the Charanandri hills – being Buddhist, Hindu and Jain rock-cut temples and monasteries, were built between the 5th century and 10th century. The 12 Buddhist (caves 1–12), 17 Hindu (caves 13–29) and 5 Jain (caves 30–34) caves, built in proximity, demonstrate the religious harmony prevalent during this period of Indian history.
The most impressive is cave 16 - right in the middle by the main entrance. This is less of a cave and more of a huge sculpture. It is insane - it took about 100 years to carve. It is difficult to describe..... I spent ages walking round this.
This is the description from Wikipedia:
There were big groups of Japanese tourists - all with umbrellas and covered up. Unfortunately they were very rude and wondered round like they owned the place.
I also noticed in the old monuments that plug sockets had been built into the walls and there was wiring in various places... It did effect the appreciation of the ancient structures.
It was funny as there was a huge Indian family wondering round the caves that I met towards the beginning of the day. They did not speak much English but one of the older women came up to me and asked me to take a photo of her and 2 other older female members of the family. I did as requested but each time I took a shot more people entered the photo and asked me to take a new photo. In the end I took a photo with the whole group of about 40. They then took a photo with me as well. As I wondered round different caves we kept on bumping in to each other and so each time when they were posing for a family photo I came along and took one too. I have loads of photos of the same group. It ended up being one big joke with me and them in fits of giggles. I love the way that childish humor can pass the language barrier.
There was another guy that I met in many different caves as I wondered round; a Danish Tour Guide who is currently traveling round India taking photos professionally and exploring so that he can plan group tours later on. We had a good natter and he gave me some advise on my camera. As a tripod is not allowed in the caves (I think the owners want the rights on the professional photographs) he carries around with him a bag of coriander seeds. It is light and can be used easily to position the camera. Good idea. I had a play around with it.
There were also a couple of Spanish guys that I bumped into several times. At about 5ish when most of the tourist had left, I found them having a siesta in cave 34 (the cave furthest away from the entrance). It was very atmospheric in there because music was carrying from the temple not very far away and there was a lovely cool breeze in the caves and the light was beautiful. Very serene. I just sat for a while and enjoyed the moment.
There were 4 huge bee hives right next to one of the caves. I have never seen anything like it..... Cool!
I left the caves at 6 with enough time to get back to my lodge before dark. It was an easy 4km climb back up to the lodge as I had no luggage.... I went for a very early Chinese for dinner at a restaurant just down the road from the lodge. Chinese in India is very different to Chinese in England (or Chinese in China for that matter). I can't really even describe it. What I had was fake noodles and a very sweet sauce... not one of the best meals I have ever had.
I did some faffing with my photos when I got back, washed my clothes (I'm so feed up with this now), read some of my book and had an early night :-)
I was up early as I wanted to have a good amount of time in Ellora. I had an awesome breakfast at the hotel in my room - I love Upam. I then took a Ricksaw to the train station. I was worried that my train ticket to Palampur has not been confirmed and I am really high up on the waiting list so I wanted to buy another ticket to ensure I would get a seat. I thought that this might take ages and be really hard with the language issue and the general amount of queuing necessary in India to get any thing done. However, in fact I was only waiting 5 minutes before getting to see a man who spoke fanatistic English and was really helpful. He tired several options and eventually got me an emergency ticket which starts from a different station (as the quota was full from the station I wanted to leave from). I had to pay slightly more but I now have a confirmed ticket and I can stop worrying about it.
It was about 9.30 by the time I had returned from the station put on my biking clothes and packed up. I took one last look out of my veranda and saw an old man bent double hobbling on crutches. I find it very difficult to see such things. For all the wastage that we have with social security in the UK, I am much happier to deal with the inefficiencies than to have no social security to look after unfortunately people in this situation. I saw the same man only 100m down the street when I passed him on my bike and stopped to give him 500RS (same amount as I paid to stay in the hotel last night). I know I am an idiot and this will probably be stolen from him and go to the wrong people but I could not help myself this time. I am so fortunate to be able to bike round the world and not work for a year. This man must have such a miserable existence. India is an amazing country with so much going for it but it as a long way to go in terms of education and support for the less fortunate.
I am getting used to Indian traffic now and it was no big deal to bike out of town. I would have liked to spend a little longer there buying some Western things I need which are not available in the rural towns I have been passing through and using the internet but I needed to push on to the caves.
I arrived at the town of Khuldabad, 4 km South of Ellora, at about 12 and had a look around for a cheap lodge (I had been told that the ones right next to the caves are very expensive). The town itself is a Muslim town with lovely little lanes and old architecture. I image that it has not changed very much in the last 500 years. The town is a tourist attraction in itself with the tome of Aurangazeb's Tomb, a fort, a dam and a huge Mosque in the middle. I did get more stares than usual as I biked through town. There were no lodges in the town and so I went back to the highway and checked in a great place with a huge room. They were kind enough to give me a discount of 200RS and I got the room for 300RS. I left all of my bags there and changed into trousers and a top and cycled to the caves. It was downhill all the way. I really enjoyed biking without all of my bags and helmet etc. It was so light and I got up one hell of a speed going down the hill. Such a big kid.....
