Delhi

So I actually visited Delhi at three different points during my visit in India, but the first and second visit was pretty short so I didn't post an update about my time there then. My first trip to Delhi was just after I had visited Jodhpur I took an overnight bus to arrive there and visit my friend Karan. Getting off the bus in Delhi I was quickly picked up by his driver and taken to his place in Gurgaon, a municipality of Delhi. Arriving in his nice home I met Karan (actually woke him up is more like it) and we just spent the morning hanging out relaxing. That afternoon and the following day we didn't get up to very much: just saw the area around his house, a few cafes and some bars. The actual itinerary was driving around Gurgaon and seeing new malls, office buildings, golf courses, etc. before stopping for lunch and in the afternoon we would hang out in a cafe usually before heading to a bar in the evening for a drink.

On the third day that I spent in Delhi I actually went into town to see some of the tourist attractions. On the way into town karan's driver stopped at a very large Hindu temple that we walked around for a short period of time but it was very busy so we didn't line up to enter the main building as the line looked like it would take 30 minutes or so. After visiting the Hindu temple we continued on to Qutub Minar which is an ancient city located in south Delhi. The complex is composed of several buildings in various states of preservation all located in a beautifully kept garden. The most famous structure is the Qutub Minar which is a 72.5 meter tall minaret and was the tallest building in the world when it was built. Also in the grounds of Qutub Minar is an iron pillar (a seven meter tall iron pillar), Delhi's first mosque which is mostly in ruins now, and the tombs of Imam Zamin and Iltutmish. After visiting Qutub Minar we continued on to Connaught Place which is almost the centre of Delhi. Here the most fancy and expensive shopping stores in Delhi are located, an interesting change from most of the small and cheap shops that are common for most of India. Our time in Connaught Place was short lived though so after wandering around there for an hour or so we started back towards Karan's house stopping at India Gate on the way. India Gate is a huge archway built in park near the government buildings of India and the gate is dedicated to the Indian Soldiers who died in World War I. Later that evening Karan and I boarded a train for Bhopal, the city where he was born and to hear about that place you can check out my Bhopal update (earlier).

My second visit to Delhi was a real short one (less than 24 hours) and all I did was return from Agra to quickly pick up my big bag that I had left at Karan's house. After retrieving my luggauge I again boarded a train heading to Gorakhpur and onwards to Nepal.

My third and final visit to Delhi was much longer than the first two as I spent about a week there with Karan. I returned from Nepal early in the morning and found ou that Karan was still in Bhopal but should be returning to Delhi that evening. So I was faced with having a day in Delhi to do some sightseeing before heading to Karan's place. After storing my bags in a hotel lobby and getting a bite of food I decided to check out the National Museum since then I could be inside instead of in the intense Delhi summer heat. However, upon reaching the museum I quickly found out that it was closed for the day, the reason being that the election was occuring in Delhi. This meant that most of the tourist areas would be closed I learned (all the indoor ones at least). So I decided to head towards Humayun's Tomb hoping that it would be open. As I was driving in the auto rickshaw I passed a familiar looking person and quickly got the driver to pull over to stop. Sure enough Quinn (one of the guy's I was trekking with) was walking down the road to Humayun's Tomb as well. After joining up to spend the day together we continued on towards Humayan's Tomb and were grateful when we arrived that it was open. The tomb is a very large building (some say similar in design to the Taj Mahal) built out of mostly red sandstone with small amounts of white marble inlaid in it. Surrounding the tomb is a well kept "four quarters style" garden that provides you with a nice place to relax and take in the tomb. In addition to Humayun's Tomb there is a smaller octagonal tomb (the tomb of Iza Khan) and another small tomb which is thought to be that of Humayun's barber.

After visiting Humayun's Tomb we continued on to the Bahá'í Temple (the lotus temple). This gorgeous building is nicknamed the lotus temple since the roof is built in the shape of a lotus bud with 27 petals. The temple welcomes people of any religion to come and worship inside of it the only requirement was that you had to be absolutely quiet, any noise and they kick you out. After reflecting in the lotus temple for a while we returned to Paharganj (the tourist area with all the budget hotels) for a drink and to wait until Karan returned to Delhi and for Quinn's flight back to Canada that night. After Quinn left I gave Karan a phone call and found out that he missed the afternoon train so he wouldn't be returing to Delhi until the next morning so I quickly found a nice hotel room for the night.

