Now relaxed, drinking a coffee, and will shortly take the bus the 4 Km down to the caves. Best to have your own torch. It's a sunny day, the birds are singing, and I'm away from pack dogs, and 20 plus street pigs......life is good.......for the moment.
The Ajanta Caves are carved in a horse-shaped escarpment overlooking the narrow Waghora river gorge, and number around 27. They were rediscovered by a Brit soldier out on a tiger shoot back in 181รง. He even left his name scratched in a pillar in Cave 10. To reach the caves you have to pass through a small complex of shops, where you have to fight off the shopkeepers. Then , believe it or not you have to pay 7 rupees to cross a small bridge (Ameinity tax) where a government bus takes you for 7 rupees the 4 Km to the caves. Entrance to the cave complex costs Indians 10 rupees, but for all foreigners (walking ATM machines) then 250 rupees. The caves are all extremely interesting to visit, and at this time of the year there are only a handful of tourists, 99.9% being indian. A number of the caves have wonderful wall paintings, but unfortunately very few are in good condition. I took around 250 photos, but due to limited light hardly any were in focus. One can imagine how the caves must have looked when they were occupied by Buddhist monks.
We spent around three hours in the cave complex, and it was well worth the visit.
On leaving tried to buy a cold drink from the government restaurant fridge, but the fridge only supplied warm drinks......;you can hopefully see why I am confused. Then it was back onto the bus where you had to pay another 7 rupees, return tickets are not available. Then it was another running of the gauntlet through the small shopping complex, and finally back to the peace and quiet of the chalet.
But Ajanta was well worth the visit, and so similar to the Dordogne.
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