19/1/10 Mumbai to Aurangabad

We had a really early morning call at 4.30pm when we got up and showered after a bit of sleep. As we had already stored our luggage we could go to the station straight away which was only a ten minute stroll away. It was still dark but there were a few people mingling about and making their way to work despite the early hour. When we arrived at the station we went through the entrance past the security screening, which was unmanned and into the main area. There were people sleeping on the floor all over the place so we stepped over a few blanket covered bodies to find our platform. Phil went off to get us a copy of the India Rail timetable which is about the size of the yellow pages but not as user friendly. The shopkeeper was a real charmer as he snatched the money and glared at Phil. We found the platform and our carriage with our names printed on the reservation sheet stuck on the side. The carriage was all in darkness so we waited for the power to come on which it did after about 15 minutes. We were sitting on the second class sitting seats where most of the locals sit and it was pretty comfortable. As people piled on we had plenty of stares when the people realised there were were two conspicuous white faces in their carriage. We had a few smiles too though and we are quite used to all the staring now so its not so unnerving. We settled in for the 7 hour journey which was great entertainment. All the while different sales people came on showing there goods. At each station stop, loads of people got off to escape the train for a few minutes and to buy chai, fruits, fried foods and other unrecognisable food. We tried a few tasty things which weren't too spicy for a change. A few children clambered on to do some busking for a few rupees. In the carriage the windows were just metal bars so we had a clear view out and a bit of fresh air (how your supposed to get out in an accident is another matter). Pulling out through Mumbai we saw some pretty poor housing, just tin rooves and corugated iron walls with no water and people using the railway for a toilet. Over 55% of Mumbais population lives in slums and shantytowns and it has the largest slum in Asia, Dharavi slum. It takes up 1.7kms of land between two major railway lines. More than a million people live there and have small businesses in their cramped homes amounting to $60 million worth of turnover !!! There are diferent areas with tanners, embroiderers, metalsmiths, woodworkers etc . The train had people getting off and on all the way but by the end station there were many people sitting in the aisles. We got to Aurangabad station where we were getting off and could hardly get off the train for people barging their way on. We both dug our heels and elbows in though and shoved a few people out of our way too. If you cant beat them join them. When we finally managed to fight our way off the train, we went out and an autorickshaw driver said he knew a "clean and cheap" hotel he'd take us to. He drove about two minutes down the road and pulled up at a hotel that did look ok and Phil went off to check the room. We checked in as the hotel was pretty neat and clean with hot shower (we know how to live) . It was so much nicer than the Mumbai hole we'd had the last few nights and was only 7 pounds a night ...bargain!!! The only slight hitch was there was no glass in the bathroom window frame but we were on the third floor so out of most harms way. We just had to be careful not to flash our bums at the passes by. Phil said they were used to watching each other pooing so they wouldn't be bothered watching us!! The bathroom, which faced to the street, had a red light which made us think it might be used for other things when not used by tourists. We went out to look for internet and somewhere to eat as the few train snacks hadn't touched the sides. We spent a couple of hours in the internet then went along the street to find a place to eat. We called into a chinese place with photos of meat dishes all over its menus but evidently didn't serve any meat. Phil didn't fancy veggies so we left that place and found another one about five minues walk away. It claimed to serve Indian and Chinese food so we went in. We were the only customers and we ordered a chinese chicken dish each which the waiter said "wasn't spicy" but he really had no English. He had to have help understanding the international word, Coke. The food arrived and was really good but as usual loaded with chillies . We ate our dinner and walked back to the internet place for a bit longer before going off to bed.