The next morning I awoke, ate breakfast and gave Karan a call. I was told to get to the Radisson at noon to meet him. After meeting up with Karan we had to return to his office so he could get some work done and that's where we spent the rest of the afternoon. That evening Karan had promised to show me some of Delhi's nightlife so we went out with a few of his friends to TC (Turquoise Cottage) and then to I. All in all it was a great night even if I did have a bit too much to drink, oops.

The next day we were both pretty tired from our late night out the previous day that we spent the morning just hanging out at his place (and most of the afternoon too). In the early evening we went out to a Hookah bar to relax and again this time we went out to see some more of Delhi's nightlife later on. We started the night by hanging out at another of his friend's places before heading to the Orange Room, a nightclub that's open til 5am. Where we danced the night away to some great Hindi music and finally returned home at about 6am.

Sunday (the next day) Karan and I spent almost the entire day relaxing at his place (well sleeping for most of it is more accurate). When we finally awoke we just hung out there and went to a nearby cafe later on for a snack and a drink.

Monday I decıded to try and do some of the touristy things in Delhi as I only had a couple more days left. I came up with a great plan to visit the Red Fort and Old Delhi until I relized that the Red Fort was closed on Mondays. There goes that plan. So I spent the day using the internet in Karan's office and walking around some of the malls ın Gurgaon.

The next day I followed through with my plan from the previous day. I took the metro into Delhi and my first stop was to visit the Red Fort. Walking up to the Red Fort it looked like a very impressive fort built in the heart of Delhi, and entering it I wasn`t too disappointed. The fort was huge on the interior, but it was mostly made up of large gardens. Walking around the interior of the fort I was a little disappointed as the few buildings that were there were all closed to visiters (except the two museums) so all I could do was wander around the gardens and gaze through the open doors into the buildings. The fwe buildings that I did see were beautiful though. After walking through the Red Fort I entered went to Gurudwara Sis Ganj which is an important Sikh place of worship in Old Delhi. The inside of the Gurduwara was an interesting experience as there seemed to always be lots of people praying and a continuous chanting prayer from the religous leaders (not sure what they`re called, oops). After leaving Gurudwara Sis Ganj I wandered through Chandni Chowk towards the Jama Masjid, which is the largest mosque in India. The mosque was a fabulous red sandstone building with a huge courtyard and two minarets (one that we were able to climb up). The view over Old Delhi from the top of the minaret was quite good although there were so many people jammed up in the little space that it was difficult to get a good view of every direction. After leaving Jama Masjid I again wandered around Chandni Chowk which is a typical Old Indian market with tiny alleys that twist and turn everywhich way while you are completely surrounded by shops. It`s a very interesting bazaar (market) and a must see for any trip to Delhi.

My final day in Delhi was mostly spent getting ready to leave for Turkey, the next stop on my world tour. So I again spent the day between Karan`s house and his office to use the internet. That evening I had a delicious Indian meal prepared by Karan`s mom (actually most of the meals I ate ın Delhi were prepared by her and they were all excellent) before heading out for a final beer with Karan at TC (Turquoise Cottage) and then on to the airport. I spent the night flying to Istanbul with a short stopover in Tehran, Iran before arriving in Istanbul to spend the next four weeks traveling around Turkey with my mom. So look forward to my next entry, the first from Turkey.









Standing in front of Qutub Minar, the tallest building in the world when it was built.



















In front of India Gate.













Standing outside of Humayun`s Tomb.











The beautiful garden at the Red Fort with one of the buildings in the background.










Jama Masjid at sunset.











A street scene of Old Delhi viewed from Jama Masjid.










Another view of Old Delhi from the top of the minaret at Jama Masjid.

Updated

Alright so I've finally managed to upload the pictures for the Bhopal update and you can find them at the bottom of the post. Additionally I added a new paragraph or two so feel free to read it again if you already have, if not then enjoy it for the first time.

Agra

So I departed Bhopal to head up to Agra and see the famous Taj Mahal, by far India's most famous building. Everyone I talked to said that Agra was full of touts and that I should try and spend as little time as possible there to just see the Taj Mahal and Agra Fort. As a result most people visit Agra as a day trip from Delhi, but I decided to spend two days there so that I could see the Taj Mahal at sunrise and also allow myself lots of time to see the other sights in Agra.

