Day 29 - 31: Jalgaon, Ajanta and Ellora Caves
Day 29
- Arrive in Jalgaon around 7:30 in the morning.
- Check into Hotel, which is owned and operated by a wonderfully helpful, and kind of corky, man......another lonely world suggestion.
- Shower up, have dosa at a stellar food stand, and head to bus station to just barely catch the public bus that will drop you near Ajanta Caves.
- View cave temples and monasteries. Amazaing.
- Rickshaw to nearest town for bus ride home.
- Chat up locals while waiting for bus. Even in rural areas, someone always seems to speak english.
- Bus home, feast at some amazing thalis place, which again is all-you-can-eat, and for about $1.34.......just one more reason to love India.
- Look into transportation options to reach Agra. Realize that Agra is much further than I originally thought, and taking a bus, which is easy to book, will not be an option. Look into trains, all of which are fully booked for the next couple of days. Looks like I am spending a couple extra days in Jalgaon.
- Pass out from food coma.
Day 30
- Sleep-in, cause why not, I have nothing to do or see today. Jalgaon, other than being fairly close to Ajanta Caves, doesn't have a whole lot to offer to tourists.
- Book train ticket, leaving the morning after next.
- Decide to go see Ellora Caves on day 31. They are about 3 hours away by private taxi (6 hours by public transit), but since I am stuck in Jalgaon for couple more days, I might as well see something interesting.
- Bum around, go see another Bollywood movie.
- Meet some people to share my private taxi tomorrow. Yay for saving money!
- Dinner at the same Thalis place.
- Bed time.
Day 31
- Wake up at a decent hour, shower up, and head for the 3 hour trip to Ellora Caves, which are similar to the Ajanta Caves, but not as old, and encompass not just Buddhist, but also Jain and Hindu, temples as well.
- View the Ellora Caves, which sorry to say, were not, or at least didn't seem, as impressive as the Ajanta Caves. Still cool, but perhaps I was caved-out.
- Head back to Jalgaon.
- Dinner, and in bed at a decent hour as my train is scheduled to leave at 6 in the morning.
Story-Time and Reflection:
Honestly, I can't say too much about the Ajanta Caves, other than that they are amazing, and not really caves. They are a series of Buddhist monasteries and temples, that were carved out of a cliff face, some of which date back over 2000 years old. They are amazing. There is no flash photography within the caves, as there is very well preserved ancient paintings in many of them, and apparently, the flash decays the pigment. Again, this is something you have to see to believe. Truly amazing.
The Ellora Caves were similar to the Ajanta Caves, and while they were equally magnificent, they just didn't seem as cool. It just kind of seemed like more of the same. Which I think demonstrates something I have learned on this trip. When traveling for a long time, big tourist attractions begin to loose their a flare, or at least the attractions that fall into similar categories. You can only see so many temples before they aren't new and interesting anymore. You can only see so national parks before their not interesting anymore. Etc. After a while, somethings become redundant. After a while traveling is less about seeing the sights, and more so about finding areas you enjoy spending time in, places you enjoy just hanging out in, places you can just sit around and spend a week at, places you actually enjoy rather than a place you can snap a lot of pictures at.
Here is a major need-to-know while traveling in India: Trains book up very quickly. The train system in India is awesome and extensive, but for this reason, it's incredibly hard to make bookings just a few days in advance, as it's by far the most popular mode of travel, and trains fill up quickly. In major cities, and big tourist destinations, you can utilize the foreign tourist quota, which sets aside a number of train tickets for foreigners who have a tourist visa, but you cannot get these tickets in every station. I was able to get one of these tourist tickets in Mumbai for my Mumbai to Jalgaon trip, but I didn't realize I couldn't get one in Jalgaon to move on to Agra. Here is the funny thing, I could have bought a tourist quota ticket in Mumbai for my Jalgaon to Agra ticket, but I couldn't buy such a ticket in Jalgaon......again, this is a strange, strange place, that sometimes just seems entirely backwards. But you get used to it after a while. The only way to make it while traveling through India is being able to adjust and be flexible, because unless you book all your train tickets months in advance, and unless you only stay at top-notch hotels, things will not always work out how you want or expect them to, and you have to roll with the punches.