I had a light lunch of daal fry at one of the restaurants outside of the caves and a fresh orange juice and then tied up my bike and went to the caves.
They really where very impressive - well worth its status as a Uneso World Heritage Site. It was well worth my detour to go and see them. There are 34 caves all along one stretch of cliff. They cover and area of 18km apparently...... It is only about 4km from one end to the other though. There are 3 sections of caves: Buddhist, Jain and Bramhan. Wikipeadia can describe it better than I can:
Ellora (Marathi: वेरूळ) is an archaeological site, 30 km (19 mi) from the city of Aurangabad in the Indian state of Maharashtra built by the Rashtrakuta (Kannada: ರಾಷ್ಟ್ರಕೂಟ) rulers. Well-known for its monumental caves, Ellora is a World Heritage Site.[1] Ellora represents the epitome of Indian rock-cut architecture. The 34 "caves" – actually structures excavated out of the vertical face of the Charanandri hills – being Buddhist, Hindu and Jain rock-cut temples and monasteries, were built between the 5th century and 10th century. The 12 Buddhist (caves 1–12), 17 Hindu (caves 13–29) and 5 Jain (caves 30–34) caves, built in proximity, demonstrate the religious harmony prevalent during this period of Indian history.
The most impressive is cave 16 - right in the middle by the main entrance. This is less of a cave and more of a huge sculpture. It is insane - it took about 100 years to carve. It is difficult to describe..... I spent ages walking round this.
This is the description from Wikipedia:
Cave 16, also known as the Kailasa or the Kailasanatha, is the unrivaled centerpiece of Ellora. This is designed to recall Mount Kailash, the abode of Lord Shiva – looks like a freestanding, multi-storeyed temple complex, but it was carved out of one single rock, and covers an area double the size of Parthenon in Athens. Initially the temple was covereed with white plaster thus even more increasing the similarity to snow covered Mount Kailash.
All the carvings are done in more than one level. A two-storeyed gateway resembling a South Indian gopuram opens to reveal a U-shaped courtyard. The courtyard is edged by columned galleries three storeys high. The galleries are punctuated by huge sculpted panels, and alcoves containing enormous sculptures of a variety of deities. Originally flying bridges of stone connected these galleries to central temple structures, but these have fallen.
There were big groups of Japanese tourists - all with umbrellas and covered up. Unfortunately they were very rude and wondered round like they owned the place.
I also noticed in the old monuments that plug sockets had been built into the walls and there was wiring in various places... It did effect the appreciation of the ancient structures.
It was funny as there was a huge Indian family wondering round the caves that I met towards the beginning of the day. They did not speak much English but one of the older women came up to me and asked me to take a photo of her and 2 other older female members of the family. I did as requested but each time I took a shot more people entered the photo and asked me to take a new photo. In the end I took a photo with the whole group of about 40. They then took a photo with me as well. As I wondered round different caves we kept on bumping in to each other and so each time when they were posing for a family photo I came along and took one too. I have loads of photos of the same group. It ended up being one big joke with me and them in fits of giggles. I love the way that childish humor can pass the language barrier.
There was another guy that I met in many different caves as I wondered round; a Danish Tour Guide who is currently traveling round India taking photos professionally and exploring so that he can plan group tours later on. We had a good natter and he gave me some advise on my camera. As a tripod is not allowed in the caves (I think the owners want the rights on the professional photographs) he carries around with him a bag of coriander seeds. It is light and can be used easily to position the camera. Good idea. I had a play around with it.
There were also a couple of Spanish guys that I bumped into several times. At about 5ish when most of the tourist had left, I found them having a siesta in cave 34 (the cave furthest away from the entrance). It was very atmospheric in there because music was carrying from the temple not very far away and there was a lovely cool breeze in the caves and the light was beautiful. Very serene. I just sat for a while and enjoyed the moment.
There were 4 huge bee hives right next to one of the caves. I have never seen anything like it..... Cool!
I left the caves at 6 with enough time to get back to my lodge before dark. It was an easy 4km climb back up to the lodge as I had no luggage.... I went for a very early Chinese for dinner at a restaurant just down the road from the lodge. Chinese in India is very different to Chinese in England (or Chinese in China for that matter). I can't really even describe it. What I had was fake noodles and a very sweet sauce... not one of the best meals I have ever had.
I did some faffing with my photos when I got back, washed my clothes (I'm so feed up with this now), read some of my book and had an early night :-)
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