I arrived in Agra at 9pm and quickly found a hotel room where I spent a short night as I woke up the following morning at 5am to visit the Taj Mahal for sunrise. Arriving at the entrance gate into the Taj Mahal just before 6am I went through the thorough security process into the grounds for the Taj. My first view of the Taj Mahal in real life was amazing, it was visible through the central gateway we had to walk through and it looked beautiful. Even better than it does in the pictures. As I got closer I noticed that the building is HUGE. It always looks fairly small I thought from all the photos but that's because they are just taken from a ways away, once I got up close to the actual building it towered over me. After taking the typical photo that everyone gets at the Taj I walked up to and into it to see the tombs (the actual tombs are in the basement where the public can't go but there are fake ones that the public can see). As I walked around the building I was just amazed at the amount of work that had gone into building it: the entire building was symmetrical as all four sides were identical (you could rotate the building 90 degrees and nobody would notice any change) and all of the inlaid gemstones in the white marble that depicted different patterns and flower designs were all perfect (and also symmetrical). The sheer amount of work that must have gone into building it was mind boggling. After walking around the Taj Mahal itself I toured around the mosque next to it (and the fake mosque on the other side) and the gardens surrounding the entire complex. The entire grounds and buildings in it were absolutely beautiful and it was definitely worth the 750 rupee entrance fee. The only disappointing thing about my visit to the Taj Mahal was that the fountains were empty with signs that said they were closed for cleaning, I found this hard to believe as I saw no evidence of cleaning so I think they may have been closed due to a water shortage problem.

Visiting the Taj Mahal at sunrise was, in my opinion, the best time to visit as the sun slowly rose over the complex walls illuminating the buildings and the garden providing great light for photos. Also the heat of the day hadn't hit yet so it was cool enough to walk around outside and the sky hadn't hazed up so they were as blue as they would get when I was there.

After leaving the Taj Mahal I returned to hotel where I rested for the rest of the morning and sat at the rooftop restaurant just watching the Taj Mahal. That day I didn't do too much else, electing to leave the fort and other sights for the next day.

The following day I got up and checked out Agra Fort in the morning. The fort did seem pretty impressive although half of it was closed off to tourists as it was being used by the army. The part that we were able to walk through was very beautiful though. There weren't very many rooms that we could enter but there lots of perfectly maintained gardens the fort and the views out over the city and river towards the Taj Mahal were phenomenal. Having said that there were a couple of buildings like mosques, gateways and open rooms that were very exquisite and clearly made for royalty.

After visiting the Agra Fort I made my way over to Itimad-Ud-Daulah, a tomb that has been nicknamed the baby taj. This tomb was built before the Taj Mahal for Mizra Ghiyas Beg and isn't quite as spectacular as the more famous Taj Mahal it certainly is an amazing building. When looking at it there are several features common to the Taj Mahal and it's thought that some of the design for the Taj Mahal was taken from it.

Finally I went around the back side of the Taj Mahal across the river from it for one final view before leaving Agra. Although you could get up close to Taj for some great views (it was only about 30 meters away across the river) I thought it wasn't anywhere near nice as the front view. The river level was pretty low which showed some garbage on the banks and the kids playing there never stopped asking me for money so I couldn't enjoy it very much. However the Taj Mahal is still so beautiful that it was still worth the trip over there.

Finally I headed out of Agra that night to return to Delhi where I picked up the remainder of my luggage and started the long journey to Kathmandu, Nepal. So again I'll skip talking about visiting Delhi as I plan to spend a week there after Nepal and truly do some sight seeing then, but look for my next post about the land of the great Himalayas.







Standing in front of the Taj Mahal and taking the required picture that everyone takes.











A view of the Taj Mahal through one of the archways on the mosque located to the side.











The mosque located to the side of the Taj Mahal. On the other side is an identical building that is believed to have been used to house the workers while they were constructing the Taj.










A view of one of the courtyard gardens in the Agra Fort.













The entrance to the Agra Fort.











Looking at the Itimad-Ud-Daulah, or the baby taj. Notice the rough similarities in their design.










A final view of the Taj Mahal from the backside across the river.

Bhopal

Well I managed to survive my 17 day journey into the Himalayas. The trek around Annapurna was absolutely awesome and I was rewarded with several days of crystal clear views of the surrounding 7000 plus meter peaks! But I will tell more stories about my trek around Annapurna in a couple of updates as I still need to catch up on my earlier excursions first.

