The Trip Up North – Ajanta Caves
Feeling fully recovered from the little bug that I had picked up I decided that it was time to make the big move up to the north of the country. I had had enough of temples and beaches for the time being – its about time that I saw some deserts and mountains. Getting from the south to the north is an awful lot trickier than you can imagine, I could’ve taken the easy way out and booked a cheap, ryanair style flight from chennai to dehli and do the whole trip in a matter of hours – but that just doesn’t seem right. So I booked a train ticket from Chennai to a town in the middle of Maharastra called Jalgaon which is a good jumping off point for the world famous buddhist caves of Ajanta (Google it).
The train was due to leave chennai at 9.30 the following morning. The two english girls I was hanging out with were also on their way to chennai before heading over to bangalore to catch their flight back to the cold weather in Norfolk. We grabbed the afternoon bus from Mamallapuram to chennai which took about 2 hours. It was a nice spin all along the coast. That night for the first time since st stephens day I was able to have a drink in a bar in chennai, accompanied by the two girls we walked into a place called 35mm (a film reference, which by the way I forgot to mention in the last entry, I got asked twice to appear in a film, as an extra while I was in mamallapuram. The shoot was in a place called paradise beach just north of pondicherry but unfortunately I couldn’t get to it due to my debilitating condition and the need to be monitered by the doctor – majorly bummed about that – reckon it would’ve been legendary!!)
The bars in india are an incredibly seedy affair. First thing you notice is the smoke, and they all smoke like troopers. The second thing you notice is that there are no women – this made the girls feel very uncomfortable esp when nature called. Finally they really skimp on the lightbulbs which leaves the place looking very dark and sinister. Its quite difficult to enjoy yer drink in such occasions but we perservered. The following morning I bade farewell to the girls with promises of couches in norwich, london and wherever I end up in 18 months time. My impressions of chennai are limited to be honest – on the face of it tis hard to distinguish it from other indian cities but one thing I did notice is that the motorcyclists all seemed to wear helmets which definitely makes it unique here…
The train to jalgaon was 24 hours – I travelled sleeper class which basically means you sleep in a 3 tier bunk with no AC, its a basic setup but manageable all the same. Everyone else in the carriage was indian which in a way was nice but sometimes its good to have a westerner there so that you can share your tales from the road.
I arrived in Jalgaon at about 8.30 in the morning and immediately made for the hotel plaza which was right beside the train station. I was knackered at this stage, the train was noisy so I didn’t get the best sleep in the world – all thoughts for a sleep were banished though when I got to the hotel. The most enthusiastic of hotel managers convinced me that it was a much better idea to go see the caves of Ajanta in the morning before the tourist buses get there and that I should jump on the next bus down there – so before I know it I was on a rust bucket full of schoolkids heading towards this mystical caves.
It was one unmercifully hot day – the hottest I have come across so far. It was at least mid 30s – the surrounding terrain was scorched so there was little or no shelter or shade from the sun. The countryside here is full of small rolling hills and flat plains, cotton seems to be the biggest crop with several processing plants spotted en route. The outstanding physical feature is a large set of hills that lie east off the road – sure enough that was where the caves were. It is estimated that they were carved way back in 200-300 AD but they were lost until a british expedition found them at the start of the last century. It puzzled me that they could remain unfound when the hills that they are in are such a dominant feature of the local countryside. Anyways that aside, after beating away the annoying touts I made my way into the river gorge and explored the wonderful caves. There were 26 in total, each like a little chapel dedicated to buddha. The majority of the tourists were indian with some foreigners mixed in for good measure. There were even some buddhist monks in their robes runnign around with their canon taking pictures which I thought was quite funny. To get away from the tourists its possible to take a 45 minute climb up to the top of the gorge to the point where the british expedition originally found this place – it must have been some thrill for them to see it. I can only imagine what it would look like in the middle of the monsoon when the river was at full flow with the waterfalls coming over the top – I sure you can get a little idea what its like from the pictures below.
I got Back to the hotel at about 6 and went straight to bed – knackered. Managed to get my ticket on the following mornings train to Ahmedabad which is the capital of the state of gujarat. I also booked my onward ticked to Udaipur leaving 4 hours after I arrive in Ahmedabad – no point hanging around I figured. The only class available was 2nd class AC – the trip in total would take 22 hours including the layover – so its pretty tough going. I met an australian guy called Mal White on the platform, as chance would have it we were taking the exact same route and he was booked into the bunk just across from me aswell so finally I had someone I could natter away to. The carriage was a major step up from the sleeper carriages, they even provide you pillows and blankets galore, the trouble is that the windows are thick and tinted so it gives you a quite obscured view of whats outside – to be honest it made it look like a nuclear waste ground. (Oh and marie – kites!! Millions of them!!! Every town we passed kids were playing with kites, some national festival. To be honest marie in navan knows more about it than I do so you can ask her 😉 ). I ended up leaving the carriage for quite a while around sunset and sat out on the open step watching the country side go by. It is quite a thrill to suddenly pass over a bridged river as you suddenly get the impression that there is nothing under your feet, you need ot keep a tight grasp on the door handles as it can be disorientating, but totally thrilling it has to be said!!
Ahmedabad is one crazy town. It took myself and Mal 30 minutes to cross the street and walk 20 yards – crazy – there was no footpath – twas like being stuck in a raging orgy of rickshaws buses and bikes – the fumes made the air dense and nausiating. We were looking for an internet cafe but soon gave up that ghost to just find somewhere to eat. We walked down the main street of the town which was mental – people every where, almost got run down at least a million times. I have never seen so many shops that just sell light bulbs, nothing else, light bulbs!! They must be forever getting bright ideas.. We eventually made it to the top of the street and a quick turn right got us to the restaurant that our guidebook recommended. And what a place, it was like a different planet. Twas like putting the four seasons in the middle of jobstown. The food was delicious and so set us up for the journey up to udaipur – the southern gateway to Rajasthan. Completely buggered we arrived at 7 in the morning, I had a recommendation from the english girls to check out Nukkads place in the centre of the old town – one bowl of museli into me and I was off for a much required snooze…
The Ajanta Caves
Tags: India, India
Phil Gill
Thanks, this is good stuff.