This weekend we took a roadtrip to see the caves at Ellora and Ajanta. These are rock-cut caves, cut right of a cliff face at two sites about 200 kms away from Pune. The caves are incredible, even after hearing about them, and reading about them, we had no idea of the scale, detail, and absolute impressiveness. Behind me you can see some of the cave faces in the cliffs. This is the coolest man-made thing I have seen in India. There is really just too much to say about the caves, so I will just do a few brief highlights, with lots of pictures.
Ellora There are about 30 caves at each site. Andy kept making me pose with the pictures so you could tell the scale of things. Most of the temples at Ellora are 2-3 stories, and they are all filled with sculpture and detail everywhere, and you can see that many of them used to be painted as well. Ellora is also a World Heritage site, and there are always rumors that it will be closed to the public for preservation.
Every wall, column, nook, or available piece of anything is decorated. The imagery here is Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain. Different religions used the area in different times, and each made their own caves. I read the originally the caves probably started out as a temporary home for monks who were passing through, and then became permanent homes and temples.
Some are smaller, just fairly modest carved out chambers, and then there is the main temple pictured here, which is free-standing, carved right out of the cliffs, and took lifetimes to finish.
Ajanta The caves at Ajanta are known more for their paintings, which have been preserved wonderfully, I think mostly because the caves were "lost" in the jungle for about a thousand years until the British re-discovered them.
But the sculpture and architecture there are just as amazing as at Ellora, there is just as much detail in everything, and the site is right over a river, and much more naturally spectacular.
We spent about 5 hours at Ellora, and were literally kicked out 15 minutes after closing. The next day at Ajanta we shared a taxi with a couple of guys and had to leave after about 4 hours. We could have easily spent the entire day at each of these sites. We just sort of got the main overview and feel for the place.
On the way to the caves we stopped for a bite to eat. When we sat down, we noticed a GIGANTIC HILLSIDE FORTRESS right behind our heads. Turns out this was a big deal, Andy was dying to go conquer the fort, but I wanted to get to Ellora so we could have the day. Since it was only 10:00 we decided to take a quick look.
The first thing we saw were the monkeys- more monkeys. While I had been pretty tired of the monkeys up in Darjeeling it had been almost a full week since I had seen monkeys, so I was willing to enjoy them. Turns out these were totally different monkeys, much less furry, little black faces, and much longer arms, legs, and tails. They looked more like jungle monkeys (which they were), than mountain monkeys. They were much less aggressive, but since they were scampering around on the tops of the ruins we still had to be careful, because they would sometimes knock some of the rock loose.
Once we went inside the walls, we realized there were a TON of ruins, and another big set up walls further up the hill. It took about an hour to get to the top, and that was after passing through the third set of walls. There were temples, jails, a recovered sculpture park, everything. It had also been boht Hindu and Muslim, so there was a big minar (like a minaret, but much bigger).
I guess a lot of people like to have their picture taken with Westerners, we got this a lot. This is my new friend: Its weird to roll into some place to check out all of these huge tourist sites, and then all of a sudden be the tourist attraction. But everyone was super nice, and just seemed interested in meeting people. I think this girl was on her honeymoon, but we had a few communication issues. Another lady came up to me while I had my glasses off, and not only could I not understand her, I also couldn't see a thing, I can't imagine what she thought of me.
Every time you would climb up a set of ruins there would be another set around the corner. I stopped at a landing waiting for Andy who was taking pictures below, and the local soccer team must have thought I didn't realize there was more. Several of the guys got worried, and started shouting "Madam, Madam! Chello Madam!!!" as they jogged up the steps in front of me. This means, "come on, or lets go" in Marathi. Either that, or they thought I was about to pass out after those 8,000 steps I just climbed, and would for sure never make it to the top without their good-natured support.
How anyone ever took over this fort I will never know. It had double moats, a cave full of bats was the only way to get to the very top, and cannons all over the place. And monkeys. Once we got to the top we realized that it wasn’t just a fort, it had been a huge town, and you could see the walls going out for miles in three different directions. I don't know how many people used to live here, but it must have been in the tens or hundreds of thousands. As we were driving to and back from the caves we still saw more ruins of this for about another 10 minutes in each direction.