After leaving Jodhpur I took a bus to get to Delhi and meet up with my friend Karan. Upon reaching Delhi I met up with my friend and proceeded to spend the next day and a half relaxing with him and seeing a few sights before heading down to Bhopal with him.

Arriving in Bhopal I was treated to complete luxury staying with my friend and his family, and in addition it was nice to be in a home environment again after being on the road for nearly 7 months. Needless to say I took advantage of the situation and spent lots of time just relaxing in his home and garden while getting to enjoy the company of his family.

While in Bhopal I did see a few sights around the city although they mainly consisted of Karan driving me around the city and pointing out different sights or just wandering around markets to see the normal Bhopal city life. I found this quite interesting though as Karan would take me to areas that he hung out in as a kid and I got to see areas of Bhopal that tourists probably rarely get a chance to visit. Having Karan along with me also allowed me to eat some of the best food I've had so far on the trip as not only the food at his home was amazing but he knew all of the best restaurants around Bhopal and we went to several of them to eat some truly delicious local food.

While in Bhopal I did visit one tourist destination which was the museum of man. This museum was extremely well done as it started out by going through the history of earth and the evolution of humans. This was only the start of the museum though as it then continued on by discussing the various ethnic groups of India and how the religion, way of life, living conditions and festivals differed in around the country. The museum went into tons of detail for each group and it seemed to just keep on going, after spending a several hours wandering through it (time well spent) I headed back outside where there were small sample houses setup that were also quite interesting.

I also took a day trip out to nearby Sanchi where the Mauryan emperor Ashoka embraced Buddhism in 262 BC. As a result several stupas, temples, and monasteries were built on top of a large hill here and are some of the oldest Buddhist structures in India. Since they are so old most of the monasteries and temples are little more than ruins scattered around the hilltop usually with just the foundation remaining. Most of the stupas are quite well preserved though and the center most one contains four beautifully carved archways around the four cardinal entrances. In addition to the historic buildings here they are surrounded by a well kept garden that was pleasent to just sit and relax in if it was a little too hot.

After spending a couple of days relaxing in Bhopal with my friend and his family I decided it was time to move on as I would be returning to visit them again after my trip to Nepal. So I boarded the train for Agra to finally see the Taj Mahal, probably the most famous building in all of India. So look forward for my next update about Agra which will hopefully be coming real soon.





One of the gateways in front of the entrance to the main stupa.













Standing in front of the main stupa.














A view of the nice gardens surrounding the stupas and ruins of the monasteries and temples.

Jodhpur

Leaving Udaipur I made my way further Northwest to the city Jodhpur, which is nicknamed the blue city. Arriving in the city I quickly found a guesthouse and proceeded to explore the city since I didn't have very much time there. For the rest of the afternoon I just wandered through the narrow streets and market around the clock tower all the while gazing up at the huge fort towering above the city. The Mehrangarh Fort in Jodhpur is a huge structure built upon the a cliff face that overlooks the entire city, and it certainly looked indestructible. Wandering around the city I also got to confirm that it truly is a blue city as at least half of all the buildings within the city are painted blue. The were originally painted blue to indicate which caste the owners belonged to (Brahmins I believe but I could be wrong), today only the houses in the old city must keep this tradition while in the new city any house can be painted blue, and many are.

The following day was my only real day in Jodhpur as I was leaving that night to meet up with Karan, my friend, in Delhi. So I started off the day by making my way up the hill to Mehrangarh Fort. Once inside the fort I toured around it with the aid of an audio guide (definitely the best audio guide I've had so far), getting a chance to see most of the buildings and courts inside the fort as well as some smaller museum exhibits. The fort was really spectacular as all of the interior buildings were intricately designed and surrounded by several courts. Additionally the design of the fort walls themselves are really impressive as they are on average 20 meters high and sit on the very edge of a cliff, it's an extraordinary feat that they still look stable and nothing is falling apart. Inside the museum parts of the fort are several exhibits containing artwork, palanquins (the chairs people are carried in), and lots of clothing and furniture. All of it expertly explained by the audio guide. After leaving Mehrangarh Fort I visited the Jaswant Thada which is a stunning white marble memorial for Maharaja Jaswant Singh II. The building is exremely beautiful being carved out of thin sheets of white marble it just seems to glow in the sun light.

After touring around the Fort and the Jaswant Thada I had a little bit of time left in Jodhpur which I spent wandering around the market again. After another short visit to the market I boarded a bus to Delhi to meet up with Karan and enjoy some of his hospitality.





