Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Aurangabad Special

I'm all sighted up on Aurangabad. Did an 8 hour tour of every major sight in and around the city. We started with the fort (I can't remember the name), which was pretty cool considering all forts had become boring to me. The elaborate defensive network in it was what kept me interested, which included a dark labrynth designed to confuse invaders and lead them to chutes that fall into the moat. The next place was the Ellora Caves, the highlight of the tour. These caves are ancient Buddhist temples carved into the face of a mountain. Their sheer size and number were really impressive. Unfortunately we only had time to see four of them, but that number was enough for me to leave happy. The next places were somewhat of a drag. We went to the Baby Taj, a replica of the real thing. I'm going to call it the Knockoff Taj, because that's what it looked like. Then to some kind of flour mill thing, which was a total waste of time. The Ellora Caves were awesome though, and that's what counts.

I found out the Ajanta Caves are actually three hours one way from here, so I'm going to scrap my plan of visiting that, given my track record with Indian buses and the prospect of a six hour round trip. I found a movie theatre I might go catch a flick at tomorrow though. I'll probably stick to my room and the tv most of the day though, I've found Aurangabad really isn't that great of a city. It's kind of an anomaly actually, the service here is the worst I've had anywhere in India. I don't get it, but it actually is amusing how pitiful it really is.

I'll post an Ellora picture when I get to my hotel in Delhi, where I'll have wifi access.

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