20/1/10 Ellora Caves Happy Birthday Dad

We got up and had shower in a really trickling shower after a pretty rubbish night as the hotel was quite noisy as well as dogs barking outside. We needed to get to the local bus stand and got an autorickshaw for the few kilometers journey. When we arrived it was pretty straight foward to find our way to the right bus heading for Ellora caves. Ellora is a World Heritage listed site and is a series of rock temples carved over five centuries into a 2km long escarpment. The caves were carved between 600 and 1000AD from a basalt rock escarpment. Monks from Buddist, Hindu and Jainist religions carved out many chapels, monasteries and temples. There are 34 caves in total to visit and there coexistence indicates a lengthy period of religious tolerance...if only it could happen today. We survived the crazy journey by one of Indias classic bus drivers, weaving, overtaking, screeching stops and speeding round tight bends. We got off the bus just outside the entrance to the caves and decided to find some food first. There were a bunch of pretty grotty looking cafes but we sat in one and had some really good snacks. We had some sort of fried veg curry sandwich and a toasted cheese one which were both very tasty. We had to avert our eyes from the really clean rag they used to wash our utensils and plates !! We chatted a Canadian couple there who taught us how to say no chilli in Hindi which sounds like a Doctor liz works with so we can remember the words. We paid the tourist price to enter the cave complex and it was very busy with Indian tourists with just a few Western tourists visiting. The first temple we saw was the sites most impressive, called Kailasa Temple, built to represent Mount Kalaisa, the home of the Hindu god Shivas home in the Himalayas. It was built by King Krishna I in AD760 and it is believed that huge trenches were dug into the escarpment then the shape released with tools...truly amazing. The temple was huge and incredibly detailed with most of the walls covered in elaborate carvings epicting Shiva and other gods lives and legends. We entered the temple and were really enjoying the place for the first five minutes until...all the Indian tourists began really staring at us and they are amazing at holding the stares. People looked like they'd not seen white faces in the flesh before. here were people from all over India visiting sio it is quite possible we were the first white faces they'd seen. Everyone began pointing their cameras at us and taking photos which was quite funny at first. Then it got a bit much as we couldn't get any peace with people just sitting themselves down really close to us and putting their cameras in our faces. We tried to escape the main busy areas but there were always eyes on us, a strange experience for us. Phil popped into a Hindu temple and Liz stayed outside. She spent the next ten minutes surrounded by groups of tourists and school parties all clammering for a photo. They all laughed when they were posing with us which felt like they were taking the micky but we decided they were nervous laughs and to just go with it. The temple really was amazing to look at but it was very noisy as the Indian tourists were all running around shouting and tour leaders were blowing whistles. It seemed odd that they were behaving like that in a really religious temple which is still used for prayer now but they were all full of smiles. We took every oppotunity we could to escape the noise and attention by sitting and watching from quiet view points but we were always found by someone asking for a photo. We now know what its like to be famous and we are glad we aren't. We walked around most of the temple area including a climb up some steep stairs to a building full of really smelly bats. We went towards the pathway around the majrity of the caves but the entrance bridge was closed off with no instructions where to go.The workman pointed us to the left but we could see no path and decided to clamber up over the escarpment where we'd seen some others go. It was a good clamber over the top until we scrambled down the other side to rejoin the path. There are 17 Hindu caves of varying sizes all decorated with indu deities of Ganesh (the elephant God), Vishnu and Shiva. There are some quite explicit carvings adorning the outer walls of a few too which was unexpected. We walked along the pathway to see most of them, seeing smaller monasteries and some other temples.We walked about a km seeing all the caves and a waterfall that was spiling over the escarpment into a pool below, which must look spectacular in the wet season. Caves numbered 17-29 were all Hindu caves and further along about a km away were a small group of Jain temples. It was pretty hot and we'd been walking along for quite a while so we jumped into an autorickshaw for the ride to the Jain series. There are five temples there and they were quite different to the Hindu ones. They were a little more detailed in their decoration and carvings. There were Buddhas inside the temples as the Jain religion is similar to Buddhism. There were multiple levels to all the temples we saw built from the rooves down with amazing accurate levels and windows, balconies and stairways both internal and outside. We got another ride back to the start of the cave site at Kailasa temple. On the other side of the main temple the pathway continue past a further 3 Hindu temples then onto the Buddhist group of caves. The Buddhist temples and monasteries were markedly different as they were all very large and not at all ornate on their outside walls. Inside they were beautifully carved with simple Bdha status in variety of poses. There were a few very big temples several storeys high with stairways between levels. Cave number ten is known as the Carpenters cave as the roof is carved to look like wooden beams. It is really impressive and one of our favourite caves in the group. There was some restoration work at one tmple which looked really big but we weren't allowed inside and another waterfall cascading over the cave entrance of another temple. It was about 4pm and we'd been walking around since about ten so we were pretty hungry and tired and walked towards the restaurant. On the way we passed a group of monkeys all eating nuts sold by a man there. They were really unaggressive and didn't try and steal any from the man unlike most monkeys we've seen before. We went to the restaurant but it was closing so we just had a beer which came with free papads which we discovered were popadums. We walked towards the bus stop but were beckoned to get into a jeep for the ride back to Aurangabad. It was pretty cheap and meant we didn't have to wait indefinitely for the bus so we got into the last free seats in the front. Sat behind us were four Western tourists and about five locals were squashed into the boot area. It was all pretty cosy and e got chatting to the two couples behind us. They had all been photographed in the temple and the British woman had blown her top at the people apparently. Her partner was pretty fed up with all the pestering too and he had been unwell in Jaipur so hadn't really been up for that either. There was a Canadian couple who'd been involved in one of the train accidents in the fog but were both uninjured. It had woken them up as the train jolted to a stop but over a hundred people had been killed in other accidents the same day so they were really lucky.The drive back to Aurangaba was really eventful not just because of the crazy diving but also the driver stopped to pick up anyone who might want a lift. He was squashing people in all around the vehicle until there were twenty of us including two infants squeezes in. Liz ended up wedged onto the gear stick much to the pervy pleasure of the driver who suddenly needed to change gear all the time!!! When we arrived back in Aurangabad the taxi stopped and said we were only up the road from the bus station where he said he'd drop us all off. Luckily, the British man behind us knew where we were and that we weren't near the station at all . The taxi driver had to admit he was cheating us and drove us about another two miles to the bus station...cheeky b*****. We went across the road to get some food in a nice restaurant but the not hot, hot curry was really hot again. Went spent a few hours in the internet as it kept crashing while we were writing and uploading phiotos which was really frustrating. It was Phils Dads Birthday so Phil went to call him but the meter for the call was spinning around at a crazy rate, so he only called for a couple of minutes unfortunately. We tried to chat to Phil's folks on Facebook but the computers kept crashing so we gave up. It was quite late when we finally finished and went back to the room for some sleep.