A view of the imposing Mehrangarh Fort from slightly above it. You can see the towering walls located almost exactly on the cliff face here, but they are even more impressive from the other side while looking up at the fort.








A view of the "blue city" looking out from a window in the fort. To see over half a city entirely blue was really fascinating.









A man sitting with a Hukka and explaining that locals would smoke flavoured tobacco from it while the drank opium (didn't smoke it).








A view of the beautiful Jaswant Thada.










A stall selling many different coloured turbans in the market near the clock tower.

Udaipur

After leaving Aurangabad and Amhedabad I made my way to Udaipur. I was pretty excited about heading to Udaipur as it would be my first destination in Rajistan, a state that is supposed to be beautiful, and there are some beautiful old palaces there. Upon arriving in Udaipur I quickly found a nice guesthouse that had some nice views of the lake on the roof and proceeded to fall asleep. I was dead tired after spending the past 2 nights traveling on night buses and not getting much sleep either night. That afternoon I just wandered around the streets of Udaipur to get a bearing for the place and to see what there was. In other words I didn't get up to anything very exciting.

The following morning I headed out to visit the city palace which is a huge building located right on the bank of the lake in the city. The palace is beautiful and to look at it one would never have guessed that each new ruler who lived in the building added a new addition. The building looks as if it was built all at once and designed that way, not adding little bits over several centuries. Most of the area inside the palace has been turned into a a fairly interesting museum containing lots of articles from Mughal empires over the past few centuries. The displays include everything from artwork to an armory to information about past leaders and about Rajistan in general. Other than the articles in the museum just even wandering through the old palace was pretty fascinating. That evening I took in a performance of traditional Rajistan dancing. The dancing was quite fabulous but the most impressive part was the extremely colourful clothing that the dancers wore and the music that was played by a few guys was extremely good. Definitely a worthwhile performance to see.

The following day I took a tour out to the surrounding country side for a few hours in the afternoon and saw another lake (Udaipur has 4 large lakes in the area), some small villages, the monsoon palace and Shilpgram. The lake, called Tiger lake, wasn't anything spectacular however it was loads cleaner and better looking than the lake in middle of Udaipur which the city palace is built upon. Additionally the small villages weren't anything special after I have seen several similar villages over the past few months but it was still worthwhile touring around them and mainly seeing the people walking to the communal water pumps to gather their water. These small villages had on running water and as a result they desperately depended on streams and water underground, as a result during times of drought (like just before the monsoon) getting enough water in the village is pretty tough and everybody has to be extremely careful to not waste it. After touring some villages I visited Shilpgram which is a small museum type setup showing the types of huts that people in small villages used to live in. The museum is entirely open air and you walk from area to area with each one setup like a different tribe so the huts are all different, but so are their schools and temples which are sometimes shown here too. The only downside about Shilpgram was that it was very touristy and so everywhere there were stalls selling crafts with their owners trying to get you to come buy something. Finally I went to monsoon palace which is built on top of the highest hill in the area and a great place for sunset. That is about the only worthwhile reason for coming here though as the palace isn't very big and the interior is almost empty except for a few posters talking about the local environment.

My final day in Udaipur was spent again wandering through some of the back streets, looking at the Lake Palace and Jag Mandir (another palace built on an island on the lake) and visiting Jagdish temple. I didn't actually visit either of the two palaces built on the lake as one is a hotel that doesn't allow non guests to visit and the other required taking an hour long boat ride around the very uninviting lake to get to.

After spending a few days at Udaipur I boarded a bus heading to Jodhpur to visit the famous fort located there. So my time in Udaipur was finished. I was quite disappointed in Udaipur as it sounded like an absolutely beautiful place filled with places located around a lake. However, the water level in the lake was very low and the lake was filled with garbage and algae so it didn't look very appealing. Also to top it off there were hundreds of small shops selling paintings and other souvenirs so all of the touts that were constantly trying to get you to visit their store were a bit overwhelming and not peaceful or relaxing at all. I was glad to head out of there and get to Jodhpur after the few days I spent there.

As an additional note a large portion of the James Bond movie Octopussy was filmed here and you can see the monsoon palace (the interior of the palace in the movie looks nothing like the interior in real life), lake palace and some city scenes in the movie.




A view of the Lake Palace from the roof of my hotel. This is the one that's been turned into a fancy hotel and non guests aren't allowed to visit.









