One Last Big Adventure

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!!!!