Thursday's trip to Aurangabad June. 2, 2011

Sorry folks about not posting anything for the last number of days. My trip to Aurangabad began Thursday at 3 pm and I didn't get back home until Sunday 10 pm. I was really exhausted the entire day on Monday since I had about 5 hours of sleep...but now I'm feeling much better today (Tuesday). As I am writing this, the power adapter to my Mac laptop is completely broken and I have to buy another one on Ebay India. Right now I am using my housemate's Dell.

The trip to Aurangabad was very nice and I would definitely recommend anyone who's interested in Buddhism to visit the Ajanta & Ellora caves if they ever travel to India. The amazing hand-made stone-ware crafts that I found in Ajanta made the trip even more memorable. Even though I was charged a little more for being a westerner...the stone-ware in Ajanta is really precious and unique and my housemates said that they are not found anywhere else in the world other than the region of Ajanta because it is made in the villages in and around that place. So if I were to buy the same craft in Delhi...I would probably be charged more buying in Delhi than directly from Ajanta. After realizing that fact from my housemate and the travel party that I was with...I regretted that I didn't buy a few more for people back home, but they're also quite cumbersome. I only bought 3 things in Ajanta and will show it to you in the next blog.

On Wednesday night, Vaibhav helped me booked my hotel for Aurangabad--the Deprivya hotel which I had found in my guidebook and turned out to be a really nice accommodation. I had a class with Aradhana on Thursday because it really takes an entire day to see Ajanta and another entire day for Ellora. I wanted to spend Friday and Saturday seeing the places and chill out on Sunday before I take a 5 hour bus ride back to Pune.

Vaibhav came at 2:30 to pick me up and drop me at the central bus station for my 3 o'clock bus. On the way, we were somewhat delayed because of the heavy rain--the monsoon has arrived! Riding on a motorbike when it's raining so hard was not pleasant. The rain beat hard on our faces and it felt like were pummeled by small rocks. On the way, I saw flashes of lightning followed by very loud thunder. It was really too close for comfort. When we hit the bus station, Vaibhav was soaked. I'm not sure how he managed to go back to the office with very wet clothing.

There were ducks and ostriches at our rest stop.

I showed my boarding pass and off we went to Aurangabad. The bus ride to Aurangabad was very nice with the only exception that I had to hold off peeing for two and a half hours! It was very very bad...and seeing how men pulling off to the side of the road and pee did not help me either. It was so bad that after the bus actually took a 30 minute rest stop....I could hardly walk upright to the toilet. Holding off peeing while on a bus is really going to be a skill that I need to master. The one factor is too drink enough water to not be dehydrated but also to not drink it too much so that you have to go every couple of hours. 

On the road, I saw many villages and endless fields of farms on both sides. Seeing how people live in villages even though I'm on the main road was a welcome change from the cities that I have visited. One passenger from a previous trip told me that in order to see villages, I have to venture off the beaten path. However, it was nice to know that I didn't have to go very far for this trip. Life seems to be very simple for those who work in the fields. I saw men, women, and children...young and old...all work really hard. I saw a grandpa strolling along with his grandchild...and girls tending goats....women carrying gallons of water on their heads...and men and women working on their farms. I wanted to take a lot of pictures to give you guys some of the scenes that really touched me...but our bus drove really fast and by the time I spotted a party our bus drove right past them. There is so much beauty to see people working so hard in their villages.

A girl shepherding her baby goats.
I reached Aurangabad at about 8:10 and really there were lots of helpful people there. A young man asked me where I wanted to go when I looked a little lost and helped point me in the right direction. Devpriya was like a 5 minute walk from the bus station and the hotel managers were very nice people. They showed me the room which is much better than the one in Delhi...all for 300 rupees/night. I had dinner...and by the time I was finished it was already 10 pm. Then the rain began in Aurangabad...let me just say that the rain in India is nothing like the rain that we have in SF.  It doesn't just rain alone...it pours down in buckets. A street can become flooded in a matter of minutes followed by innumerable flashes of lightning and loud thunder. God, I just hope to be back in one piece when I leave India.