A view of the city palace from across the lake.












The golden sun design, the symbol of the Mughal empire. This exhibit is located in the museum within the city palace.








A scene of the dance performance that I saw with a peacock, the bird of India, being depicted by the lady on the right.











Another scene from the dance performance. Here the lady is balancing lots of ceramic pots on her head while still being able to dance to the music, it was very impressive.













Some ladies doing their laundry in one of the smaller ponds located around the city.











Some ladies who were helping with the restoration work on the Monsoon Palace. They would carry the waste material away in buckets on their head and dump it over the cliff.

Ajanta and Ellora Caves

From Khajuraho I headed further south to visit the world heritage sites of the Ajanta and Ellora caves. From Khajuraho I took a train south (well actually from Satna) to Jalgaon and about an hour outside of Jalgaon it hit me: Delhi belly. I had finally gotten sick in India, something that happens to almost everyone who travels here. As a result I spent the rest of the day and the following day just lying in my hotel room running to the toilet every few minutes. Needless to say that day and a half weren't very pleasant.

Once I finally recovered enough to be able to travel I left Jalgaon and headed to the Ajanta caves. The caves were absolutely amazing pieces of work. I expected them to be like natural caves that had some sculptures and paintings in them but they were actually more like rooms that were carved out of a cliff face. The caves are carved out of a cliff face that overlooks a bend in a river (although the river was dry right now) and the amount of work that went into the caves is amazing. They all have almost perfectly flat floors, ceilings, and walls with carved pillars evenly spaced throughout them as well. Of the 30 caves or so a few of them had some absolutely beautiful paintings on the walls and the ones that have been restored (an ongoing operation) are extremely colourful and breathtaking. Aside from the paintings in a few of the caves, every cave contained lots of carvings and sculptures. The sculptures were mainly of Buddha (since all the caves at Ajanta were Buddhist caves) but most of the pillars and some walls contained very intricate patterns carved into them.

After leaving the Ajanta caves I hopped on a bus and headed to Aurangabad which is located much closer to the Ellora caves than Jalgaon. So the following morning I headed out to visit the Ellora caves with a quick stop at Daulatabad Fort. Daultabad Fort is a huge complex that centers itself on a hill just outside of Aurangabad. The actual Fort is located up on the hill but there i a large area surrounding the hill where a city used to exist and is enclosed by the fort's exterior walls. The fort itself contains a pretty intricate defense system including several walls, a moat, and to top it all off the only passage up to the top of the hill is through a narrow dark tunnel where the defenders could pour boiling water or oil or anything down through at the invaders. Needless to say it was very impressive. The view from the top was quite nice too and it made an excellent side trip before the Ellora caves.

From Daulatabad Fort I headed out to the Ellora caves. My first impression of the Ellora caves was that they weren't exactly caves as it seemed to be more of a temple that had been carved out of the rock, meaning that an entire area of rock had been removed (leaving something like an open pit) and a temple put in it's place. All around the temple there were fairly small caves carved into the rock but not as intricate as those at Ajanta so I was slightly disappointed. The temple though was very beautiful and completely carved out of the rock so it was definitely worth going to see. Also this first "cave" was a Hindu cave, not Buddhist like all the caves at Ajanta, so it was interesting to see the different carvings there. After the first cave I headed out to visit some of the other ones in the area. The interesting part of Ellora is that there are 3 different religious caves there: Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain. So after seeing some Hindu caves (the first one was by far the best) I came upon the Buddhist caves. The Buddhist caves here didn't seem as spectacular as those at Ajanta as they didn't have any paintings on the walls and the sculptures were very similar to those at Ajanta. The one thing that the caves at Ellora did have which was better was that they were much bigger, some of them were as big as 3 stories while there was only one cave at Ajanta that even had 2. Finally after visiting the Hindu and Buddhist caves I came to the Jain ones. The Jain caves contained some absolutely stunning carvings on their walls, but they were definitely the smallest of all of them.

After visiting the Ellora caves I returned to Aurangabad and boarded a bus heading to Amhedabad where I spent a day touring around some of the sites. My main purpose of spending a day in Amhedabad was to visit a textile museum that was supposed to contain some amazing samples of textiles in the region. Lonely Planet said that it was open in the afternoon, but when I arrived there I found that it was closed and as a result I spent the afternoon touring around the science city. All in all it was a fairly good day as the science city was pretty enjoyable however it wasn't what I was hoping for. That evening I jumped on another bus to head to Udaipur which will be my next entry.