After a very fast hike to the top and around we rushed back down to go to the caves. Andy was absolutely right though, this was well worth the detour.
As much fun as we are having in India, we realized that our time here is running out, and there were several big-ticket trips that we never made it to, so this weekend we decided to take a deep breath, and go for one last big trip. An epic bike trip to go see ancient caves out in the country. Didn't get so many pics for this one, hard to take on a bike, especially in the rain.
We made this decision on Friday morning, and so I packed up our stuff, and Andy tore into the flat at about 6:00 that afternoon, and we took off as soon as we could for the caves at Ajanta & Ellora. We had really hesitated to make this trip, its about 5 hours away usually, 6 or 7 by bus after stops. The first bus we could catch didnt get in until about 2:00 am. After some deliberation we just thought it would be easier and more convenient to take the bike.
Friday night, we drove from about 7-10, with a dinner stop, and made it to the town of Ahmednagar to sleep over. The road was great, and we had gone about 125 kms in 2 1/2 ours, which is really good time here. And it didnt get dark until close to 8:00, a nd the skies were clear. It was a great drive.
We had looked online for a hotel with decent reviews, since sometimes these smaller towns dont have much. Turns out this place had tons of hotels, and most of them were full up (its wedding season still) and finally, after about an hour, we found the hotel we had been looking for, the Hotel Panchsheel. A couple of guys on bike drove us there, a 15 minute drive, which was just so super nice of them.
The hotel was great, (even had hot water!) and the guy who took us to our room was dying to carry every piece of anything we were carrying, which being on the bike, wasn't much. But he managed to juggle both our helmets, the backpack, and after a brief tussle, I kept possession of Andy's camera.
After a super sleep we got up really early to go the next 100 kms to Aurangabad, where the Ellora caves are. Great driving again, pretty morning, the sun was out. We made it to town, took the turn-off for the caves, and finally stopped for breakfast at a little area that seemed to have a lot of activity. The parking lot was full of goats....
The caves were up in the hills, and it was also a great drive. At the end of the day though, it started to rain, and we got back to Araungabad after dark, in the pouring rain. POURING. We stoped at a little roadside stall for some hot corn and fruit. Araungabad is a big city, 1M people, lots of traffic, and lots of potholes. We were so wet when we got to the hotel that having a dry change of clothes seemed like a gift from god. All we took for the trip was one small daypack with a set of clothes each, rain coats, and cameras.
The hotel was listed in Lonely Planet and Rough Guide, and the next morning several other foreigners were at breakfast. We had gotten up early to catch the early bus to Ajanta, since it was 100 kms away, and we were not excited about driving that far in the rain. Breakfast at the hotel was taking forever, so Andy went to go see if we would make the bus. Some guy came over and asked if we wanted to share a taxi to the caves, which really just made our day.
After a great quick drive in a comfy car with two other guys, we spen t the day at Ajanta, and got back before dark, hopped on the bike, and went back to Ahmednagar for the night. And we were so glad that we hadnt been sitting on the bike for 5 hours already that day. =)
Next morning the sky was dark, but not raining yet, so we got off really early, hoping to get back the 125kms to Pune in time for Andy to go to work. The driving time had been just over 2 hrs on Friday, and we were hopeful. Until the rain started. By rain I mean monsoon. The true monsoon. The true middle of summer, on a bike on an Indian highway, getting more drenched by the passing Goods Carrier trucks than the rain drenched. Andy was actually shivering for about an hour. When we tried to stop for chai it was too early, and no one was cooking at the restaurants yet.
I dont think either of us have ever been that soaked, to the skin, through raincoats, layers of clothes, etc. Poor Andy had to dry out his passport which he had been wearing, but luckily the camera was in the dry bag. At the corner of our driveway, after hours of this, we were about to swerve over to aviod a 8-ft pothole/puddle/sinkhole, and we almost crashed into a bullock cart, full of cattle feed. We had to drive through this filthy enormous puddle, and we just started dying laughing.
That was the longest 4 hours I have ever spent on a bike, and the coldest, but it was definitely an adventure!!!!
What night in Pune wouldn't be awesome when its topped off by a Guns 'n Roses cover band?
