The 7000 steps of Girnar were so easy we thought that the 3500 steps of Pallitana would be a piece of cake. We weren't wrong, the climb was much more pleasant, there were fewer people and the temples at the top were better. All in all very much worth the sweaty 7 hour bus ride to get there. Having said the temples were better they were not quite what we had expected having read that there were over 900 on the hill. I thought they would be very spread out but instead turned out to be housed in 3 main complexes all crammed next to one another. We were free to roam at will and had most of the temples completely to ourselves. A friendly official at the bottom had given us the best 3 to see and while I'm sure we didn't look at them all we made a good attempt! The views over the entire hill top was spectacular and stretched to the distant sea. It was only at the main temple where we came across the crowds of pilgrims offering food and sumptuous smelling petal garlands to the various idols. As at Girnar the men wore white robes while the women had on their best saris contrasting nicely with the gleaming marble.
With there being no rest for the wicked we took a 6 hour bus in the afternoon to the capital of Gujert, Ahmedabad. The pollution was horrendous and a walk the following morning did not add any charm to the place, we had only stopped to get on yet another night bus to Aurangebad 18 hours away. Although the longest we had the most comfortable night sleep yet and arrived relatively refreshed. After looking round the dull town, we headed out to the local caves in a posh new rickshaw. Although fairly simple, they were worthwhile too visit and also gave great views over the surroundings and Bibi-ka-Maqbara (the so called "mini Taj") found in the city outskirts. Unfortunately as the evening wore on I felt progressively worse before succumbing to a bout of acute food poisoning, I blame the fried potato things we had at lunch. I'll spare the details, suffice to say that you know its bad when you don't know which end to point at the toilet! Come the morning I was better but too weak to head to the nearby Elora caves, leaving Amy to tag along with a couple from the hotel. Sleeping and rehydration sachets made sure that I was not going to miss out on the Ajanta caves the following day, sharing a taxi there with 4 others to spread the cost. The caves were spectacular, occupying the outside of a beautiful horseshoe gorge cut by the river. The caves themselves were massive Buddhist temples in varying degrees of completion. The finished temples held not only intricate carvings, splendid pillars and giant Buddhas, they were also richly decorated with detailed paintings unlike anything we had seen in any other cave system. Amy correctly told me that it was far better than Elora as we made our way to the railway town of Jalgaon for an early train the next morning.
The 7000 steps of Girnar were so easy we thought that the 3500 steps of Pallitana would be a piece of cake. We weren't wrong, the climb was much more pleasant, there were fewer people and the temples at the top were better. All in all very much worth the sweaty 7 hour bus ride to get there. Having said the temples were better they were not quite what we had expected having read that there were over 900 on the hill. I thought they would be very spread out but instead turned out to be housed in 3 main complexes all crammed next to one another. We were free 
to roam at will and had most of the temples completely to ourselves. A friendly official at the bottom had given us the best 3 to see and while I'm sure we didn't look at them all we made a good attempt! The views over the entire hill top was spectacular and stretched to the distant sea. It was only at the main temple where we came across the crowds of pilgrims offering 
food and sumptuous smelling petal garlands to the various idols. As at Girnar the men wore white robes while the women had on their best saris contrasting nicely with the gleaming marble.
With there being no rest for the wicked we took a 6 hour bus in the afternoon to the capital of Gujert, Ahmedabad. The pollution was horrendous and a walk the following morning did not add any charm to the place, we had only stopped to get on yet another night bus to Aurangebad 18 hours away. Although the longest we had the most comfortable night sleep yet 
and arrived relatively refreshed. After looking round the dull town, we headed out to the local caves in a posh new rickshaw. Although fairly simple, they were worthwhile too visit and also gave great views over the surroundings and Bibi-ka-Maqbara (the so called "mini Taj") found in the city outskirts. Unfortunately as the evening wore on I felt progressively worse before succumbing to a bout of acute food poisoning, I blame the fried potato things we had at 
lunch. I'll spare the details, suffice to say that you know its bad when you don't know which end to point at the toilet! Come the morning I was better but too weak to head to the nearby Elora caves, leaving Amy to tag along with a couple from the hotel. Sleeping and rehydration sachets made sure that I was not going to miss out on the Ajanta caves the following day, sharing a taxi there with 4 others to 
spread the cost. The caves were spectacular, occupying the outside of a beautiful horseshoe gorge cut by the river. The caves themselves were massive Buddhist temples in varying degrees of completion. The finished temples held not only intricate carvings, splendid pillars and giant Buddhas, they were also richly decorated with detailed paintings unlike anything we had seen in any other cave system. Amy correctly told me that it was far better than Elora as we made our way to the railway town of Jalgaon for an early train the next morning.
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