Lonely Traveller goes Ajanta and Ellora.
See my complete AlbumI'll shorten my blabber and I'll let the pictures talk about my journey.
In Dec 2005 my annual vacation started, on the 18th, with a trip to Nagpur with the purpose of escorting my sister till the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI). One the way back I planned to visit the cave temples of Ajanta and Ellora. Since I had 3 days to spare before I joined my friends on 24th Dec for my trekk in Goa, I decided to stay at the Youth Hostel at Aurangabad and see places around Aurangabad as well. I included the Elephanta caves near Mumbai also in my list, as I read somewhere that these caves were a natural succession to those in Ajanta and Ellora. That turned out to be a good decision.
I flew from Bangalore to Pune with my sister on 18th, spent an afternoon at my cousin's place in Pune and took the train in the evening to Nagpur. The whole of next day was spent at NEERI. The 'Orange City', Nagpur, is a clean and beautiful city with broad roads.
In the night I went to the railway station to catch my night train to Mandad, only to find that I had done my homework wrong. There was no such train. A kind station master alloted me a dormitory and I took the early morning train towards Mandad. I got fined in the train for not having a proper ticket, and I was an instant celebrity in the coach. A fan, was kind enough to advice me that a bus boarded from Jalgaon was my quickest way to reach Aurangabad. When I reached Aurangabad Youth Hostel it was getting dark. The warden adviced me to catch Ajanta first.
I went to Ajanta the next day to visit the oldest of the caves in my list and probably the most famous. One cannot help but appreciate the splendour and scale of artistry that was employed on the rocks there over a few centuries starting in BC.
On 22nd I went to Ellora to vitness the caves that were evidence to how Budhism became less popular and Hinduism gained deeper roots in the area. The star attraction at Ellora is the rock-cut monolith temple that had almost all the stories from the Shivite beliefs.
On the way back to the hostel I visited the Daulatabad Fort. A small fort with a whole lot of defense mechanisms. At dusk before I returned to the hostel, I visited Bibi ka Maqbara, the chota- Taj Mahal and earnest effort to replicate the famous Taj.
That night I took my train to Mumbai. Early morning from the railway station I took a taxi to the Gateway of India, from where ferries would take one to the Elephanta caves. Elephanta had only one great temple, but I was struck by the similiarity it had with the Shiva temple at Ellora. Two caves temples, one in central India and the other on an island in the Arabian sea looking similiar is no simple thing when you know it would have taken a very determined somebody at that time to replicate it in all its splendour.
I visited my uncle in Mumbai and in the afternoon for a stroll in the Juhu beach. Having recharged myself and my camera cells, I took the night's bus to Goa, where I joined my friends at the Mapusa Youth Hostel the next day.
Saying it through Pictures - Goa Dec 2005
I don't think I'll ever finish telling you the US stories... Because my narration went on and on and on.. that I got bored of it.
I have decided to shorten the narration of my trips and say it through pictures. Someday I'll talk about my US trip as well through the pictures.
We went to Goa for a beach+jungle trekk in December 2005. Here's the story and a link to the pictures.
View my albumWe planned for Goa in the last two weeks of 2005. As always, Jyothi and Sid did most of the planning and organizing while all that Prakash, Megha and myself did was to pack up and join the trip. Coming back from my trip to the caves of Ajanta and Ellora, I was to join the gang at the Youth Hostel at Mapusa, Goa on 24th Dec. That's where I met Bharani, who was new to the gang.
We did nothing but roam around in Mapusa that day and we booked our ticket for our return journey. It was Christmas the next day and we had planned to visit the fort of Aguada, the beach at Kalangute and old Goa before getting to Panaji to report for our trekk. We had hired a self-drive van for the trip. The fort at Aguada was built as a light tower and water reserve and was built on top of a hill. At the foothill was a penitentiary that faced sea - I guess being an inmate would have been fun. It was noon, the worst time, when we hit the beach at Kalangute but I was surprised that it still looked rush hour! We turned around to get to Old Goa. A magnificient town area, unlike any other in Goa it literally felt Old. The magnificent churches and a museum that narrated the story of Goa. We were in time to check in for the trekk at youth hostel Panaji.
26th, the first day of trekk was acclaimatization that prepared one for the long trekk. We packed our stuff and walked to the port of Dona Paulo. I was surprised to find in our trekking group there were more kids that grownups. The trip was short. Back at base camp we took a ride into the sea to see the dolphins.
27th, the trekk started and the destination was the beach of Bogmalo. This leg started from Dona Paulo and went through land owned by the Indian navy to reach the rocky beaches of Bogmalo. Since photography was not allowed during the stretch we kept our Cameras in the bags. Bogmalo was not a clean beach, but a rocky beach was a new experience. A beautiful sunset added to the effect.
On 28th we were to get to the beach of Benaulim, walking over 13 kilometers on a stretch that was entirely on the beach sand. We walked and the beaches got cleaner and the scenery was beautiful. We had taken off our shoes to feel the sand and the occational splash of waves on our feet. Towards the end of the stretch our feet started hurting, as the sand near the sea was firm like cement. Benaulim camp was the most beautiful of the camps we had.
On 29th the destination was the jungle camp at the base of the Dudh Sagar falls. A bus took us to the Vasco railway station. After a short train journey we started walking again. Soon were at the guard posts at the Bhagwan Mahavir National Park, the Goan stretch of the western ghat rain forests.
30th we climbed the hill to reach the middle of the Dudh Sagar falls. A portion of the Konkan railway passed through this and for a while we walked on the rails. This was the most boring leg of our walk as the trail had a dry feeling to it. Our destination was the camp at Kuveshi, a place that belonged to the state of Karnataka. The camp site beautiful. A tree stood on the bank of a shallow water body giving a scenic reflection in water. A stream ran nearby and I cannot possibly forget the refreshing bath I took.
31st we started walking to Atali, a camp site that was inside the reserved jungle area. It didn't look a jungle out there, with a few cultivated lands and men around. yet that was a memorable camp as that is where we waited till midnight to welcome the new year of 2006. We had a camp fire around a single candle, as firewood is banned inside the jungle and we sang songs till it was a few hours past the midnight. This was the last day of our trekk.
One the new year's day of 2006, we started walking back to hussle of the town. We reached Mollem and took a bus back to Panaji to get back to our base camp. We took an early exit from the camp, citing the reason that we had a bus to catch. Having walked around 40 kilometers in 5 days it took us no time to slip into a good sleep in the bus.
The photo graphs we took gives a more vivid description of our trip.
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