We started off our night by going to a shopping district we hadn't hit before, and it was great, very modern, a little expensive, but not too bad. I had just come from the gym, so I was starving, and we stopped at a fruit & juice place and got the freshest juices I have ever had. Andy got Watermelon and I got Muskmelon (or cantaloupe), and they were kind of like agua fresca, but thicker, with a lot more fruit in them. Delicious.
Then we shopped around for awhile, didnt but much until we got to one store where we loved everything, and bought a bunch of stuff we immediately started to worry how we would get home. On MG road the hot snack item is sweet corn masala, a cup of corn with lime juice and about 6 different spices on it, which, being still slightly starving, I had to get. Also delicious.
Our plan was to meet our friend Pritam and go to a special dahl restaurant that was pretty far from our place, and we can't find on our own. The main dish there is a specialty of his hometown. After shopping we met up and headed over.
The dahl dish is a thick red dahl mix with a lot of rich flavors, and they make it in a huge pan, and give you a sample to see how much spice you want, which they add in separately. We got the medium, which is just right. Before your dahl you get a roti made from a big open-air tandoor in the front of the restaurant, and you can see them throw the dough right in. The rotis came, and they were bigger than our heads, and our plates! The dahl comes with curd (sour cream-like) to cut the spice, you mix it all in, then scoop it up with the roti. Very delicious.
I had been super hungry, but could barely finish my dinner. The guys all split a second order, I have no idea how. Pritam said when he was in college he used to eat three servings at time, I think that would kill me. And of course after that, when I thought we were all done, Pritam ordered rice for us- it was great, with mint and fried onions, but I was so stuffed I could only about 2 bites. Totally should have waited for dinner and skipped the snacks! But when the snacks are so good it's hard....
On our way home, the guys thought I should try Pan, a popular digestif. Usually they have tobacco, but the sweet version leaves that out. I tried to find out what goes into Pan, but no one could tell me the English names of anything. Its a bunch of filings all wrapped up in a leaf, which is supposed to ensure you have no digestive problems, especially good after a big spicy meal. This pan has a lot of coconut, and a layer of chocolate on the leaf, and a little piece of jelly candy on top. You are supposed to put it all in your mouth at once and let the juices mix, but there was just no way. I looked up pan today, and here is what Wikipedia says: "Paan, from the word pān in Hindi: पान, is an Indian and South East Asian tradition of chewing betel leaf with areca nut and slaked lime paste. There are many regional and local variations. It is a Piper betalleave chew, chewed as a palate cleanser, a breath freshener, and for digestive purposes as well. It is offered to guests and visitors as a sign of hospitality (after meals at both personal and social occasions) and at the beginning of social events. It has a symbolic value at ceremonies and cultural events in India and southeast Asia. Paan makers may use mukhwas or tobacco in paan fillings. Most paan contains areca nuts as a filling. Other types include what is called sweet paan, where sugar, candied fruit and multi-colored, sweetened, candy-like fennel are used."
Finally, on our way home, we decided to stop off for a few minutes and catch the end of a show with some friends at the Hard Rock, which is not too far away from our place. As mentioned in the beginning of this post, there was a totally awesome Guns 'n Roses cover band, totally rocking out. The bass player even had super curly long black hair, very Slash-esque. I got some great video of Andy rocking out to "Sweet Child of Mine". At the end, after they played all of the good songs, they came back, and played them again, the best G'nR medley ever. We stayed til the end, and still got home by midnight. Great night in Pune.
Now that we are back from vacation, things have seemed a little ho-hum around here, so I thought I would chronicle a day in my regular life here in Pune. I decided to take pictures of everything I did here today.
Since I am not working over here, and every other adult I know here is, I usually plan my day around the maid coming, or going to the gym. I hung out at home and did nothing this morning, which is pretty normal, so no pictures there.