A view of all the cave entrances on the cliff face at Ajanta.











Standing in one of the oldest caves at Ajanta.












A sample of some of the artwork that's present in a few of the caves in Ajanta. Unfortunately you weren't allowed to use flash photography inside the caves so it was difficult to get a good picture.












Some of the amazing carving that is visible in the caves at Ajanta.









The Daulatabad Fort located at the top of the cliff.











Another view of the Daulatabad Fort in the background.











A bird's eye view of the first "cave" that I visited at Ellora. The temple that's the main feature of this cave is really impressive.













A monk standing in one of the Buddhist caves at Ellora.













A view of the entrances to some of the caves at Ellora.









One of the fabulous carvings in one of the Hindu caves.

Khajuraho

After leaving Varanasi I took the train heading towards Khajuraho to see some temples that are covered in absolutely beautiful, and erotic, sculptures. Upon arriving in Khajuraho and taking a tour out to some of the nearby minor temples, I only had the afternoon remaining in the day so I left the main temples for the following days, I wasn't disappointed. The amount of work and detail that went into each temple was amazing, the entire exterior was covered almost form the bottom to the top with carvings of animals, humans and fascinating designs. The interior of the temples were also pretty fascinating although they weren't completely covered in sculptures, just a few on the walls. The temples were all in excellent condition too, which I was surprised about as there used to be 85 temples in the area but only 25 remain so I assumed that most of them had fallen into disrepair over the years. After visiting just a couple of temples I returned back to the guesthouse as the day was getting quite late and I spent the night just relaxing in the nice garden and reading about the temples that I would see over the course of the next couple of days.

On the second day in Khajuraho I rented a bicycle to tour around the further temples as I decided to leave the most famous group (the western group) for my final day there. The temples further out were fairly nice but, as I would see the next day, they weren't nearly as well preserved as the ones in the western group. Additionally the carvings on the temples weren't as intricate and the interiors were fairly plain. They were still worth visiting and it was really enjoyable to cycle through the country side and the old part of Khajuraho to reach them so the day was enjoyable. Another benefit about cycling around was that the touts couldn't harass you as much as they couldn't keep up to you (see later about all the touts).

My final day in Khajuraho I visited the famous western group and saw that the temples here were absolutely fabulous. Definitely the best out of all the temples in the area. Within the group there were about 10 temples that were all located within a couple hundred meters of each other so it was easy to just stroll around them gaping at their beauty. The figures that were carved on all of the exterior walls were amazing as they contained mainly sculptures of women about 2 feet high in various poses and performing all sorts of acts. The sculptures ranged from women doing laundry to practicing yoga to even having group sex! It sure was something different to see all of these very erotic carvings covering the walls of the temples. There were also some carvings depicting warriors, Hindu gods, animals and very intricate patterns; but the most common carving was definitely women as most temples were covered by them. The interior of the temples were just as fascinating as there were often carvings covering all of the walls inside as well, although maybe not as good as the exterior carvings, but especially the ceiling inside the temples which seemed to always be carved with a very detailed circular pattern was fabulous.

The only downside of the town Khajuraho was that it was such a small town (only about 10 000 people) that most people seemed to rely on tourism and during the low season (when I visited it) they were almost desperate to get you into their shops. It seemed almost impossible to walk down the main road as everyone would stop you and try to get you into their shop, which was almost all there was on the main road. Even around the temples lots of people, mainly children, waited and tried to sell you souvenirs and so it got quite annoying. Pretty much the only place where you got any peace and quiet was inside my guesthouse or inside the temples where people couldn't sell you anything. Needless to say that although the temples were absolutely fascinating I had had my fill of them after the 3 days there and was ready to head out. So the evening of the third night I took the bus to the nearest train station (3 hours away) and jumped on a train bound for Jalgaon where I planned to visit the Ajanta and Ellora caves, a world heritage site. So look for my next update to hear about my time there.






One of the local kids that hung out around the temples and tried to get me to buy souvenirs. He followed me around for a bit the first day but was pretty fun so I let him.










A view of the exterior of one of the temples. Almost all of the temples had this same shape with sculptures all the way around the bottom of it and designs for the top.















A view of the ceiling inside one of the temples. The intricate details of the circular carvings was fabulous.














