So...where did I leave you all? On the way to Mandu, if I remember :)

Right...remember that we got lost in Indore? When we finally found the cafe I was tired, Jalagon was too far away and we were in dire need of breakfast and coffee :) We decided to divert to Mandu and I had the best Kashmiri nan of my life :) With me? Cool :)

There are a couple of ways to get off the highway and get to Mandu. We looked for the roads going off to the right but didn't see anything that looked like it was the right road so we headed south and looped around from the bottom and drove north into Mandu. Finding the road off the main highway was easy...not that I would call it a great road - there were tons of potholes, most people (including us :) drove down the middle and move over when someone was coming the other way. When my odometer ticked over at the right distance all the sudden there was a dirt track off to the right...hmmm, that looks to be the way.... :)

It was lumpy going for about 200 meters and then it was fine - paved single lane road, and in good condition. Whenever we came to a town the road went to a rocky track, but that was fine. There was about 20kms of that - we could see the hill we were looking for get closer as we rode - and the we came onto a wide plateau (see the photo :) and then we had to climb up onto the hill (see second photo of me climbing the rocky road :). The road up was all rocky and there were hairpins and lots of loose rock - we were truly glad for the off road training as we really needed it and it gave us a lot of confidence (and made it a piece of cake :). Once we got to the top you could see the canyons that had been carved out (cue photo 3 :) - it was a gorgeous ride and we are so glad that we took that route!!!!

We found a place to stay, got the laundry done and had dinner...then it was a day of touring the ruins - wow, fabulous. Very well preserved and cared for. They are 11th to 13th century, if I remember, and Islamic. (see the photos :) The did some amazing things with wells in those days, and these days they said that Mandu often runs out of fresh water just before the monsoon hits. The road down was fine, not as much fun as the road up, though :)and we made it to Jalagon without incident (the Maharastra roads are really good).

Jalagon was a nice town, the hotel room was nice - all white tile. It was a good base for a very early start to Ajanta (8am) the next morning. The ride to Ajanta was easy, only 50kms, and we had a great breakfast at a cafe just before we arrived...and then it was tourist hell. We lugged our bags to the cloak room at the main entrance (a walk to the bus, a 5 km bus journey and then a walk to the cloakroom...all the while accosted by hawkers - and the bags are not light!) It was also just starting to get really hot.

Ah, Ajanta. Amazing. The walk we took to the top, the waterfall, the caves themselves....really spectacular. It is amazing that it has all survived and that the Buddhist monks did all that hard work, and so beautifully. Then it was back on the bikes - very clean bikes! A couple of guys said they would wash them while we were away, both bikes for 100 rupees....it was a bargain! They did a great job and the bikes were a mess :) The ride to Aurangabad was also easy (the roads are so good!).

We found our hotel, had some food and a walk around. We were tired, though - Ajanta was mindblowing and we knew we had more of the same - so we had an easy morning, found a great breakfast and a newspaper and then sorted ourselves out and both hopped on A's bike for the ride to Ellora (30kms away). There are three sets of caves at Ellora - the Buddhist, the Hindu and the Jain. The Buddhist caves were similar to Ajanta, but without the paintings, the Hindu caves had some beautiful sculptures and a HUGE monument/temple to Mt Kailash (first Ellora photo) that was carved from the hillside. We also walked to the far end and checked out the Jain caves, which I thought were pretty impressive (definitely worth the 2km walk!) The second Ellora photo is of the Jain temple. Then it was back to Aurangabad in the setting sun :) The next day we were off to Pune and the road was a ripper!!!!

I think A covered Pune...so go read her post :)

I will catch you later, I need to vacate this terminal...:)