When Andy came home at lunch he picked me up and we went out to eat at one of our favorite spots, Kalyani veg. We both usually get dosas there (rice crepes, filled with potatoes or other stuff), since they are awesome. See pic:
After that, I walked over to the gym while Andy went to work. The gym is right by Andy's office, and it only takes a few minutes to get there. I don't like to go right after lunch, but I also dont like to get up and go first thing in the morning, so today it was after lunch. I wanted to take a picture of the gym, but photography is not allowed. I found this picture online, from when they opened up, see pic: I feel like they did themselves a disservice, since this makes the gym look like its for old people, when its actually huge, brand new, and has tons of very high-tech equipment. Its a very fancy and attractive gym. They even have a DJ booth in the middle of the floor, and the staff uses it to pump up the jams. I get a little necklace each day with my personalized set of the day's exercises. I plug the necklace into each machine, and it tells me on the electronic display how long, or how far, I need to work out, and then what machine is next. Its pretty cool. And the place is in this totally new fancy building with no other tenants, and the shower is the nicest one I have access to, so I always shower there.
Afterwards, I started walking over across the next neighborhood to go get my haircut. It started raining, so I popped under a tree on the sidewalk to wait it out, and there were a ton of other people on bikes doing the same thing, see pic:
I starting walking down the road again after the rain let up, and saw this elephant, see pic:
Then got my haircut, and Andy came and got his cut too. Our friend recommended this person, as she speaks great English (communication is key in haircuts) and used to work in Bollywood as a high-profile stylist. There were a bunch of dudes who are all-purpose assistants at the salon we went to, they do everything from sweeping up to holding the hair dryer towards your head while the stylist does the brushing and styling. They all wear jeans and matching white polo shirst with the salon logo. Here is one guy washing Andy's hair, see pic:
After that Andy and I went to Central Mall, a newer, and pricer mall in the area. It was pretty unexceptional inside, but I took of the parking, which is very representative of parking lots here, see pic:
After a short shopping trip we went to meet our friends at 8:00 for dinner at Shisha Cafe, a fun place we go fairly often, with Persian food and Indian. I got Cranberry Rice with Chicken, and Andy got Dal Mahkani, see pic:
Right before our food came out, I ducked out for a quick sec with a friend and went over to the dairy store in the same complex of shops and got some feta cheese and blue cheese, which are not available in a regular grocery store. This complex is in an area called ABC Farms, that has a lot of nice restaurants, and is still something of a dairy farm. The cheese shop is tiny but has a huge variety of amazingly fresh cheese. I needed 2 pictures to show the sign, and the inside of the shop. See pics:
After that, we went back, had a nice quiet dinner with Stephanie, Mo, Akinori, and Andy, see pic: You can also see our new haircuts in the picture.
Then we came home, I IM'd with a few people (Jill, Andrea, and Timothy) and I am posting this, and then I am going to bed.
This weekend we took a roadtrip to see the caves at Ellora and Ajanta. These are rock-cut caves, cut right of a cliff face at two sites about 200 kms away from Pune. The caves are incredible, even after hearing about them, and reading about them, we had no idea of the scale, detail, and absolute impressiveness. Behind me you can see some of the cave faces in the cliffs. This is the coolest man-made thing I have seen in India. There is really just too much to say about the caves, so I will just do a few brief highlights, with lots of pictures.
Ellora There are about 30 caves at each site. Andy kept making me pose with the pictures so you could tell the scale of things. Most of the temples at Ellora are 2-3 stories, and they are all filled with sculpture and detail everywhere, and you can see that many of them used to be painted as well. Ellora is also a World Heritage site, and there are always rumors that it will be closed to the public for preservation.
Every wall, column, nook, or available piece of anything is decorated. The imagery here is Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain. Different religions used the area in different times, and each made their own caves. I read the originally the caves probably started out as a temporary home for monks who were passing through, and then became permanent homes and temples.
Some are smaller, just fairly modest carved out chambers, and then there is the main temple pictured here, which is free-standing, carved right out of the cliffs, and took lifetimes to finish.
Ajanta The caves at Ajanta are known more for their paintings, which have been preserved wonderfully, I think mostly because the caves were "lost" in the jungle for about a thousand years until the British re-discovered them.
But the sculpture and architecture there are just as amazing as at Ellora, there is just as much detail in everything, and the site is right over a river, and much more naturally spectacular.
We spent about 5 hours at Ellora, and were literally kicked out 15 minutes after closing. The next day at Ajanta we shared a taxi with a couple of guys and had to leave after about 4 hours. We could have easily spent the entire day at each of these sites. We just sort of got the main overview and feel for the place.