A view of some of the erotic scenes that are on the temples. Almost all of the temples have erotic scenes carved on them although this one is one of the more graphic ones.














A sculpture of a couple on one of the temples.














A sculpture of a woman.

Varanasi

I arrived in Varanasi on the evening of the 9th, less than 24 hours before a big festival (Holi) was starting. However, on my auto-rickshaw ride into town I found out that some kids were starting to celebrate early as I was hit with some coloured water balloons a few times. Upon arriving in the old town where I was hoping to stay I was dropped off by the driver and forced to navigate the confusing narrow alleyways on my own to find a hotel (motorized vehicles aren't allowed in them). So after getting hopelessly lost for quite a while I managed to find a guesthouse (the one I was looking for even!) and got a room.

My first day in Varanasi I wandered around the old town which was quite pleasant. My main objective though was to find some really cheap clothes that I could wear for the following day festivities as the main event on the morning of the 11th was to throw coloured water at everybody and all the clothes get stained too. So I went out searching for clothes before the shops all closed down for the evenings celebrations. That evening I went out wandering the streets with some other people to see what sort of celebrations were occurring only to find just one bonfire with very few people around it. So we returned to our guesthouse to await the following morning when the main celebration started. At the guesthouse we also prepared for the following day by making hundreds of small water balloons filled with coloured water.

The following morning a large group of people in the guesthouse got up, armed ourselves with the water balloons and went into the streets to join the fun. It truly was a great experience as people were covered in colours ranging from pink to silver to green to yellow (really everything started to look almost black after a while) and there were huge speakers in the streets so everyone was dancing and smearing more coloured powder on people. After a couple hours of this we returned to the guesthouse for a break and to reload with supplies, and at the guesthouse the party continued but just for foreigners so it was a little safer. At 11am I went back out into the streets with a smaller group and we noticed that the atmosphere had changed somewhat as people were getting rowdy and some fights had broken out. Needless to say we returned to our guesthouse quickly and finished the celebrations there, although the festival technically ended at noon anyways. The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing at the guesthouse and enjoying the last bits of Holi, a great festival.

My third day in Varanasi things were back to normal, or somewhat as some places were still closed due to Holi, and I took a day trip out to nearby Sarnath which is one of the 4 main Buddhist pilgrimage sites. Here was the place where Buddha gave his first lecture after attaining enlightenment and as a result I was expecting it to be a very religious site with mainly pilrims present. However upon reaching the town I was very disappointed as it was more touristy than religious I thought. Sure there were lots of temples and monasteries but everything was setup for tourists and it didn't give off a very religious vibe. Still worth the trip out but not quite what I was expecting.

The fourth day in Varanasi started at 5am with a famous boat trip along the Ganges river. The boat trip was spectacular and definitely worth waking up at the crack of dawn for as you get to see several people bathing in the holy river, people doing laundry and loads of people out for their morning prayers along the sacred river. The Ganges is one of the most sacred rivers in India and as a result many people come here to bathe and wash away their sins but there is TONS of sewage being dumped into the river constantly so it's not the best thing for you (you'll never convince a local of that though). For the rest of the day I spent my time just wandering around the ghats (stairs leading down to the river) watching people bathe, do laundry, play cricket, pray and I even watched a cremation at one of the burning ghats. Varanasi is considered one of the best places to die as if you're cremated here then you won't be reborn again as you will otherwise. Therefore, people are always being cremated at the burning ghats along the Ganges river with their ashes being spread into the river afterwards.

My final day in Varanasi was spent wandering around the old town again and also relaxing along the ghats while I waited for my train out. I didn't get up to anything very exciting though as I had already seen most things. I did watch the entire religious ceremony at sunset though where priests sang some songs and washed a few people with water from the Ganges. That night I boarded a train to head to Khajuraho to see the famous temple carvings there. More from my next update.







Myself back at the guesthouse during the Holi celebrations. This reminded me a lot of frosh week at university when all of the engineers dyed themselves purple.








Scenes of some of the people that we met out on the streets during the Holi celebrations.








The boatman for our sunrise cruise on the river Ganges.










A scene of men bathing themselves in the sacred river.










A man sitting on the edge of one of the ghats and performing laughing meditation (or at least we think he was) as he kept just sitting there and laughing.













Trying my hand at preparing some street food at one of the stalls where I sampled some.













A lady selling some flowers on one of the ghats while an old man walks past.









The scene of the religious ceremony that occurs on the ghats every evening.